Other words that mean the same as zany are:
- crazy
- wacky
- screwy
- unconventional
Gilbert Garcin's photographs fit the description of 'zany' exactly and Garcin also takes viewpoint and composition very seriously and thinks about it very carefully in his photographs.
Gilbert Garcin's Photographs
I researched a bit about Gilbert Garcin to find out what he was trying to say with his photographs and the meaning behind his work. I found this article on the internet and found it quite useful:
Source:
http://www.gilbert-garcin.com/textes/barbara_oudiz.htm
Meeting with Gilbert Garcin
By Barbara Oudiz
Published in EYEMAZING Issue 7 – Summer 2005 - www.eyemazing.com
Garcin poses in his pictures as an ordinary Mr. Everybody, dressed in a non-descript tan overcoat. In fact, 75 year-old Gilbert Garcin’s photographs and method are outrageously unique, and the story behind his career no less extraordinary. Mr. Everybody does raise, nonetheless, a number of universal questions about the meaning of human existence – or the lack thereof. By placing himself, via the character he embodies, in absurd or inextricable situations – labyrinths, concentric circles, deserts, or struggling with boulders, like a modern-day Sisyphus - he invites us to ponder such philosophical quandaries as time, solitude and the weight of existence.
At the age of 65 Garcin gave up his business, began taking photographs that resembled still lifes, and entered a few of them in a competition that had been organised in his region, in the south of France. He won first prize, which consisted of a week-long workshop under the direction of Pascal Dolemieux during the festival Rencontres internationales in Arles. That’s all it took for Garcin to plunge head-first into photography with the energy and enthusiasm of a 20-year old. Ten years later, he has published four books*, his work has been shown in dozens of exhibitions in France and abroad, and many of his photographs are now in prestigious private and public collections.
Despite his weighty subjects, this thoroughly charming and tranquil man frequently laughs when talking about the way the world turns, and never seems to take himself seriously. At his gallery Les Filles du Calvaire, in Paris, he talked about his personal perception of his photographs and the amazing way he goes about making them.
What drives you to make photographs?
"We accumulate a lot of questions and thoughts in the course of a lifetime. I find that photography is an absolutely fabulous way to share these questions and points of views with others. This is the principal and most profound r eason I take photographs. I am not out to demonstrate something. My sole motivation stems from the need I feel - that we all feel, to varying degrees - to communicate with the world around us. As it turns out, those who buy my photographs often identify with the situation or the character. That’s why I chose to create a character that looks like 'Mr. Everybody' in the first place."
Do you see an evolution in your style over the years?
"I don’t think so, although I make fewer mistakes in technique now than I used to. But I strongly believe in the principle of producing a series in which there is continuity. That’s why the character is always wearing the same overcoat. That’s also why I cut out my face from the photos I took 10 years ago and glue it into the new images. I don’t show myself aging, in order to get that idea of continuity."
There are recurrent themes in your work related to the idea of time: your character holds clocks, walks in concentric circles or labyrinths, is seen counting endlessly. How would you describe your own relationship to time?
"Like everyone else’s : total anguish. Time just flows through our fingers. I began photography when I was 65. Sometimes my friends and family think I am in too much of a hurry. But I have no choice; I don’t have another 50 years ahead of me! This being said, I’m not trying to get a message across with my images. I’m not saying 'this is the way things are' but rather, 'this is the way I feel them'. Those feelings are not always fun, but they aren’t negative either."
How did you come up with the title of your 2002 book “Simulacres” (Enactments)?
"I spent a long time looking through dictionaries, trying to find the right title. I thought this word fit because it refers to things that look like they’re real, but aren’t real. And everyone knows that these photographs are of me, and yet not of me, they are about a character I am playing."
There is also an underlying humour in your images…
"On the contrary, it is not underlying; I try to place it on the surface! The kind of exercise I am doing with my photographs can easily become pompous, pedantic, or overly serious. It’s important to put a layer of humour right away, to let people enter into contact with the subject. Humour for me is not an end in itself, but thank goodness it’s there!"
Critics and others often describe your artistic vision as Surrealist, do you agree with that view?
"My pictures often contain a notion of absurdity, which is one of the characteristics of surrealism. It is only in terms of this vision of absurdity that I identify with Surrealism. I love Magritte and can’t stand Dali, for example. In fact, I identify more closely with Douanier Rousseau than with the Surrealists!"
Source:
http://www.gilbert-garcin.com/textes/barbara_oudiz.htm
Meeting with Gilbert Garcin
By Barbara Oudiz
Published in EYEMAZING Issue 7 – Summer 2005 - www.eyemazing.com
Garcin poses in his pictures as an ordinary Mr. Everybody, dressed in a non-descript tan overcoat. In fact, 75 year-old Gilbert Garcin’s photographs and method are outrageously unique, and the story behind his career no less extraordinary. Mr. Everybody does raise, nonetheless, a number of universal questions about the meaning of human existence – or the lack thereof. By placing himself, via the character he embodies, in absurd or inextricable situations – labyrinths, concentric circles, deserts, or struggling with boulders, like a modern-day Sisyphus - he invites us to ponder such philosophical quandaries as time, solitude and the weight of existence.
At the age of 65 Garcin gave up his business, began taking photographs that resembled still lifes, and entered a few of them in a competition that had been organised in his region, in the south of France. He won first prize, which consisted of a week-long workshop under the direction of Pascal Dolemieux during the festival Rencontres internationales in Arles. That’s all it took for Garcin to plunge head-first into photography with the energy and enthusiasm of a 20-year old. Ten years later, he has published four books*, his work has been shown in dozens of exhibitions in France and abroad, and many of his photographs are now in prestigious private and public collections.
Despite his weighty subjects, this thoroughly charming and tranquil man frequently laughs when talking about the way the world turns, and never seems to take himself seriously. At his gallery Les Filles du Calvaire, in Paris, he talked about his personal perception of his photographs and the amazing way he goes about making them.
What drives you to make photographs?
"We accumulate a lot of questions and thoughts in the course of a lifetime. I find that photography is an absolutely fabulous way to share these questions and points of views with others. This is the principal and most profound r eason I take photographs. I am not out to demonstrate something. My sole motivation stems from the need I feel - that we all feel, to varying degrees - to communicate with the world around us. As it turns out, those who buy my photographs often identify with the situation or the character. That’s why I chose to create a character that looks like 'Mr. Everybody' in the first place."
Do you see an evolution in your style over the years?
"I don’t think so, although I make fewer mistakes in technique now than I used to. But I strongly believe in the principle of producing a series in which there is continuity. That’s why the character is always wearing the same overcoat. That’s also why I cut out my face from the photos I took 10 years ago and glue it into the new images. I don’t show myself aging, in order to get that idea of continuity."
There are recurrent themes in your work related to the idea of time: your character holds clocks, walks in concentric circles or labyrinths, is seen counting endlessly. How would you describe your own relationship to time?
"Like everyone else’s : total anguish. Time just flows through our fingers. I began photography when I was 65. Sometimes my friends and family think I am in too much of a hurry. But I have no choice; I don’t have another 50 years ahead of me! This being said, I’m not trying to get a message across with my images. I’m not saying 'this is the way things are' but rather, 'this is the way I feel them'. Those feelings are not always fun, but they aren’t negative either."
How did you come up with the title of your 2002 book “Simulacres” (Enactments)?
"I spent a long time looking through dictionaries, trying to find the right title. I thought this word fit because it refers to things that look like they’re real, but aren’t real. And everyone knows that these photographs are of me, and yet not of me, they are about a character I am playing."
There is also an underlying humour in your images…
"On the contrary, it is not underlying; I try to place it on the surface! The kind of exercise I am doing with my photographs can easily become pompous, pedantic, or overly serious. It’s important to put a layer of humour right away, to let people enter into contact with the subject. Humour for me is not an end in itself, but thank goodness it’s there!"
Critics and others often describe your artistic vision as Surrealist, do you agree with that view?
"My pictures often contain a notion of absurdity, which is one of the characteristics of surrealism. It is only in terms of this vision of absurdity that I identify with Surrealism. I love Magritte and can’t stand Dali, for example. In fact, I identify more closely with Douanier Rousseau than with the Surrealists!"
Plan/ Ideas for Shoot 9
- Zany- Abstract
- Gilbert Garcin
- Black and white
- Society- What am I saying with photographs?
- Viewpoint and composition
- Dramatic
- Street Photography- previous photographs
What I am saying with my photographs:
- “Life is like a mountain. But no matter how much you climb, you never reach the top”
- “Just hanging by a thread”
- “Always on the edge”
- “Want, want, want. This world is so full of consumerist twats! Material items and more materialistic goods. More and more of the same shit. What we have just isn’t good enough apparently so we’ll make more shit, as long as it’s new and a bit more flashy and a bit more sparkly. More technology that we don’t feckin need. More consumerism and more unnecessary damage to the environment to produce the unnecessary items that this world just so desperately needs. I’m so sick of all those companies exploiting the public just till make more money. Money, money, money. That’s all this feckin world cares about, little pieces of paper with the feckin queens head on it. Aren’t there more important things in life? What about conserving the environment eh?”
- “We are just insignificant specs of dust in this universe. We are so unimportant and meaningless. We are simply mere puppets of society and don’t make a feckin difference in this world. Society controls us, not the other way around.”
What I'm going to do:
- Use same person in every Photograph.
- Photograph’s of person like a puppet in different positions.
- Photograph’s of person looking small and innocent- looking up pathetically.
- Photograph of bank note (£20 note).
- Photograph of person grabbing and pulling on one side of imaginary huge bank note.
- Photograph of same person pulling on other side of imaginary huge bank note.
- Photograph’s of trees, plants and nature.
Contact Sheets for 1st Shoot/ First Attempt
The photos of my model in this shoot weren't ideal because the lighting was bad and there was too much distraction in the background.
Best Images for Shoot 1
Contact Sheets for 2nd Shoot
I did the shoot again but this time in a studio with proper lighting. However the lighting is still not ideal as the photos are a little too dark. I also forgot to take the photos in black and white but I can edit that later.
Best Images for Shoot 2
Photos from my previous shoots that I will incorporate into my final pieces
The process of editing and putting my final images together
zany_shoot-_£20_note_issue.docx |
I edited my photos to all be in black and white like Garcin’s photos. I changed the brightness and increased the contrast. I also added noise so it would look more like Abbott’s photo’s. I used many different applications and tools in Photoshop to cut, move, distort, transform and manipulate my photographs including; magnetic lasso tool, quick selection tool, rectangular marquee tool, line tool, eraser tool, crop tool, transform and filter tools.
Final Finished Images
I feel that my final images/ pieces fit very well into the description of ‘viewpoint and composition with a dramatic feel.’ I’ve used the golden section, rule of thirds, framing and straight and diagonal lines in the photos of buildings from my previous shoots which create a strong and dramatic feel. The viewpoint and angle of the photographs is low down and looking upwards and I feel they resemble Berenice Abbott’s photographs quite well. The tall buildings look as if they are towering over you in quite a scary and dramatic way. They feel overpowering. The images of the human puppets hanging from cranes and buildings definitely feels dramatic as they are hanging from just a thread and it would be scary for the person, especially if they fell. The image of the people fighting over a £20 note also feels dramatic and you can feel the tension in the photograph. They are precariously standing on a building which builds suspension and tension as they could easily fall off in The butterfly on the fire escape and the plant/ tree on the building represent the contrast between man-made structures/ technology and the natural world. Sometimes I feel that there is too much emphasis in this world on consumerism, advertising and technology and not enough emphasis on the beauty and importance of the environment and nature. their fluster and struggle to get the money. This photograph also represents the danger of greed and money wealth.
Final Final Finished Pieces
The quotes used in my final pieces were taken from a screenplay that I wrote which was set in Belfast. I feel that they reflect my images quite well.