Parallel Development x3

Another example of parallel development presented itself last week, when two bloggers I read regularly posted similar images within a couple days of one another. The top image here is by Richard of Fluffytek and the second image is by Mark of Newcastle Art Nudes. Richard is in England and shot his image in May of last year, Mark is in Australia and shot his in August of last year. (Both are reposted here with the photographers' permission.)

Mark says "The inspiration came to turn the shot upside down when I was looking for a good image from the shoot to process... Inspiration might not be the right word, I must be honest. I took a look at the original to spark my memory just now and I recall that my model's (Rosie) face looked completely different in this pose so I turned it up the other way in order to scrutinise her face easier and that is when I thought I would leave it at that because of the surreal look it gave. I'm glad I did as it is one of the most commented on images that I have taken to date."

Richard didn't provide me with details on his shot, but guessing from the fingertip pose and the hair flip, he envisioned flipping this image when he shot it. Whether it was something he planned well in advance or just struck him at the shoot, I'm not sure. (Richard, please leave a comment to clarify if you like.)

Which brings me to my image of Nia here... also shot in August of last year, I'm pretty sure before I'd even heard of Richard or Mark. Mine is similar to Mark's in that it's sort of the by-product of the editing process... I was interested in the image as it was done spontaneously during the shoot, but I liked the way she was sort of floating in nothingness, so I turned the image 90 degrees to make her appear to be free-falling. Since she's not appearing to hang from the ceiling, it's different than the other two, but seeing the shots on their blogs reminded me of the shot that I had filed away.

Now, Richard's was the first of these three chronologically, but I'm sure this is a concept (inverted shot of model appearing to be hanging from the ceiling) that's been done before. It's a very clever concept, don't get me wrong, but it's also somewhat self-evident once you have the subject in that position, or even accidentally look at an image in the "wrong" orientation. However, the execution and mood of the three images are very different, and I really like all three of them, both for their similarities and their unique presentations of the concept and pose. My point today is that when a situation like this presents itself, I think we need to concetrate on the differences, not the similarities, and realize that almost anything you can do with a model, a light, and a room has probably been done before in some way, shape or form. And will be done again. It's all a matter of style and execution that makes the difference.