Ben Zank
Ben Zank, a former journalism student, produces work in which "involve diverse power struggles and the exploration of his own emotional experiences". Although his photography appears to be very surreal he thinks that “I can’t say that my photos are surreal. Some of them are, but a lot of them are very probable events. I don’t use as much manipulation as one would think.”
In his photos he usually feautures as his own subject andtries to take photographs that need minimal editing. Personally, I enjoy Ben Zank's work because of his ability to portray certain emotions and the effort that goes behid taking these images - for example, his 365 project in which he gets outside to shoot everyday.
His use of props particulary interests me. In one of many self-portraits he puts snails on his face and in another tied his face to a tree. This creates an idea of hypnagogic setting or landscape and adds to the surreal atmosphere he is able to create seemingly with ease (however, a lot of effort goes into his work).
For the photos below, Alice and I worked together to create the original image. Incorporating Ben Zank's use of string as a prop but in a way that can portray an emotion, we were able to create an image of feeling trapped. As the subject, I followed Alice's instructions to use string but came up with the idea of the scissors to add a victimised effect of the emotion. When it came round to editing these images, I used a high contrast to add a powerful atmosphere. These were the two most successful miages from the ones taken in my opinion because the focus was purely on the subject whereas in standing ones, objects in the background took the focus away.
