Philip-Lorca DiCorcia Critique Blog

October 31, 2021 

Philip-Lorca DiCorcia

By: Connor Albaugh 

        There are numerous photographers that are incredibly talented in their respective fields. Specifically, the idea of portrait photography is of the essence in this blog. As I looked through the presentation, there were a lot of photographers that caught my eye through their different compositions and style for each of their photos. However, one of the photographers that I could relate to and was visually inspired by was Philip-Lorca DiCorcio. Philip is the very last photographer in the "portrait photography" presentation and his work was far above all of the other photographers seen in these slides. Before I dive into his incredible accomplishments and the beginning of his career, it is important to visit his early life. Philip happened to be "born in 1951 in Hartford, Connecticut (Article #1). His family is not originally from the United States because they had previously lived in Abruzzo, which is located in Southern Italy (Article #1). Since Philip was born in the United States, he is considered "American photographer" and spent his childhood in Connecticut until he began his education "at the Museum of Fine Arts" in Boston, Massachusetts (Article #1). At the conclusion  and eventual graduation from this school in 1975 with a diploma as well as a "5th year certificate in 1976", Philip then went on to study at the prestigious Yale University where he would obtain a "master in fine arts pf photography" in the year of 1979  (Article #1). Once his education was complete at Yale and in Boston, he applied his lessons in the field of photography. In the early part of his career, especially when he was enrolled at school in Boston, he focused on taking pictures of his friends and family within fictional predicaments which helped the viewer to develop a sense of a daily life routine within each of his different shots (Article #1). All of these backgrounds, although real to a viewer, were heavily staged beforehand in order to optimize the detail and meaning in each of his photos. Philip saw his love for photographing people he knew to photographing people across the world. Instead of friends and family, he happened to photograph diffferent people in urban areas such as Hollywood in California, New York, and Rome, Italy (Article #1). These photos, different from early in his career, emphasized the use of light which would be a way of highlighting or making the person in picture the center of attention (Article #1). Philip became so popular that many of his pictures are seen in meuseums and are displayed across the world for people to see. With this all being said, he currently resides in New York City and has a job as a teacher “in New Haven, Connecticut” (Article #1). 

        Philip’s background, explained above, happens to be very significant when being able to establish some sort of inspiration. Starting small and have the opportunity to become recognized by people through your work is hard when the public eye isn’t on you to start with. However, Philip managed to visually attract and wow his viewers so much so that his work can be seen by anyone in multiple counties abroad. Before I touch on my inspiration Philip’s work and why I chose it, it is important to touch on Philip’s photography style and what makes him the type of photographer he is today. Philip’s style of photography revolves around the idea of nonfiction and fiction. For the nonfiction part of his photography, he uses real places, real people, and real backgrounds. However, the fictional part of his photography deals with his expert lighting and the poses of each of his characters involved. Additionally, the reason for putting a certain person in a particular background may not make sense or have a meaning that ties both the background and the person of interest together. Overall, Philip’s images can often be seen as exaggerated, but carefully set up in order to enhance the picture taken to the eyes of the viewer through great lighting and precise framing (Article #2). 

        For my inspiration, Philip was a good photographer to write about and analyze because of his background and the different scenes of photography he has been able to accomplish. In particular, the image above really caught my eye and is one of my favorites from Philip’s collection. This photo happens to be from a collection that Philip created which is called “the Hollywood Series” (Article #3). These photos in this series were taken “in an area of Santa Monica Boulevard, Hollywood, which would picture male prostitutes and drag addicts” (Article #3). One of the things that made up Philip’s photography style was how he obtained his subjects for each of his photographs. He would find a random man from the street of Hollywood and paid him a certain amount of money to be in a specific photo (Article #3). Here, the man that is pictured in this photograph is named “Ike Cole, he is 38 years old, and Philip paid him $25 dollars” for him to participate in the photograph process (Article #3). With this being said, the photograph is inspiring to me in so many ways. To begin with, the lighting in this photo is incredible. The “golden hour” of Los Angeles is seen here as the seen sets which pictures a “peach-like” color. Lighting is a big part of Philip’s photography because it creates a unique picture visually. Additionally, the lighting from the market pops out as well as the white lighting within the store. The colors within the store as well as outside of the store pair well with the outside lighting, which happens to be the Los Angeles sunset. Interestingly enough, Philip utilizes a tripod as well as artificial light and flash light” on his subjects to complement for the sky and its soft color. In terms of this photo on a technical level, the lights in the store lead up to the subject of this picture, which happens to be a black man. His shirt is off which shoes his muscle tone, often indicative of a male prostitute. The lighting from which Philip uses and the angle he uses it at allows for the viewer to get a good eye on the black man’s muscle tone. The light from the store leads out to the man which is led into light sources that Philip has behind the camera. The use of a tripod allowed for him to capture a still image which almost freezes life in the frame of the camera. The use of cars around the image seem to be moved to create a circle or a boundary around this man. This aspect of the photo allows the viewer to key in on the man who looks out into the distance. This light on the man and the light inside the store show that dawn is approaching and night is on the rise. Compositionally, this photo is very well. The framing, in particular, eliminates distracting elements from the image that would otherwise deter one away from important details or objects. All of the light is focused on this man. One thing that I question about this image happens to be why Philip selected this man and used this background. In my opinion, I think that this is a very important idea to discuss. The light and how it dissipates as the sun sets below the California horizon could signify the beginning of the man’s work day as prostitution happens at night. People are mostly inside and it is hard to be seen and have witnesses against you being that the dark makes it hard for things to be seen and people to be recognized. Additionally, the use of the last for letters of “fair” in the market title show that this photo was “fairly organized”. Philip and his willingness to pay this man for his time and his work is symbolic of the meaning of prostitution. People pay men or women money for services in order to be pleased and content. With a lot of meaning and incredible elements coming together, it makes for a great photo and shows just how a photography can tell so much about an industry, background, and people involved. 

        The aspect of this image that attracted me to select it was the color. I also very much enjoyed the focus on the man and framing it so that a certain meaning and details of the image can be digested. These remind me a lot of images that I have taken, not so much in terms of prostitution. For this assignment, I was inspired by Philip’s artificial lighting and the use of his peers to creat certain images in location that may not make sense. I used my dad and a few of my friends to create the 3 images that happened to be due for critique. Many of them key in on lighting, framing, and the certain poses of the people I used to show why I took certain images. The color in each of them is visually attractive, the lighting helps to single in on my subjects, and the framing of my photos allows one to be engaged without any type of distractions. Time wasn't necessarily on my side in the creation of my images, but I think that the images I was able to make and set up with the style and craft of Philip-Lorca DiCorcia in mind helped to advance and motivate the creativity and movie of the photographs I had the honor of capturing. 

          

Sources:

Article #1: https://peoplepill.com/people/philip-lorca-dicorcia

Article #2: https://www.moma.org/artists/7027

Article #3: http://www.artnet.com/artists/philip-lorca-dicorcia/