Gregory Crewdson

This photographer’s name came up during my pre-oral and I thought it would be a nice thing to share with everyone. I had seen some of the work before, though I didn’t recognize the name when it was mentioned. Crewdson makes really elaborate sets and hires actors for his photographs. Apparently these are done without any manipulation in photoshop. I think a lot of this work  inherits interesting conventions from the history of painting. They seem to fit together as images in ways that few photographs do…. they just feel like paintings. Everything about them seems incredibly deliberate.

Most of these seem to be about American domestic suburban life with some sort of ambiguously unsettling (and sometimes explicitly creepy) undertone. I think they are really beautiful, rich photos. Because they hold so well together as images, I actually become genuinely interested in subject matter… which as many of you know usually puts me off or is totally besides the point for me. Does anyone know more about his work, or any other photographers who are doing something similar? What do people think?