Doug DuBois is an American photographer known for his portraiture work. He makes documentary work of different people.
The series I’m interested in is ‘My Last Day at Seventeen’. It is of teenagers in Ireland as the new generation of Irish. The project started as a month long residency and turned into a long term project. In the residency, he was taken to neighbourhoods by the teenagers he was photographing. He went to different areas to document the complex corner of Irish life.
In an interview, DuBois talks about the work. He says on the book there are only a handful of images that are not posed. Even the more candid ones are set up to some degree. As part of the book it includes a illustrated comic. This is made from audio recordings of the stories and thoughts of the people as they looked through the book. He also talked about the process of making the book. He went to Ireland every summer for 5 years to shoot the work, in between summers he would look through contact sheets.
The actually images are intriguing to look at. When you look at them as a series, they have there own narratives. It is a mixture of single portraits, groups photos and what looks like more candid shots. They give a real sense of the place by showing walls of graffiti and young people playing in the street. I like how each image can give you a lot indications about the context. For example this one below, her expression looks blank, almost as if she if fed up. She holds what looks like a cooking pot so maybe she is in the middle of making something. The walls in the background look damaged and dirty suggesting she lives somewhere quite rundown.
This image below is my favourite of this series. Its taken from slightly back which means you can see the surroundings. This really sets the scene. The sun on the coloured houses is aesthetic and goes well with the light blue of the sky. So at first glance this is a visually pleasing photograph to look at. The boy on the lamppost stands out in the blue of the sky and makes the image more intriguing. The viewer might begin to ask questions about the context behind the photo. Such as how did he climb so high up? Why is he up there? Is he alone or with friends? I feel like the subject is confident as he leans back and looks at the camera.
From looking at Doug DuBois work I understand how important it is to show a sense of place. It can make the viewer more interested in the image as there is more of an idea of the place it is in. Dubois does this is in many of his images by shooting from further away. It is fascinating that most of the images are posed as there is a few that I thought were candid and natural. It shows that it is okay to stage photographs as the narrative intended is still clear.
Lucy Davis 