Humor and irony in photography

Photoblogger Pyotr Lovygin writes: “Photo art will never be measured in gigabytes and megapixels. It is light, composition, and most importantly, the ability to capture the moment.”

But there is one more very light touch, sometimes even imperceptible at first sight. It's irony. It is she who is the savior of any frame, even if it does not meet all the previously indicated signs. In addition, the presence of irony, humor is the most "memorable" component of all of the above. A funny situation, an unexpected emotion, an act of the protagonist - this is what will remain in the memory.

(Total 34 photos)

Source: Journal/lovigin

1. © petr lovigin, 2012 "Mayans go to another sacrifice. Chamula, Mexico"

2. © petr lovigin, "Simple movements", 2008

Seeing the funny in the ordinary certainly helps your own sense of humor. It turns out that you kind of share it with your work. I have seen many photographers - good ones! Very! Everything is good with both composition and light. But they have a sense of humor only in life. It doesn't affect their work in any way. The edges of the lips do not rise, looking at their pictures ...

3. © petr lovigin, "The Second Coming to Georgia", 2011

I won’t say anything bad about my work, everything is okay with a sense of humor. Although by nature I am a person unpleasant in communication. The type when humor, through the complexity of the character, turns into sarcasm, trolling and causticity. But my photos are better than myself. Therefore, kind, sometimes almost imperceptible humor is present everywhere both in travel photographs and in art works. Where it is easier to “create” it, and where it is more difficult is a difficult question.

4. © petr lovigin, "The very first shot in Georgia", 2010

When you are on a journey, the presence of humor in your photography often depends on the country. You use what the country gives you: the “funnier” it is, the more contrast, of course, the more convenient it is to look for funny notes in it. And also a very big help is the understanding of the local language. Therefore, I am very comfortable in Georgia, for example. Even my very first shot, taken in Tbilisi, in this country lifts the edges of the lips great.

5. © petr lovigin, 2010

I really love the contrast of the action in the image. A combination of the incompatible. A simple Georgian family living in a remote village in the mountains does not cause as much tenderness and smiles as the same family when you draw the viewer's attention to the fact that they are watching the next series of Teletubbies?

6. © petr lovigin, 2010 "Family executioner Kakha, Niko, Badri, Bacha and Lamar watch Teletubbies on satellite television on a rainy August evening in a mountain village at an altitude of 1500 m above the standard of living"

7. © petr lovigin, 2011 "The best advertisement for Tbilisi barbershop"

8. © petr lovigin, "Gavar. Armenia" 2012

9. © petr lovigin, 2010 "Afternoon rest. Bacha tells her granddaughter a fairy tale by roles"

10. © petr lovigin, 2010 "Sulfur baths. Bath attendant and feet of the author of the photo"

As, in principle, the entire post-Soviet space. We lived and live in very cheerful countries.

11. © petr lovigin, 2009 "Chorsu market. Uzbekistan"

12. © petr lovigin, 2011 "Lviv"

13. © petr lovigin, 2011 "Uryupinsk"

Although the principle of contrast also works in staged photographs. When you mix old age and outdoor activities. the series “Simple Movements” is obtained, which always causes a smile and even sometimes admiration among those who think that the heroines spend all their days like this.

14. © petr lovigin, "Simple movements", 2007

15. © petr lovigin, 2009 "Grandmother Valentina listens to U2 in Kolomenskoye"

And sometimes it’s not bad at all to leave your thought unfinished, having already enjoyed the work itself (how much laughter there was on the set of the Takeshi Kitano and Other Icons series), so it was not really necessary to bring the idea of this project to its logical conclusion. Everyone still finds in it their semantic load, and something funny and fun.

From the project "Takeshi Kitano and other icons" (technical means - people, cardboard masks):

16. © petr lovigin, 2006-10

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Although sometimes it happens that you have to use your own methods to reach the level of what seems funny to you (imbued with what you once read, watched, and so on), to the level understandable to others. Because it is absolutely not necessary that everyone else was brought up on the same. But this is after receiving the photo. Indeed, it is more convenient to do this through a blog or in a book design, but not in a “clean” final photo. All this design is inappropriate there.

23. © petr lovigin, 2010 "Men of North India against Khmyr and Associate Professor" (from the book "Indian Summer")

Or laying a new highway from Allahabad to Varanasi from cow cakes. India is the funniest country in the world!

After some time, you yourself get confused where in your photographs the myth, invented by you, and where is reality. But it is very important, even in travel photography, to think of something "on your own", to add, to pass what you see through your "I", through your emotions. Therefore, I often treat travel blogs with postcard views and reportage photography with a feeling of yawning.

24. © petr lovigin, 2010

25. © petr lovigin, 2010

26. © petr lovigin, 2012 "Mexico. House of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera"

27. © petr lovigin, 2012 "Funny pigs in the markets of Cusco, Peru"

28. © petr lovigin, 2011 "Snack bar in Villason (Bolivia)"

And of course, when something is missing in a photograph to reveal your idea, to give it “credibility”, I don’t see anything wrong with editing and “introducing” extraneous elements. True, this is just the case when it seems that the montage is obvious and the viewer should not “chew” it - it’s not! At this very moment, he will take everything at face value!)))

29. © petr lovigin, 2013 "Last day in Havana"

30. © ilya varlamov, 2013 + petr lovigin, 2013 "Overnight in a Guinean village located on the Brezhnev trail"

31. © petr lovigin, 2013 "The road past the village of Babino"

32. © petr lovigin, 2011 "A touching story in Rio"

In one of the districts of Rio, behind the bosom of the statue of Christ, a cow accidentally fell out of a flying plane - fell onto a boat and killed the girl sitting in it to death. Indeed, death sometimes comes from the most unusual places.

33. © ilya varlamov, 2012 + petr lovigin, 2013

Humor in photography is like a drop of foreign paint diluting a glass of water, transforming its contents. Yes, maybe the function of making the viewer smile is small and nothing more. But is this not enough?

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