This Portuguese photographer has just published his first monograph – I am reviewing his work wrt my alternate project proposal which involves photographing at night.
Prestes focuses on “capturing cinematic fleeting moments and exploring narratives of solitude and melancholy” (www.henriprestesp.com). Prestes “main” work is as a cinematographer which explains his style. His work often uses headlights as motivational lighting – i.e. the car can appear as a character (or container of characters) in the narrative, it’s importance in the frame indicated by its illuminated presence, but it can also serve to explain the lighting of the image (even if this is achieved by other means such as long exposure, light painting or additional lighting). He also uses atmospheric weather conditions (“the weather is an important part of my work” – Others Magazine) such as fog to disperse the light and help order the elements in the frame – meaning closer elements such as bushes hold a disturbing significance and more distant subjects meld into the background in a pictorial way that leaves information withheld in a fashion that can be sinister.
There are similarities with the previous night series I completed for my first Landscape project of Level 2 (https://land515050.home.blog/2019/03/13/the-black-forest/):
Prestes uses colour more freely (than me) in a way reminiscent of Todd Hido, whose landscape work I have long admired. As discussed in my Documentary essay, colour is strongly associated with emotional meaning (“it’s always about warm and cold colour temperatures and how they interact together” – Others Magazine) so this allows him to convey narrative feeling very directly. It also allows the individual images to stand out while retaining a sense of cohesion in the series.
However occasionally for me Prestes can overdo it, for example using multiple colours, such as an image in a clearing where cold green and a warm yellow are used, I feel the scene becomes a set, constructed and hence rather unreal. However Prestes feels that realistic lighting is not always important, pointing out that the surreal can have a powerful emotional impact (Others Magazine).
As a complete contrast there are also a couple of b&w images – while I love b&w I did not see a strong reason for this – in fact colour images where most of the saturation has been drained out can be more effective in this situation, in my opinion. The lack of colour (in what is still a colour image) is suggestive, whereas the removal of colour by the photographer in an otherwise colour series conveys manipulation.
The monograph covers three sets: Journey, Deep of Night and Land, although the first two have different names on his website (The Velvet Kingdom and Perfect Darkness, respectively).
The last series, Land, is perhaps closest to Hido’s work in that some images feature occasional blurring as if viewed through a wet screen – this enhances the sense of the sublime, giving an awareness of looking from a separated vantage point.
Prestes also uses characters within his images. Unlike Hido they do not “star” in the work, nor are we allowed details as in the work of Crewdson. Prestes’s people are small in the landscape, usually silhouettes whose role will be fleshed out by the viewer’s imagination. This motif is used fairly consistently for the series Journey, and more sparingly elsewhere (which works better in my opinion). In a couple of scenes these characters meet. It might be interesting to take characters from two separate shots and allow them to meet in a third, building the narrative?
Narrative is the most important aspect, as confirmed by Prestes: “My main goal is to present an hint of a possible story with each picture” and then to “let the viewers create their own narrative when they see my pictures” (Others Magazine).
Prestes works with 35mm or 27mm prime lenses for a shot that places the subject within a wider environment, typically using long exposures on a tripod, and edits in Lightroom to adjust colour and texture.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
- Prestes, H. (s.d.) from Perfect Darkness. At: https://henriprestesp.com/perfectdark/el84hvdlyz951ugjma3ltmrchun230 (Accessed 18.10.2022)
BIBLIOGRAPHY
- Prestes, H. (2022) We Were Born Before The Wind. London: Setanta
- Others Magazine. Interview of Henri Prestes. At: https://www.othersmagazine.com/interview-henri-prestes-1 (Accessed 17.10.2022)
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