Page 10 - NyghtVision Magazine Volume 3 #1

10 FIRST IMPRESSIONS

hy do I linger on this? Because One of my favorite early illustrations of this is
I find the encounter emblematic the Paris-Las Vegas Hotel fountain (see right).
W of NyghtFalcon and their pho- It is simultaneously overwhelming and sleekly
tography when I met them. Unconventional in elegant. The angle of the photo is disturbing
their approach. With the capacity to express with its elongated, backward “C” arc on which
what can be an uncomfortable, raw emotion. all the monuments hang. The palette of colors
And brutally honest. is relatively restrained, their intensity is not.

he proportions of the
pilings in the photo of
T Battery Park in New
York (see left) gives me a simi-
lar off-kilter sense. The pilings
force my eyes to confront them
while what I really want to do is
follow the quay into the distance;
but I’m constantly dragged back
by the pilings. There’s very little
in the photo to relieve this ten-
sion. The salmon pink railings
on the quay seem at odds with
the piling’s density; the railings’s
airy construction reinforces the
mocking invitation to nowhere.
I’ve always liked this image with
Carpe diem, carpe momento, carpe photo. its use of intense colors in a semi-bucolic set-
ting—yet there’s a note of discord, a bit remi-
hen I met NyghtFalcon in 2007 they niscent of Magritte. The equilibrium of these
were shooting from the hip. Some- buildings is simultaneously upset and intensi-
Wtimes literally. They were hungry fied by the shadow.
for images and gorged themselves, tirelessly
stalking their surroundings, moving as quickly yghtFalcon’s early photos of women
as they could, recording thousands and thou- were a bit of a shock for me. Not be-
sands of shots. N cause of the content, but by their insis-
tence on bringing the subject into close contact
W hat is revealed for me by the early photos is, with the viewer. Bringing the subject to light.
in large part, this unconventionality, the raw- To the point of not adding light if this is how
ness and honesty and the beginning of what the integrity of the image was maintained.
are now intrinsic qualities of their work: a This proximity, whether through the purity
characteristic type of framing and saturated, of emotion we see in the women or simply by
intense color. not masking imperfections, is coupled with

nyghtvision magazine volume 3, number 1, WINTER 2013