'Gurning' is the art of contorting your facial expression. Framed by a horse's collar, contestants are judged on their relative transformation before and after pulling a face. The late champion Peter Jackman described it;
Say you're oogly in the first place, and ya pull a gurn, an you don't look much different, well, just because you're oogly doesn't mean to say that ya win it. Because gurnin' means the Art of Pullin' Faces, not oogliness.
The images are neither manipulated nor orchestrated. In this sense they could be considered as newsworthy as any other. Arguably less objective was how I executed it. I had considered the aesthetic and technical aspects well in advance. I knew how I wanted the images to look but did not know if this was practicable. I experimented with settings at home and ultimately used manual settings; direct flash to ‘counteract’ the stage lighting, light the face and recede the background; and underexposed it a touch to avoid glare. I used the same settings for all the gurning portraits. I have chosen to present a typological series, with thumbnails of each gurner to enhance the humourous and peculiarity of the event. The purpose of this assignment I have produced a mock-up which follows at the bottom of this post.
Tommy Mattinson (below) won for the 13th time. Anne Woods, sadly retired after winning 28 times. The new champ is Claire Moffat. I'm happy with how the images turned out.
Tommy Mattinson (below) won for the 13th time. Anne Woods, sadly retired after winning 28 times. The new champ is Claire Moffat. I'm happy with how the images turned out.
Women's Champion: Claire Moffat
Previous winner Anne Woods
Publication Mock-up
I can't believe how normal they look - what a great contrast between the portraits! Well done for capturing what must have been a challenging situation. The solid black background really emphasises the faces. Good work
ReplyDeleteThanks Selina. Their transformations were quite incredible and funny - and the criteria they're judged on is just that...not just how ugly they are!!
ReplyDeleteYou've certainly followed your brief to yourself in such clear detail. Black and white is just right to show all the expressions. Amazing too how pleasant ordinariness and even good looks can become grotesque through facial muscles and expressions. I can see now why I was always being told off as a child for making faces. You know "If the wind blows your face will stay like that" etc!
ReplyDeleteCatherine
Its funny I was never a 'black and white' fan until this course and I kept finding subjects that seemed to work better without colour - it is somehow less distracting and 'poignant'. And as for gurning...well, my kids are very keen to have a go next year!!!
ReplyDelete