Annette Habel

Thanks Amanda for the link to this blog. The pic above goes to her blog and the one below her actual website//


She doesnt give a lot away on her website (understandably) but these images are shot with large format camera and only one frame is shot per fall. I like her ideas about how this records the moment in time when she actually pushes the button. A random moment is captured in the tightly controlled confines of the studio. She mentions this as a core theme to her work; "...falling itself eludes control."

She also alludes to her past in the circus/dance arena and mentions her use of acrobats falling from "real heights" in order for her to capture them. I am really blown away by her control of lighting and the contortions of the acrobats in the images. There is something very beautiful and powerful in the shots, and as she herslf points out, they confuse those looking at the prints as to whether the models are falling downwards or away and back from the viewer...What interests me is the difference between these shots and those below that are not of acrobats, but "of amateurs" . They look more 'natural' than the acrobatic images as they are people who have had to confront the issue of falling in her studio and overcome it in order to model for these prints. There seems something much more intimate (which i felt when shooting similar pictures of my friends) about this series but it the ideas that underpin them continue through into the acrobatic series.
All of these images, even Darzacq's and Yves Klein ring with a strong sense of intimacy. There is something incredible about seeing another human being suspended in a situation not otherwise seen. It is almost like they are exposing themselves to something that is otherwise unseen and personal...