Charlie
St John
Style
Colour and contrast
Intention
My interpretation
Daren You is a contemporary photographer who creates fearful and ominous imagery. his images contain either one unclear human-like figure (often missing features and other details) or completely empty landscapes. He primarily takes photos in the landscape orientation. You takes images from angles that also strike fear in viewers; as seen in the photo besides this, he takes the image from a lower point, looking up at the shadowy subject. this is an angle that is supposed to make us feel inferior and small compared to the subject as it towers over us. the 3rd image down is also a uneasy picture and angle. This image is at eye-level with the figure, apart from the fact that their is an absence of eyes or any facial feature for a matter of fact.
Daren uses black and white film. this black and white is also quite foggy and almost like they submerged it in water before developing it. this gives every photo a ghostly glow, also adding to the horror aspect of his images. He uses contrast to remove detail and features.
'One definition of chaos is when nonlinear things are impossible to predict and control. If law and order rule the universe, chaos, by contrast, is the totally disorganized opposite.
I have been exploring how to let the image beyond the border of the photography to let them create themselves and avoid manipulation by photographers and cameras. For this series, I used several techniques (both historical and contemporary) to process the same image: reticulated film through a high temperature developing process, liquid emulsion, inkjet printing, darkroom printing and encaustic painting. I then merged all these processes together by using a film camera to re-photograph the prints from these processes.
I’m curious about what the image will become after so many processes. What type of photograph is it? Is it still an image? How do I name it? The result is random—no one knows what it will look like. It’s impossible to control the result by layering these processes on top of the same images, together.
The dark tone in my images references the universe. There is always a horizon line in my photographs. It is a metaphor for infinity and emptiness, which challenging the definition of the border.' - Daren You, from:
Daren You is personally one of my favourite photographers who i believe to be extremely underrated. his images and composition is very inspiring to my work as i love the paranormal look and the meanings behind his work.