SKIRTING THE BOUNDARIES OF
METAPHOTOGRAPHY
By Kathryn McGuire
I first started consciously thinking about self-referentiality when I was doing a photoshoot of my dad when we were out eating at a restaurant [fig. 10]. I decided to take a series of pictures throughout our meal, as I wanted to capture a story, with each shot being a different aspect of what eating at a cafe or a restaurant may look like (ordering, eating, paying etc). I kept the same framing, and at first, I thought the lack of colour would render my Dad less vibrant, but all it did was force the viewer to observe the forms, shapes and objects more carefully in order to form an opinion on the physicality of the photograph itself; rather than merely looking at the colours and instantaneously figuring out what it is without truly grasping its formal structure. On the other hand, it seems important to note that the geometric and inconsistent lines within the photograph create a disorderly and unbalanced feeling for the viewer. In fact, when looking at the background of this photograph, a feeling develops of almost an exaggerated visual of trying to choose something off the menu when everything offered looks just as good as the last - spending ages trying to figure out which option will be the best. I believe that my Dad looking over the camera, to me, makes the viewer acknowledge that there is actually somebody behind the camera lens and not just a static object of contemplation. These photos did not just occur arbitrarily, the man in the images did not set up a camera and take photographs of himself eating. Instead, the viewer is invited to imagine a conversation that may have taken place beforehand, as well as the guidelines that the photographer—in this case, myself—gave him, in order to take a “better” shot. Otherwise said, this may make the viewer acknowledge that this is not one person's photoshoot or artwork but is the work of two people, a conscious collaboration between the subject and the photographer. Additionally, the intimacy of the setting makes it seem as if the viewers are intruding on a personal, private moment, therefore rendering them conscious of the creative process that precedes its existence.
910. Kathryn McGuire, “Photograh of my father in a restaurant”, 2022.
11. Kathryn McGuire, “Untitled”, 2022.
12. Kathryn McGuire, “Autoportrait”, 2022.
