Many times in my life I’ve wondered why people do the dumb things we do. Sometimes we seem to work against our own interests, or we want contradictory things. I want to have a restful weekend but I don’t want to miss out on what’s happening. I want to fit in but I also want to stand out. With many things that I do, I sense these conflicts.
A lot of people I know are getting tested for ADHD, but I turned away from practical solutions to philosophy. I had studied a bit about desire – Sartre, and Freud and Jung – but it didn’t click for me until I saw video called ‘You are Two’ (on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/wfYbgdo8e-8). Maybe there is an actual physiological basis for these internal conflicts – not necessarily hemispheres as the video suggests, but perhaps between higher and lower parts of the brain. I have zero evidence or authority to suggest this, but it makes a lot of sense to me and the way I operate.
A frame of mind
So that was the idea I was playing with when the time came to make a photo project. Now normally if you’re planning a photographic work, you start with some visual inspiration. Photography, cinema, painting, video games, anything that can contribute to the look that you want. Your output is for the eyes; it makes sense to input with the eyes. But I didn’t have a look, I had only the idea, and no way to show it in a photo.
Things began to connect after finding this photo by Lukas Korschan. It wasn’t the look I had been seeking, but that hand, half-mindedly placed there… it represents our lower consciousness, the kernel of our operating system at work. This was a real way to show it. A series about hands. In ‘You Are Two’, the silent part of the brain is revealed through the hands.
What do hands do, though? They touch things, they hold things, they make signals – is that enough? A series of hands could easily be repetitive. A series should have variation and flow. The photo above was revelatory to me but a series of just these wouldn’t add much to this individual shot. So, I need a series about hands that is not boring and has some kind of development.
What does the subconscious do, again? I had to reinvestigate to know what my hands could do, and before too long I made a connection with Jung’s ‘collective unconscious’. In this theory, humankind shares these experiences or attitudes that are ingrained in every person’s subconscious mind. When these come to the surface they can be seen as ‘archetypes’, for example, the common characters of the hero, the artist, or the sage.
This was the solution – each photo can be a different character. In each, the hands are in conflict: the right hand is leading the way, going about its daily duties, but the left hand has a different, subconscious direction. It was just a matter of depicting the left hand as a lover, a hero, a jester, etc. A bit easier said than done, but still doable.
Manifestation
It took some time to develop a concept for each archetype, but eventually I had something for each one. Some were definitely sillier than others. With my partner, I went out a few times a week for roughly a month to make the images. I ended up shooting all of the concepts, but chose my favourite six. Someday I might return to redo the others, but for now I’m happy with these.
We worked in various locations around Melbourne with a minimal kit – mostly my 50mm prime and handheld speedlight with a little collapsible beauty dish.
A big advantage of working with a small setup and one model is the ability to redo shots. Sometimes you nail a shot on the first go, and it ends up as good as or better than you hoped, but sometimes you need to review and try again. Each time I redid a shot, it ended up better than before. I was lucky to have a model that agreed to help me again and again!
The series
The innocent: she prepares to cover up as she checks her makeup. This was shot in a lift. We had to ride along awkwardly when real passengers entered.
The explorer: she sips coffee during her commute, while wishing she could be going somewhere new. We weren’t actually in traffic here, and it was actually sunset.
The artist: she enjoys someone else’s work, while looking for her own creative outlet. This was during a stunning sunset at Brighton beach, Melbourne.
The outlaw: she drives home while fuming at the ticket she got. In this one, she seems of one mind, but I felt the reaction showed the difference. The left becomes destructive while the right deals with the situation practically. The ticket was a real one, courtesy of Yarra council. Thanks champs.
The jester: she relaxes with a drink while also stirring up trouble. This was shot under some beer taps. Finding the right angle here was an absolute pain.
The everyman: she has painted one hand, and now the other wants to be the same. This was a weird archetype to visualise, and it doesn’t come across well to viewers. But it makes sense to me. Another option would be the left hand following other hands on the escalator rail. But I like how simply odd this one is.
Account of hands
I’m quite happy with how these images came out. The key with that was being able to reshoot when I needed. More reshoots could add more images to the series one day. However, my favourite thing and also the weakest thing about this series is the concept. I’m so glad that I found a way to put these ideas into photographs, but it’s something that always needs explaining and even then it might not be understood properly.
In future, I’m not sure I’ll follow this approach every time because I nearly didn’t get a breakthrough. This is like starting to write a song with the lyrics first, rather than the music. Starting with the visuals seems much more reliable.
Twist and Click 