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Photo Challenge #7: Not Quite Right
Ends: Friday, November 14th, 2008
Brief: Using any photographic technique, create an image that is somehow 'not quite right'.
Instructions: Tag your photo with “glocalproject” and “photochallenge7″ and add it to our flickr pool. Need help? Email us.
With halowe'en fast approaching, we thought we'd take the opportunity to launch a slightly off-kilter photo challenge. This week, we'd like you to go out and shoot images that are unsettling - images that some one reason or another seem disquieting or not-quite-right.
Of course, we realize this request could lead us into some tricky territory, so let's remember to stick to the usual guidelines: no violence or depictions of violence, and no obviously offensive content.
There are any number of ways to achieve an unsettling effect with photography. Sometimes, the distressing effect can be the result of combining two unlikely things, such as in this photograph by Diane Arbus, depicting a young boy playing with a toy hand-grenade:
Diane Arbus, Child with Toy Hand Grenade in Central Park, New York City (1962)
Another common approach is to make changes to familiar objects, forcing us to question what we normally take for granted. American artist Gordon Matta-Clark was famous for physically disrupting architecture. His 'building cuts' consist of a series of works in abandoned buildings in which he removed sections, or cut away parts to create systems which have lost their expected integrity. The results are, in the truest sense of the term, unsettled (please, don't try this at home!):
Gorgon Matta Clark, Splitting (1974)
Similarly, Chicago artist Jeanne Dunning's photographs of the human body ask us to question our ideals and phobias surrounding the human form:
Jeanne Dunning, The Blob 4 (1994)
Dunning's photographs start to tread into the territory of the surreal. Surrealist imagery can be confusing and startling, and often describes dreamlike fantasies. In Arthur Tress's staged surrealist photographs, children's dreams were carefully reconstructed - the results are eery:
 
Arthur Tress, Boys Flying Dream(L) and Flood Dream (R)
Perhaps the most famously disturbing images in photography come from Ralph Eugene Meatyard. His haunting images, often populated by masked figures, dead birds, and dolls, are deliberately ambiguous. Meatyard was a great reader of philosophy, and his photographs are intended to provoke questioning and contemplation.
Ralph Eugene Meatyard, Romance (N.) From Ambrose Bierce #3 from Portfolio 3, negative 1964/1974
As we have seen, there are many techniques and approaches that can be used to create unsettling imagery. We encourage you to experiment with these and other possibilities as you participate in our latest challenge. As always, we invite you to post in this thread, where you can exchange ideas and advice with other Glocal participants. Good luck!
Originally posted at 12:27PM, 27 October 2008 PDT
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blprnt_van edited this topic 44 months ago.
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:)
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Skew House:
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Claude Fiset [deleted] says:
New budgetary constraints.........
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Claude --> Hah! Great choice. Where was that taken??
Maxxxxxxxxxxxxx --> Perfect! Was that taken with a mirror, or digitally modified? It is certainly unsettling - I don't know if I'm looking up or down...
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Nature's revenge?
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Claude Fiset [deleted] says:
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Eat what?
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Posted 44 months ago.
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my goodness, I really struggle with the challenge! Still looking for ideas - you guys are all amazing!
Posted 44 months ago.
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Finally I got stuff to share - actually there is a couple photos. Here is the first one!
Posted 43 months ago.
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and this one :)
hope they fit the challenge!
Posted 43 months ago.
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adamhphoto [deleted] says:
i like to think theres something not quite right with this photo.. lol so far iv seen nothin but good works!! holla, everyone!
blprnt_van - i just figured the comp wasn't quite right, considering you cant see the road... and just the fact that i wasn't even looking when i took it... i was driving, picked up my cam, shot a photo without lookin, set it back down, saw it when i got home and thought something was off, but still liked it so here it is... i actually wasn't sure if it would work for this... if it doesn't i'll remove it, just let me know :)
Originally posted 43 months ago.
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adamhphoto edited this topic 43 months ago.
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tamaraanalex >> Great shots! The second one is very abstract - what are those x-shaped lights?
adam >> What is not quite right in this shot? Maybe I'm missing something??
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I swear that child wasn't there when I pressed the shutter!
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This wasn't constructed, or taken for this challenge, but it seems to fit the theme. (I will try and do one specially if I can).
Posted 43 months ago.
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Blprnt_Van - x-shaped lights were supposed to look like butterflies - I feel insulted now :) haha! Well, if you click on the photo you can see the link that explains how it's done. But originally it'a a fireworks that you set on the ground. I took a photo using my DIY lens baby with a BUTTERFLY :) hole in it and all the lights were butterfly shaped :) I had lots, but I like this one, it looks like a bunny chasing butterlies... I think :)
Originally posted 43 months ago.
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(: Tamara :) edited this topic 43 months ago.
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Originally posted 43 months ago.
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enricoX edited this topic 43 months ago.
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Jen170, I think yours works pretty well. ghostly children are never quite right. And tamaraanalex, I can see them but butterflies and abstraction tend to blend into each other sometimes.
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Hm, maybe...
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Originally posted 43 months ago.
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kassiliiv edited this topic 43 months ago.
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Originally posted 43 months ago.
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pickler's II edited this topic 43 months ago.
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Posted 43 months ago.
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ok... ill try whit these pics.....
TECHNOLOGY CHAOS"!
and....
WE ARE LOSING STRUCTURE
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messes with the mind a bit...
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Claude Fiset [deleted] says:
Whale oil eat crow professor DraMan. I like your image. Very disturbin'
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out of time
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contagiousmemes edited this topic 43 months ago.
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Posted 43 months ago.
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this wasn't taken for the challenge, but
a bath in an abandoned house. recently foudn out that someone commit suicide in there.
this is actually a life support dummy without the mask on.
Originally posted 43 months ago.
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apple8apples edited this topic 43 months ago.
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UbiMaXx edited this topic 43 months ago.
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Posted 43 months ago.
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Posted 43 months ago.
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[http://www.flickr.com/photos/enricox/3053002616/][http://www.flickr.com/photos/enricox/3041207554/][http://www.flickr.com/photos/enricox/3003387501/][http://www.flickr.com/photos/enricox/2982710278/]
Originally posted 42 months ago.
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enricoX edited this topic 42 months ago.
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Posted 42 months ago.
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Giant trees or tiny farm -
Originally posted 42 months ago.
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mamabird5o edited this topic 42 months ago.
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Posted 42 months ago.
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Posted 41 months ago.
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Posted 41 months ago.
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Definitely not quite right w.eras.
Here at the Surrey Art Gallery, where we're building the Glocal project, there's also an Edward Burtinsky exhibit of photography that records the impact of industrial progress and human development. You're photo seems to be doing the same.
I love the sky and light peaking in through the thin ridge of trees in the background. Well done.
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phonehome: Great submissions. The first one in particular is quite disconcerning.
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Originally posted 41 months ago.
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Simon Blackley edited this topic 41 months ago.
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