Image courtesy of Stuart Fisher. All rights reserved.

Intrigue and Illusion in Concept Photography

Pixel Magazine
Jul 28, 2017 · 6 min read

by Emily von Hoffmann

Stuart Fisher trades in illusions. He likens his photography to sleight of hand, delighting in the ability to produce something magical to the lens, with wires, weights, and tape hidden from view. Despite the fanciful images that result, Fisher is a left-brained artist, describing his process as rooted in problem-solving. In FloodLight, he creates contrast with somber lighting and dancing figures, in a flooded but familiar-looking room that leaves viewers wondering what happened just a moment before. For Polarr, I chatted with him about the project.


Emily von Hoffmann: Can you explain the concept behind “FloodLight” for our readers?

Stuart Fisher: In times of devastation, the natural tendency is to become overwhelmed with feelings of desperation and sorrow. When events are out of our control, how an individual reacts to a tragedy is often the only thing we have the power to change. FloodLight seeks to visually juxtapose a tragic situation and the individual’s ability to choose how they react to it.

The set is a simple, familiar-feeling room with a doorway. The room has a few inches of flooding leaving the viewer to question what has just happened. The tone of the set and lighting is somber and serious. The dancing couples introducing a feeling of hopefulness and optimism.

As the dancers move, they disrupt the flooded water, representing the dancer’s defiance to the natural human reaction to tragedy.

Editor’s note: Photographers — interested in sharing some of your images in a format like this? Get in touch at emily@polarr.co.

Image courtesy of Stuart Fisher. All rights reserved.

EvH: You have a really interesting approach, which you describe as based in problem-solving. Can you talk more about this, and how the process of overcoming challenges (technically, creatively) helps your projects develop?

SF: As a young child, I was really intrigued by card magicians’ use of sleight of hand to make their audiences ask ‘how did you do that?!’ I think this stayed with me and I take this into photography. Sleight of hand is meant to be seen from the audience’s viewpoint, meanwhile, all the trickery is done out of sight or by distraction. I like to approach photography, in the same way, constructing the perfect ‘illusion’ from the lens’ viewpoint, while wires, weights, stands and bits of tape hold everything together just out of sight! I believe that just about anything is possible in camera, it’s just a matter of turning the problem on its head enough times until the solution presents itself!

EvH: How did the idea for “FloodLight” arise, and how did it change from the initial concept? Any sources of inspiration you can share?

SF: I work alongside my partner, Margaret Singsen, who is an Art Director and the other half of my creative process. We operate as sounding boards for each other to explore ideas we want to execute but which fall outside of what is possible in our professional work.

Floodlight was a concept which evolved from a previous project we did with dancers; SplashDance — That project featured dancers jumping through a waterfall of paint and required intricate timing to capture the moment our dancers penetrated the waterfall in-camera. For our next project, we wanted to drive the challenge further by capturing two dancers simultaneously in addition to introducing a narrative to the series, pushing it beyond a spectacle for its own sake, and so FloodLight evolved.

Image courtesy of Stuart Fisher. All rights reserved.

EvH: Do you have a favorite image from the project, and can you tell us the story behind it? What makes it unique or lucky or memorable to you?

SF: My favorite of the series is the one with the male dancer leaping high while the female leans backward arm outstretched [top]. I love this image because it was so spontaneous. We briefed the dancers quite loosely, allowing them to bring their creativity to the project and encourage a culture of creative freedom on set. We had been experimenting with a few different poses leading up to this. Nick, our male dancer in the image, had been typically perfectionist (as most dancers are!) and had not yet found something he was happy with. Then he had an idea and asked me to ‘just shoot when I jump!’. As I counted him in I had no idea what he was going to do and was concentrating so much on timing that I didn’t really see the pose. When the shot came up on screen I was stunned that he had got so high and the splash was perfect, we knew we had captured something special.

Image courtesy of Stuart Fisher. All rights reserved.

EvH: There’s a really astonishing variety in your portfolio, from your kind of pop style in your “technology,” and “accessories” images, to your grungier yet whimsical conceptual projects like “FloodLight,” and your more surreal images in “Fruit Where it Shouldn’t Be” and “Men of Action,” and your other mesmerizing geometric images in “Blocks.” So, what do you see as the through line in your work? How would you describe the core of your aesthetic?

SF: I began studying graphic design at university before transferring to photography, and I take this love of graphic lines, composition and color use into my aesthetic. Generally, everything in my photography is considered and deliberately composed. I enjoy playing with color composition and like to use it to complement carefully crafted lighting treatments to allow my subjects to be represented in their ‘best light’ (excuse the pun!).

My personal projects are an opportunity to explore challenges beyond what I am usually commissioned to execute. I enjoy the freedom of working without the need to satisfy a client and can push a project in the direction I want, generating problems for myself which I need to overcome, be that creating a 12ft wide — 16ft high wall of liquid paint, or geometrically aligned, perfect prisms of sand! With projects like SplashDance and FloodLight, I particularly enjoyed the element of unpredictability which comes from working with large quantities of liquid. These shots were highly controlled right up to the ‘go’ point where they became about embracing the event the liquid delivered.

Image courtesy of Stuart Fisher. All rights reserved.

EvH: What’s on your creative wish list for a future project? Anything you can share that you’ve been kicking around as an idea?

SF: I am a big fan of shoots which involve a lot of set-up and planning, all leading up to one ‘big moment’ where timing is critical and I have just one go at getting the shot. These projects generally have a long re-set time so getting my timing right is critical in order to not waste a take. I really enjoy the energy and excitement this generates on set and the pressure of everyone’s anticipation.

We have a number of other ideas in the works for projects of this nature involving athletes of various disciplines — we just need to find willing volunteers prepared to get soaked!


Stuart Fisher is an award-winning conceptual and fine-art photographer based in New York. Check out his work and follow him on Instagram.

Pixel Magazine

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A celebration of photography and art brought to you by Polarr. https://www.polarr.co.

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