curated theme
STAGED PHOTOGRAPHY I
The Two Ways of Life, Oscar Gustave Rejlander , Photograph
c. 1857 (photographed), 1925 (printed)
Cindy Sherman, Untitled Film Still #48, 1979. Gelatin silver print, 8 x 10 inches (20.3 x 25.4 cm). Gift of Barbara Lee, The Barbara Lee Collection of Art by Women. Courtesy the artist and Metro Pictures, New York. © Cindy Sherman
STAGED PHOTOGRAPHY I
Social media, particularly Instagram, has profoundly reshaped how we perceive reality—or at least, how we construct it. The images we consume create a parallel world, one that often feels more tangible than the reality around us. Whether preferred, rejected, or reinterpreted, these visual narratives shape our collective memory, forming an ongoing stream of culture where truth and fiction intertwine.
A photograph, whether a raw document of history or a carefully staged composition, is always more than just an image—it is a construction. Beyond documentary photography, staged photography allows artists to meticulously control every element in the frame, crafting narratives that externalize emotions, thoughts, and fantasies. This practice has long fascinated photographers, offering them the power to not just capture reality, but to create it.
A photograph, whether a raw document of history or a carefully staged composition, is always more than just an image—it is a construction. Beyond documentary photography, staged photography allows artists to meticulously control every element in the frame, crafting narratives that externalize emotions, thoughts, and fantasies. This practice has long fascinated photographers, offering them the power to not just capture reality, but to create it.
The Two Ways of Life, Oscar Gustave Rejlander , Photograph
c. 1857 (photographed), 1925 (printed)
Cindy Sherman, Untitled Film Still #48, 1979. Gelatin silver print, 8 x 10 inches (20.3 x 25.4 cm). Gift of Barbara Lee, The Barbara Lee Collection of Art by Women. Courtesy the artist and Metro Pictures, New York. © Cindy Sherman
Some of the earliest staged photographs emerged in the 1850s, when Oscar Gustave Rejlander and Henry Peach Robinson pioneered composite photography, merging multiple negatives to form dramatic tableaux. Rejlander’s The Two Ways of Life (1857) was a carefully orchestrated image, inspired by classical painting. Later, staged photography evolved through pictorialism and surrealism before becoming a defining force in conceptual and fine art photography. In the postwar era, artists like Cindy Sherman, Duane Michals, Deborah Turbeville, and Jeff Wall transformed staging into a powerful tool for psychological and cinematic storytelling. Today, the widespread accessibility of photography and social media has only deepened its presence, embedding staged imagery into our everyday visual language.
Tina Barney, The Master, 2001, Chromogenic dye coupler print mounted to sintra
Image Courtesy: Jackson Fine Art
Can a staged photograph feel more emotionally authentic than a candid one?
How do elements like lighting, props, and composition contribute to the effectiveness of a staged photograph?
01: Study
Jeff Wall, Morning Cleaning, Mies van der Rohe Foundation, Barcelona 1999
Transparency in lightbox
187 x 351 cm | 73 5/8 x 138 3/16 in.
206 x 370 x 26 cm | 81 1/8 x 145 11/16 x 10 1/4 in. (framed)
Image Courtesy: White Cube
Large Format Photography
Large format photography utilizes cameras that accommodate film or digital sensors measuring 4×5 inches (10.2×12.7 cm) or larger, with common sizes including 5×7 inches (12.7×17.8 cm) and 8×10 inches (20.3×25.4 cm). This substantial image area offers exceptional detail and tonal range, surpassing smaller formats. A distinctive feature of large format cameras is their capacity for movements—adjustments like tilt, shift, rise, and fall—that enable precise control over focus and perspective, facilitating advanced techniques such as correcting converging lines in architectural photography. While the equipment's size and the meticulous process may present challenges, the unparalleled image quality and creative flexibility make large format photography a revered choice among discerning photographers.
La Mort des Fantômes, René Magritte, 1928
Deana Lawson, Chief, 2019. Courtesy of the artist and Sikkema Jenkins & Co., New York(Image credit: Deana Lawson)
Thomas Demand, Kontrollraum / Control Room 2011
C-print mounted on Diasec
78¾ × 118⅛ inches; 200 × 300 cm
Image Courtesy: Matthew Marks Gallery
Sally Mann Rhonda on Swing with Kittens (At Twelve), 1983-1985 8 x 10 inch silver gelatin print
Sarah Jones b. 1959, Horse (Profile) (Dapple Grey) (II), 2017/18, Image Courtesy Anton Kern Gallery
- Sarah Jones, Special Artist’s Project, Frieze online 2017
Sophie Ristelhueber. Because of Dust Breeding (A cause de l’élevage de poussière). 1991-2007
Large format photography requires patience, precision, and dedication. This issue features documentaries on Tina Barney and Ansel Adams—one capturing intimate staged portraits, the other grand landscapes. Despite their differences, both exemplify the physical and deliberate craft of the medium.
02. Listen
David Johnson, a pioneering Black photographer and former student of Ansel Adams, reflects on his decades-long journey in photography. From documenting San Francisco’s Fillmore District to capturing history through a deeply personal lens, his work blends artistry and social commentary. In this episode of The Large Format Photography Podcast, he shares insights on his craft, the power of visual storytelling, and the dreams that have shaped his career.
Growing up, most of the photographs I have seen of Black people were just not very complimentary. My photographs will have Black people photographed in a dignified manner.
David Johnson
A choir singing Lift Every Voice in San Francisco. Photograph: Courtesy of the David Johnson Photograph Archive; the Bancroft Library; the University of California, Berkeley
03. Read
Across the history of the medium, photographers have indeed undertaken a range of strategies to tell stories. Their results propose a form of narrative that is somewhat distinct from cinema, literature, or oral tradition, one that is ambient, potentially allusive, and above all, an invitation to the viewer to collaborate and explore.
- Gregory J. Harris, ¨Photographs Still and Unfolding.¨
- Gregory J. Harris, ¨Photographs Still and Unfolding.¨
04: Photobooks
Eikoh Hosoe
Eikoh Hosoe stages the artist of situation Simon Yotsuya in the urban sites of Tokyo, making its performance in front of the camera like a meditation about the question of genre and a metaphoric introspective journey.
05. From the Community
This month, we spoke with Melinda Blauvelt about the role of staging in her photography and the making of Brantville, her latest photobook published by Stanley Barker in 2024. As she describes it, every image in the book is, in some way, "staged." In a remote village where people were unaccustomed to being photographed, they were collaborative, engaging in the theater of image-making with curiosity and excitement. Working with her 4×5 Deardorff, Blauvelt recalls, "To make a photograph, I set up my large tripod and wooden camera and disappeared under the dark cloth to adjust the image that was inverted on the ground glass. Then I emerged and watched carefully, waiting for an expression or gesture or, occasionally, even a cloud to move, before making an exposure."
Despite the deliberate calculation to make an image, she said, “any image’s success almost always depends on an elusive and often unexpected element – a gesture, relationship or even changing light. It doesn’t always happen, but when it is does it’s magic.