PHILIP LORCA DICORCIA

Philip Lorca Dicorcia is seen to be one of the most important figures in contemporary art photography, he challenged and reinvented street photography in his epic career which spanned over 3 decades. His conceptual documentary style plays between the realms of fact and fiction..... Leaving the viewer wondering whether a scene is staged or spontaneous??

To truly appreciate his work and completely understand his style I started looking at his photography influences; Walker Evens, Garry Winogrand and Diane Arbus. All three photographers share the same style of photographing real, un glamourised people in their natural environments.

Diane Arbus

Diane Arbus was renowned for photographing people on the cusp of society, as did Dicorcia's in his Hustler series, where he photographed pimps, prostitutes and dealers on Santa Monica Boulevard (see below) 

Walker Evans

Garry Winogrand

It is clear to see from these images where Dicorcia adopted his voyeuristic, surveillance style from. 

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PHILIP LORCIA DICORCIA'S WORK;

HUSTLER

  This series was carried out in the early 90's and took him a couple of years and several trips to LA to complete. Its said that thisseries gained him wide recognition and was the turning point of his career.
The carefully placed flash lighting adds a dramatic, cinematic feel to his work, he simulates LA's evening skies, giving enriched colour and heightened detail. To me these images look like they could be stills from a film, drawing upon viewers imaginations to concoct and complete stories in their own minds.

"The idea of the images being cinematic had a lot to do with the fact that we were in Hollywood. I thought of the people as puppets who were unstrung, mercilessly disempowered — not preyed upon, but living on the edge and not by choice. The fetishization of self-destructive behavior is only romantic if you have a choice. So it was interesting to set up scenarios that often didn’t portray the real circumstances." Philip Lorca Dicorcia

LUCKY THIRTEEN

Again Dicorcia uses his signature strobe lighting effect, highlighting the subject, de contextualising the subject from her surroundings. Resulting in an artistically accepted image, from what is predominantly known as a seedy environment. 

STREETWORK

THOUSAND

A thousand polaroids, taken from test shots and also his personal life. 

HEADS

To me this is some of his best work, true to his own signature lighting style, still giving that cinematic feel, capturing individuals unknowingly, whilst they go about their day to day business.

He achieved this series by placing hidden flashguns in scaffolding in Times Square, different to his previous staged work i.e. Hustlers, he wanted to capture individuals lost in thought, in their own little worlds. This work reminds me of a phrase I recently heard "without our minds the world would not exist'

Although the individuals are spontaneously picked as they walk by, there are still elements of staged work i.e. in the pre thought out scene and lighting set up. 

A STORYBOOK LIFE

Photo's from his personal life.

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I came across a website called 'The Collective Shift' which documents some of his commissioned work, within the editorial and advertising fields.

Travel work...

Advertising work....

I especially like this image, how he's got the model to step into this pool of light, similar to his 'Heads' work. The shadow projected on the brick wall is again true to his cinematic style.

Editorial work...