"All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts"
William Shakespeare
I'm not sure I need to add anything to that really. There are many valid reasons for shooting in a studio. It's a controlled environment, quick turnarounds (bums on seats and all that), the subject has to come to you, they're on your turf. And the list goes on...
"Photography today appears to be in a state of flight...The familiar is made strange, the unfamiliar grotesque. The amateur forces his Sundays in to a series of unnatural poses"
Dorothea Lange
Life isn't lived in a studio. It's not where we love & die, it's not where we struggle to make sense of our lives, it's not where you'll find the people who help to make that struggle worth while. It's not a natural habitat for us. And though I have seen worthwhile, powerful & moving photographs created in the studio, they are dwarfed by a sea of contrivances. Subjects drowned by a process better suited to a factory line than a medium that is capable of highlighting and defending the beauty and complexity of life.
So there
Sean
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