ROGER BALLEN Roger Ballen is an American photographer, also identified as 'one of the most influential photographic artists of 21st century'. His photography was self described as 'dark' and he expresses his photography as an essential of psychology and often refers to the humanity's "shadow side". As he stated "Shadow is better than dark, because dark for a lot of people connotes evil, and I always say it’s just the opposite... The pictures shouldn’t be seen as dark, and I’m not quite clear what is ‘dark’, anyway." I really like his artistic approach of depicting psychological photography because I feel that in nowadays society, psychology has played a huge role in the mindsets of youth and society's behaviour. When I first analysed his series of photographs, I felt the futility, the confusion and overwhelming youth thoughts that I had over the course of youths. Something about the child-like drawings and the detailing of objects and the gaze of the persona definitely made me feel a sense of darkness and shadows. I admire that his photographs are in black and white, I feel like the effect of the black and white definitely highlights and outlines the drawings and specific details that Ballen wants us to focus on. His photographs are very abstract and I find it hard to tell how he composed these photographs, it seem as though people have drawn on concrete wall and he photo shopped a few photographs around the image. The unordinary baby dolls and different postures of babies, youths and adults definitely connotes a psychological effect and depicts the 'shadow side' of humanity. I have never came across an approach like Ballen, thus it is very exquisite and differs from many contemporary photographers. I feel that it is essential to depict the darkness of society because these photographs are ambiguous but does show a lot about the shadows of humanity and psychological effects.
''Shadow Chamber' - Roger Ballen Whilst researching about Roger Ballen, I came across one of his famous books called the 'Shadow Chamber'. This book includes a series of dark themed photographs of youths, ambiguity and different postures of personas. He includes a lot of children in these series which I think tells an important story. As the emergence of youth develops from childhood, many children develop psychological trauma which haunts their social development and mentality. Roger Ballen's work definitely emphasise those traits of psychological behaviour by his unordinary, odd and marginalised personas within the photographs. It is almost as if the personas are abandoned, alone, such as the one sulking on a chair in the photograph above. I really like that his photographs are deeply emotive and relatable in nowadays society as high rates of mental health has increased especially within the UK and amongst youths in particular. As he is an influential photographer in modern 21st century, his photography however uniquely differs from many contemporary artists which is what interests me about his photography.
m y r e s p o n s e
The first few things I reminisced and thought of, whilst looking at series of Ballen's photography was youth behaviour, psychological growth and mentality. As from the 1960s United States, the rebellious movement of Hippies was introduced which sparked as an inspiration for many youths in modern society. Reports, studies and statistics depict that currently in the UK, many youths have experienced higher rates of mental health issues and an increase of psychological thinking. As the transformation and social development begins from being a childhood, I wanted to capture photographs that emphasises the headaches, stress and worries of a youth. As a youth myself and being a teenager, I have always encountered having mixed emotions, feelings and worries especially since during this age, responsibilities rapidly come. I firstly began by conducting a photo shoot, whereby I captured a few successful photographs.
e d i t i n g p r o c e s s
As the photographs I took does not emphasise enough of teenage behaviour and stress, I used the VSCO app on my phone to edit and dramatise the photographs I took. In response to Ballen, he mainly uses black and white filters for his photography; hence, I used the B5 filter to firstly add the basis of a black and white filter, eliminating any colour. I adjusted the contrast to enhance darker areas and also lowered the exposure of the photograph so shadows would appear in the darker areas. Next, I increased the sharpness of the photograph to dominantly outline the dark lines of the image. Afterwards, I also increased the clarity of the image which dramatises the small details of the photograph. This way, the intenseness of the photograph will emphasise shadow and fear in my opinion. Once I was satisfied with the adjustment of the sharpness and clarity, I added a grain effect to produce a film effect, replicating the vibe of the 1960s. Furthermore, as Ballen incorporates art and drawings, I decided to use a regular pen tool to draw abstract drawings, portraits to emphasise the psychological behaviour.
f i n a l i m a g e s
These were the final results of editing through the VSCO app. As the original photographs were too neutral and light coloured, it didn't match what I had in mind. Therefore,I enhanced the ideas I had visually in mind through using the VSCO app. The aftermath of the editing most definitely created a stronger outcome of the photographs because the black and white effect definitely tells another story with the addition of the sharp, clarity and grain tool. As psychological behaviour can be metaphorical to art, I wanted to include abstract art that creates an emphasis of confusion. Therefore, I drew recklessly around the persona, I drew abstract portraits that are unidentifiable and random doodles surrounding the persona. Moreover, I really like the abstract doodles and drawings around the persona because it definitely connotes some sort of stress, psychological behaviour and mentality. As the drawings are un-identifiable and overwhelming, it creates an effect of confusion of a youth.
s l i d e s h o w
Overall, I am relatively satisfied with the outcomes of my response to Roger Ballen. I didn't like the original photographs because it was too neutral coloured and did not emphasise much of darkness and the psychological mentality of a youth/teenager. Depiction of my photographs through a slideshow.