You inevitably came across it one day, while reading the magazine press or on the internet: an illustrated article with a pretext photograph that seems completely absurd to you. But be aware that the image banks are full of them. Andy Kelly, a contributor to Guardian, search the billions of photos they contain to find the darkest or the most disturbing. He then posts them on his Twitter account, baptized Dark Stock Photos. A popular account, since more than 86,700 people have subscribed to it in one month.
We discover for example this man completely naked, with the exception of a Christmas hat on his head, pinching his nipples, with a sincere expression of satisfaction. Our favorite.
– Dark Stock Photos (@darkstockphotos) June 12, 2017
Or this couple who seem to be on the verge of (the ultimate) breakup.
– Dark Stock Photos (@darkstockphotos) June 14, 2017
But who is behind the lens? Who immortalizes and sells these scenes? And how do they get these strange attitudes from their role models? Franceinfo found three photographers to try to understand.
“Represent the unhealthy obsession with guns”
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It is to meet the expectations of customers of these image banks that Gilles DeCruyenaere, photographer and illustrator living in Winnipeg, Canada, focuses its work. “This photo was taken while I was doing a shoot (no pun intended) about guns. And the idea occurred to me to lick that air pistol.”, he explains to franceinfo. But why lick it, you might be wondering? “To me this photo represents the unhealthy obsession (in my opinion) that some people (and parts of society) feed for guns. ” And to achieve it, he did not need to convince a model since he has staged himself.
This “stupid picture”, as he describes it, was not taken in the context of a very specific news item. “I know these are the kind of images that can provoke emotional reactions and I hope those reactions will be negative on this subject of firearms,” he specifies.
I mean any decent person should know that loving a gun (and licking it) is not a healthy way to think.
Gilles DeCruyenaereto franceinfo
But ultimately, was this photo used in this sense? Yes, according to its author. “By doing a Google search, I found that it had been bought to illustrate articles on gun control, or on male insecurity in connection with gun culture.”
“The metaphor of an employee who cannot be trusted”
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Franceinfo found the author of this photo in the United States. That of a smiling woman who is about to stick a knife in the back of a man. For photographer Scott Griessel, aka Creatista, the scene seeks to represent an employee who cannot be trusted. Or then a “bad boss” whose employee would take revenge, he analyzes. He wanted to illustrate one of the aspects of the world of work in the United States, in the form of this “metaphor”.
As Gilles DeCruyenaere, he didn’t know anything about the Twitter account Dark Stock Photos and the perception of his work. For him too, this is not a specific order, which he refuses most of the time, “so that his work remains personal”.
So how did he manage to pose these two people in such a staging? Thanks to trust, since the two protagonists are part of his circle of friends.
I try to make the shoots fun, to make everyone have fun
Scott Griesselto franceinfo
Scott Griessel also happens to work with professional models. But they “represent an idea and no longer their person”, affirms this photographer who has accumulated nearly fifty years of experience. Indeed, the signing of the contract between the different parties before the shooting specifies that the models give up their right to the image, so that each photo can be published, even if it does not please the subject photographed.
“It was not my idea “
– Dark Stock Photos (@darkstockphotos) July 4, 2017
A couple seated at a table, the man relaxed, smiling and looking behind him as in front of him is a woman, knife in hand, preparing to stab him. A meal that goes wrong? Disagree on the bill? A representation of jealousy? Difficult to find meaning in this photo. And above all useless, if one believes its author, the photographer Ryan Lane, joined by franceinfo. “Initially, we started with a series based on ‘lifestyle'”, specifies this professional who works in Portland (Oregon, United States).
It wasn’t my idea, but that of the models, who wanted to do something fun. I found it funny too, with the man very laid back and the woman going crazy.
If he especially highlights his work on crafts in his adopted city – “I photograph small businesses. It’s interesting to be able to see them from the inside.” -, the young man is also a fan of quirky photos, even completely crossed out, as this dedicated page confirms. Another side of the young man, who failed in high school photography lessons, who trained on his own at university when he saw that his pictures were sent to the image bank iStock by Getty Images were having some success.
But his sense of humor has limits. If he understands that this shot can give rise to a smile, he hardly tastes the approach of the Dark Stock Photos account. “This account should purchase the photos before posting them on Twitter. However, the image bank mark has not been removed, so I imagine that can be considered free advertising.”, he squeaks.