Yes, it’s a Chanel Bottle with KARJAKA photoshopped on to it. No, Chanel has not called begging for KARJAKA… yet. It’s a black box, a floating orb of wonder and nothingness, and it looks…fine.
It is easy to do what you know. Me, I know eyes, the soul, heart, that grey area in the deep recesses of the mind. There’s a conversation in portraiture. Unfortunately products don’t talk back, let alone Fashion with a capital F. Products, Fashion have mission statements and mantras behind their shiny exteriors. That primary message? Love me, adore me, own me. Advertising 101, yet not far off from humans. Have you been on social media recently?Portraiture, however elicits the response to be seen,… to be seen when hiding in plain sight.
So a marriage must take shape in KARJAKA’s arduous journey to develop. Marry portraiture and product, portraiture and fashion. Don’t get wrapped up in the model, the client, the song of the soul. Tell the narrative embracing it all. So, we, I, get uncomfortable. Try this, try that.
Gambling is about strategy, investment, and when done right, calculated risk. When on photo set charting new territory you’re never really quite sure what’s going to work. You have a rough idea, you storyboard your plans and then life happens as they say. For me, black on black, on black, on more black, with a black bottle and new faces/personalities equals brilliant, and not in that Oppenheimer sort of way. Alas, you have to start somewhere.
Then, through a slew of frustration and chaos while trying to collect your thoughts, there’s a glimmer of hope. The closeness of two models willing to experiment, a lighting concept that stays true to the classic ways without looking too dated, a bit of playfulness with the fashion styling, and remembering you’re not a total novice a la prince Myshkin, an image is made. Not bad, not great… adequate.
It’s not my job to say how the photos came out, good, bad or otherwise. I have feelings and inclincations naturally, but more importantly I tried something, something different, and that is always good. And if you’re reading this and getting the gist of things, you’re up for trying things, too.
We artists leave the judgement up to our audience. It’s the learning process us gamblers bet on, because that’s all we’re really looking for, a bit more information to heighten our skills as we reach for beyond adequate, maybe even something extraordinary. In today’s world you have to be willing to risk it all, or get cast aside as the youngins come around the corner a knockin’.
