Jessica Hays - Skeletons

Recently I seem to of become obsessed with The Golden Spiral.  I find myself putting overlays on photographs to see how well the image fits within this technique that has been around for centuries.  Indeed, I have been aware of it for what seems decades, but this is the first time I have pursued it with any vigour.

So, when I came across Skeletons by Jessica Hays, I instantly saw it within its composition.  The telltale sign was the line of trees on the left arching upwards as they follow the curve of the spiral and the mound falls within its boundaries. So strong was the realisation of what I was seeing that it almost felt like an aesthetic experience of epiphany, a realisation of my own development of seeing and understanding of imagery.

 But there is another element that the subtlety of the golden spiral integrates with that is possible to overlook.  The golden ratio is a compositional tool to help the artist build an image, to create a masterpiece worthy of the viewer’s attention, and to work on a level that can go unnoticed.  Techniques such as the rule of thirds can be fairly obvious, after all it is only necessary to split the photograph into thirds, either horizontally, vertically or both, which makes it easy to spot.  But with the subtlety employed by the golden ratio means it can go unnoticed with other techniques, and in this particular case, it has worked well with the Deadpan style of photography.

The deadpan style is literally trying to recreate what is in front of the camera without any embellishment.  There’ll be no strategic placing of subject matter to coincide with the rule of thirds, no exaggerated use of balance and symmetry to emphasise beauty, just a presentation of the scene as it appears to the photographer.  Think of documentary photography in its purest form and what you will see is the deadpan style in any genre, be it portrait, still life or landscape. 

Skeletons goes some way to in using this style, in presenting the scene as closely as it was seen when photographed.  There has been the avoidance of beauty to a certain degree, though the crispness of the early morning light does imbue the scene with a degree of beautification, but it has avoided the pitfalls of being picturesque.  The colours look realistic, they are not too vibrant or too subdued, but are set at the right level and give the impression of realism.  Indeed, the scene has a large element of realism, a sense of veracity that appears so natural, it is easy to imagine walking in the hills and seeing the scene.  It has the impression of being unmanipulated, a sense of realism that adds to the photograph and helps to communicate the naturalness of the scene.

But we are now in a strange predicament.  The photograph has the atmosphere of realism even though the compositional tool of the golden spiral has been used.  On one hand it’s a realistic creation of the scene in front of the camera, capturing the authenticity of the world, and on the other it has been created with the use of the golden spiral to appeal to the viewer.  Having this contradiction, this representation of the two different agendas of realism and compositional manipulation sitting comfortably together demonstrates the magnificence of Skeletons by Jessica Hays.