*ooof*: The Siren’s Call

It is happening with a frighteningly increasing frequency by now: Every time I have decided on an *ooof*, by magic a new image from the Ascroft shoot appears and completely f*cks up my publication plan. I love being up-to-date, but I frankly cannot keep up with this frantic schedule. Who is coordinating the release of these images, please? Armitage? Well, if so, then Armitage! Cut me some slack, man. I am losing it, and I hardly have any spittle left to drool with. No sooner have I decided to give some love to the press photography of Nearmy, that my senses are bombarded with another RARA. And yes, my senses – not just my sense of seeing – because the images *speak* to me. I can hear them and I can feel them. There is just a shocking lack of olfactory sensation in them, but maybe if I uncork that bottle of Old Spice I get what I want. Just kidding – I am sure RA is not an Old Spice man.

With several analyses of RARA images under my belt, I am equally mystified and fascinated at how different Armitage comes across in the Nearmy shoot. Both photographers have no doubt photographed the same man. And yet there is something different about the resulting images. And I am not talking about the obvious differences such as studio vs. outdoor, or my usual bane – bearded vs. delicious non-bearded RA. Yeah, I had to get that little dig in there. Of course, the studio photography of Ascroft yields a far more polished product than the press photos of Nearmy. This, and I must stress that point, is not a reflection on the technical abilities of the photographers! It reflects the different purposes of the shoots – a photo call as opposed to a studio shoot. The sitting with Ascroft, I have no doubt, probably took several hours, at least an afternoon, considering all the costume changes, and is intended as illustrations for editorials in glossy magazines, whereas Nearmy probably only had an hour, if at all, and her resulting images are targeted at newspapers and online publications. Also, Ascroft had ample time to enhance his images in post-production, while a press-photographer like Nearmy has to tidy up her shots quickly and get them out as soon as possible in order for them to be syndicated to the press.

It comes down to the question of “real-ness” again. The studio images are far more deliberate and directed than the press shots. In studio, photographer and sitter had plenty of time to work together on creating an idealised version of Armitage – complete with choice of styling, make-up (you bet! At least in the shape of some powder to stop Armitage glistening and gleaming like the Arkenstone), background, pose, and careful post-production (the offensive photoshopping of lines) all of which are employed to produce a highly aestheticised version of Armitage, the hot heart-throb actor. In Nearmy’s shot, Armitage is still an heart-throb actor, but he is more real. There is an immediacy to these images, less distance, if you want. The camera has been used as a tool of documentary, of capturing the Armitage of here and now, rather than the Armitage of eternity. Nearmy contextualises her sitter automatically. And as such, and on our on-going search for the “real Richard Armitage”, this kind of photography comes closer to what we are seeking to verify than what we are given by Ascroft. Armitage becomes more tangible, and simultaneously more human.

Even when the boundaries between documentary and studio are blurred, there is still a discernible difference. I have chosen today’s *ooof* especially for the purpose of discussing that. Who am I kidding? I have chosen it because I love love LOVE this image I love love LOVE Armitage’s face in this. And forearm. And open collar. And…

Can I have that on my window-sill, please?
Richard Armitage as a Dreamboat, photographed by Robert Ascroft, 2013
Sourced via Ranet.com

This is image is an example of those blurred boundaries that I mentioned earlier. We have Armitage posing here for Ascroft again. He is sitting on a window sill, dressed extra-casually in denim shirt and trousers. His shirt sleeves have been rolled up, exposing his sin-inducing forearms. The scene is distinctly different here from the other Ascroft images (with the exception, obviously, over the other two images from the window series – and the images shot on location in the street): Most of the RARA images (I really like my little acronym that I have coined – there is something about Ascroft’s way of shooting RA that makes you want to roar…) have been shot in a somewhat artificial setting. By that I mean that they have been set up in a studio against a neutral backdrop, giving the resulting images a feeling of artificiality because they are not incidental but clearly posed and carefully arranged. This picture, however, shows RA sitting on the windowsill in an industrial environment. There are bare brick walls in the background, a rough, single-glazed window with translucent glass. There is an electricity box visible behind Armitage, as well as some metal chains and a steel girder. The chains are most probably part of the backdrop, which is also just about visible on the right hand side, for operating the heavy rolls of different colour paper that act as backgrounds. So while we are still in a photographer’s studio, the set-up is deliberately “incidental”, or realistic.

Through the window on Armitage’s right, natural light illuminates the sitter. This is beautiful – as a photographer I *always* prefer natural light to studio flash, because not only is it easier to shoot with, but it also has a quality that is hard to replicate with artificial light. In this case, we have a nice side-lighting effect that reveals Armitage’s face softly and almost completely. Only about a quarter of the face has traces of shadow on it – and Ascroft has cleverly directed Armitage to sit on the sill in such a way that the light from the window does *not* obscure RA’s left eye. We are thus afforded a glimpse of *both* eyes unobscured. Armitage’s position on the sill is very deliberate – not just for the angle of light, but also as to give the photographer space to actually move in and get the right perspective to shoot from.

The setting suggests to me that this is a transitory moment. We wouldn’t assume this setting to be a place to dwell in (this reading obviously is also informed by the fact that we *know* the image is part of a wider shoot with Ascroft, and thus does not take place in the sitter’s personal home, for instance). Much like the backgrounds a press photographer like Nearmy works with (places where the sitter is quickly arranged for a shoot, clickclickclick and done). While the denotation says “loft”, there are connotations that go with the setting – adjectives like “cool”, “edgy”, “gritty”, “unconventional”, “relaxed” come to mind, all working to evoke a certain interpretation of the subject – as an artist, an unconventional, unusual man, a free-thinking, free-living individual, focussed on the essentials of life, the “brick and mortar”, literally, rather than the superficial beauty of glossy, interior-designed spaces.

This is also reflected in Armitage’s styling and pose in the shot. Fitting for an industrial setting, Armitage is dressed in denim, head to toe, actually. His denim shirt is left open at the collar, exposing part of his neck and chest. He has casually rolled up his sleeves, giving us an enticing view of his forearm and with the sidelight from the window catching the little hairs on his arms, do you also feel this irresistible pull to reach out and stroke the fuzz? Ahhhh… Eh, where were we? *guyltyrummagesforherwitsinthepoolofdrool* Particularly the pose has me wiggle my bum nervously on my seat my heart in flutters. Here is RA sitting rather naturally, not artificially standing in front of a pristine white backdrop, with his right leg drawn up on the ledge, resulting in an open-legged stance. The view of an unprotected package core is always a thought-inducing sight. How can we help it, we are only cave women. There is a delicious promise in that, as it speaks of unguardedness and invitation to explore. The just-about-noticable adam’s apple and the tendon on the neck are details that amplify this, as does the slightly bunched shirt over RA’s belly. “The promise of oftness beneath”??? This is almost a version of the Diet Coke window-cleaner outside the women’s office – not a cerebral man, but a man who is supposed to appeal with his sexual magnetism rather than with his inner beauty. And all of that without a single pec on sight! *sighs*

You would think that a deliberately open pose like this, addressing our ovaries baser instincts directly, would go along with Armitage’s trademark under-brow-smoulder. But oh no! Not here. And this is probably where my fascination with this image comes from. For once we have an image of RA where he has to look up into the camera. Ascroft is probably shooting this while standing in front of his seated subject. Armitage has still habitually angled his face slightly down, but that forces him to look upwards with his eyes. His brows are raised and his eyes appear wider open than in most other shots of him. Is it just me who finds this facial expression friendlier than the usual? There is less of the narrow-eyed predator and more of a wide-eyed boy wonder. A hint of vulnerability and naiveté are in those eyes, but also a large appeal to our trust and love. Armitage smiles with his eyes, particularly his left eye – and the overall message of the facial expression is that of a smile, even though the mouth does not curve up to match the benign, trusting friendliness of the eyes. On top of that, the slightly higher perspective makes Armitage’s lower lip look bigger than the usual thin lip line. There’s a hint of a soft-promise kiss there, and you can almost imagine the softness of the otherwise usually rather ascetic lips, a promise of warmth, and sweetness and sensuality.

Getting back to where I started from – so how are Ascroft’s shots different to Nearmy’s when I have attempted to prove that this shot is so similar in terms of the sense of informality and reality in the background? For me, Ascroft’s images simply have less immediacy to Nearmy’s. It is hard to tell whether my impression is guided by my hermeneutic knowledge – carefully planned studio portrait vs. time-efficient and background-challenged photo call. Nearmy has to work with what she has been given – that is, a setting she might not have chosen herself to take the *ideal* photo; Ascroft has chosen the locations himself. In his images there is less sense of “The subject is gonna get up and walk off” as there is in the Sydney images. There is contextualisation, but it is artificial, deliberate context: a portrait of the actor in a loft-y setting.

The window sill decoration Armitage looks much softer than ordinary angel Armitage in Nearmy’s photo. Some of that is due to the light, the soft, glass-filtered natural light in Ascroft’s shot vs. the harsh direct sunlight in Nearmy’s photo. That does not mean that this image is out of focus, but there is a feeling of hazy distance, while the Nearmy image was crispy clear, more immediate, more “touchable”, more slice-of-life. Here is a feeling of cotton wool, cloudy dreaminess, some of which is caused by the look on Armitage’s face, but not all. Ascroft’s work can be considered more deliberate and more aesthetic, because it is carefully composed from the placing of the sitter’s head in front-centre of the strip of brick wall to the many vertical lines in the image. It is compositorially more pleasing with the irregular pattern of verticals and the visual contradiction of straight lines of the inanimate objects against the soft contours of the human body. There is, again, more “soul” and “sublime” in Ascroft’s interpretation of Armitage than there is in Nearmy’s, but there is more “here” and “real” in hers.

The dreamboat is in full sail, though. Invitingly, friendly, promisingly. Again, I can hear the call. I want to sail that ship. It’s as if the sirens have switched bodies. All of a sudden we are Ulysses, sitting on shore, and the siren is on the dreamboat, beckoning, teasing, pulling. I’d love to be the first mate, no doubt. Siren Armitage, you can tie us to the mast, if you want. We’re all aboard.

~ by Guylty on May 28, 2013.