#i know i call them overexposed and done to death constantly

[wahbegan]

It's a bit creepy the way they keep making Batman villains anti-authoritarian cult leaders whipping the disenfranchised up into violent mobs these days innit

[stormkrigeren]

DCEU Clark Kent/Superman/Kal-El Headcanon + Defense

One of my favorite DCEU Clark headcanons is that this farmboy has no idea how to hold his own in a fight. Here are my chronological reasons why I think this is true:

1. Clark grew up in Kansas very protected by his family. His parents were always sure to be nearby or a phone call away in case there was a problem with his powers - Martha was there mere minutes after Clark’s sensory overload at school (MoS), Jonathan apparently brought Clark with him on small jobs (the bullying scene in MoS, not to mention Jonathan and Clark’s very close relationship which revealed they spent a lot of time together). Growing up in a farming community with not much friendly interaction with boys his age (with the exception of Pete Ross from MoS), no one would have been around to teach Clark how to throw a punch or even get him interested in violence. 

2. Clark has to control his powers and never let them be seen. A fight is one of the easiest ways for his powers to be revealed: they’re fast, stressful, keep you on your toes, and require a decent amount of physical speed, strength, and cognition. We know Clark has the last three and could use them in a fight if he kept them under control, but the first three are stressors that could trigger a lapse in concentration or control. Clark and the Kents don’t want that to happen because it would mean revealing his powers, so he has to stay out of situations that could lead to a fight - an example would be the bullying scene in MoS.

3. Clark likely has never experimented with his powers, so he has little control over them and nearly no idea how to use them period, much less in a fight. I’ve been listening to Doctor Awkward’s Man of Steel: Answers, Insight, Commentary Podcast, and it has been a real eye-opener. The episodes I have in mind when discussing this point are 30, 31, and 32, which discuss the tornado scene in MoS. To sum it up, Clark and his parents have likely avoided any use of his powers since the incident with the school bus a few years before, so Clark has had no chance to ‘test his limits’ and truly discover what he can do. We know that he doesn't discover flight or the full limits of his strength until later on in life, but this can also be applied to some of his other powers. He might not know how to efficiently use his speed and flight and strength in a fight, and even if he did know at least how to throw a proper punch, the mechanics of the simple movement would be seriously changed if he was using his powers/punching a superpowered being.

4. He lets Lombard hit him not because he knows he can take it, but because he doesn’t know what to do. I know the posturing in the pub scene of MoS leads many to think that Clark knows Lombard would just bounce off, but you can see by the way Chrissy reminds him that starting a fight isn’t worth it that Clark was almost intending to get violently involved by putting Lombard outside. The way he stands before the initial push, arms down at his sides, unprotected (Lombard is ‘on guard’ in a semi-crouch, fists cocked, and Clark is almost baring his chest to him), sort of shows that he was expecting Lombard to back down once he knew that Clark was bigger/stronger. Clark may have been trying to get out of the situation without violence, but knew it would be necessary once Lombard started pushing. Yet he continued to stand unprotected even when he decides to put Lombard out, which shows that he didn’t know how to protect himself properly from the next blow. He is used to people just bouncing off him, so he has never made the effort to try to learn how to go on the defense.

5. In the Battle of Smallville, he is constantly off balance and most of his blows are improperly thrown. The momentum of the fight is clearly a bit much for him and he struggles to keep up, especially when up against two trained Kryptonian soldiers. He does have good aim with his punches but never pulls them to ‘knockout’ with the full possible power behind them. He never uses any other part of his body to fight beside his fists (JL, I’m getting to you!), never throws any kicks or knees or elbows, it’s all fists. Which is exactly what you would expect from an untrained farmboy who only knows violence through bullies and 80s action movies. Now I know Clark would never be expected to stand up to the Tigress of Zod, but Non is canonically half-cow and has a fighting style even worse than Clark, yet we see him dishing it out to Kal-El! The only advantage Non has is know-how and experience while Clark clearly has nothing.

6. In the Battle of Metropolis, Clark has zero chance against Zod. It’s the same argument for the Battle of Smallville: he has no experience, only uses his fists, has almost no stamina, and is very off balance. The reason he wins is that Clark has a few aces up his sleeve: a) He has had a few months/weeks to figure out how to fly, he is more comfortable in it than Zod (who learned like 30 seconds ago), b) He is in more control of his sensory powers than Zod (who learned that day), c) He has a hot reporter and an amazing mom rooting for him, d) Zod is basically suicidal at this point after losing his entire purpose, he has no other reason to live besides to spite Clark and he is quickly getting tired of that.

7. When fighting Batman, Clark is nearly all scare tactics. It’s been two years since Zod, maybe he’s picked up a few things since then, but in the BvS fight scene every move Clark makes is almost meant to intimidate instead of hurt. In his two years of being Superman, he has learned that almost no one will challenge him because he is a scary alien from outer space who can shoot lasers from his eyes, so he continually plays off of that when speaking with anyone of authority (he does it with Swanwick in MoS, and a tiny bit with Finch in BvS, and with Ludlow in MoS again). Nearly every interaction he has with Batman is all about posturing and standing very intimidating, every punch is only half-thrown, and he doesn’t even break into a run at any point. The problem is Bruce is an even bigger drama queen than Clark, the entire ‘battle’ is just them chatting angrily (I love BvS, I always smile at this scene because not only does it prove that Clark can barely fight, but also shows just how big of dorks these two idiots are. I love them.)

8. Fighting Doomsday is the first time we see a glimpse of a possible fighting tactic, though it's not a good one at that. You can see Clark doing it as far back as the Battle of Smallville, though I think it’s the most prominent here. Instead of deflecting punches as trained martial artists tend to do (letting punches glance/bounce off/turn away) Clark tends to catch them by letting all the force hit him instead of something a bit more fragile. This is great because it shows that he is worried about things/people around him getting hit and combats that by taking the hit himself. It’s literally the first thing he does when Doomsday comes out of the cocoon. He is also a bit quicker and more sure of himself in this fight, but has terrible style besides ‘catching’ and still tends to leave himself way overexposed to any possible blows (literally what caused his death)(he honestly could have stabbed Doomsday from behind it ain’t that hard he can fly).

9. The fight in Justice League after his resurrection is barely improved. Clark does use more of his body (*headbutt*) beside his fists, but is still 90% scare tactics (I mean you, slow-turn-to-glare-back-at-Victor-after-he-fired-the-missile). He uses more of his powers, but I think that is because he is still suffering from amnesia and doesn’t have the ‘mental block’ (throwback to the fandom pre-BvS when everyone was discussing why he couldn’t fly as a kid (it’s because he wasn’t thinking past what he knew he could do to what he could possibly do)), so when he is himself Clark is actually holding back his punches so as not to hurt anyone. Amnesia-Clark is a bit more full-force because he has no guilt to hold him back. As for his other powers, Clark is constantly trying to appear as un-alien as possible to avoid hostility, which is the reason he rarely uses more than one power at a time (besides strength and flight). Amnesia-Clark doesn’t have that fear, so uses his powers as he pleases without worrying about the implications.

10: The fight against the Parademons and Steppenwolf is interesting because although he doesn’t have a fighting style, he does have a goal. He fights with the intention of protecting the people and driving Steppenwolf away, so every movement is done with the intention of incapacitating the bad guy. He still leaves himself terribly open, but he does dodge a blow instead of ‘catching it’. You can see his ‘fighting style’ (or lack thereof) transitioning from catching to protect others to dodging to destroy the enemy. He also uses his heat vision and arctic breath as weapons, which seems a little desperate for him, but by then he can see that everything he does is not putting Steppenwolf down, so Clark takes it up a notch. He still doesn’t have the know-how to think militarily and keep the enemy close (why do heroes keep tossing the baddies?! just hit them!). Additionally, after separating the mother boxes he just lays there for a bit in pain but makes hardly any effort to get up and check the perimeter and confirm that the war is over, which again shows a lack of military thinking. This is the battle where he changes the way he fights because he knows that this bad guy can take what he dishes out. Every other fight you can see him holding back just a little so as not to hurt people around him, but in JL he finally begins to let loose just a tiny bit. You can see that he is still not quite comfortable with using his powers (besides strength and flight, canonically his favorite ones) to hurt, but he is trying.

One last thing, despite his super endurance, Clark is panting in nearly every fight scene I’ve watched. Another throwback to some great fanfiction I read discussing how despite the fact that Clark doesn’t need to breathe or can at least hold his breath for a long time, panting after a kiss/during a fight is more of an emotional response caused by stressors than him actually lacking oxygen (the fic I’m referencing is Eowyn77′s ‘Rosy-Fingered Dawn’ on fanfiction.net).

As you can see, in nearly every fight Clark is involved in, he is more of a Tank than an actual Warrior. This is not to say that he is almost useless in a fight, but more of a call-out post reiterating just how much of a farmboy he is even in the face of multiple alien invasions. Lois will always be around to protect him, tho!

tldr: Clark Kent can’t even throw a proper punch, must protect the smol farmboy.

[the-pan-ace-writings]

Chapter 13 Escape

First Previous Masterlist

A/N this one is pretty short in my opinion and i tried writing it a bit different than I normally do, I dont know if ill do that again, but in my opinion its best to try and fail than to not to try at all. 

   Riona woke to distant gunshots. She had to untangle herself from MacCready before she could step outside to try to figure out where it was from. She heard another shot ring out and knew it was from the interchange. 

   She bolted back inside, it was still dark out and they had about two more hours of darkness before the sun even had a chance to rise. She packed everything they had as fast as possible and sent Dogmeat out to scout the area ahead. 

   She had to move them, to leave the area completely. She had finished packing everything up and tried to wake MacCready but he was still out cold from the Med-x she had given him earlier. Frowning she decided it was probably going to be best to head back to Sanctuary, that was at least three hours away but hopefully, it would be mostly clear having been mostly settled down. 

   She gave him the rest of the Med-x that was left, hoping it would keep him out or at least quiet. She put him up on her shoulders and left the shack her sword jostled uncomfortably against her thigh as she took off in a run, her AER 9 clutched in her grip. She tried to keep watch for anything out in the brush that she was running through, trying to say out of sight from the clearings. They had to run north to get to Sanctuary which meant going past the interchange again. 

   She moved slowly as the approached near the interchange trying to remain unseen, but she also starred in horror at the ruined gunner base. The bodies that had been left there were strung up with rope hanging down from the interchange of rebar, and all of the structures were on fire. She stood watching for a moment before Dogmeat came running towards her and started urging her forwards. There was no point in staring, what's done is done. 

   The wind was picking up as she traveled, Dogmeat had come back and stuck with her now that they were almost two miles out from the interchange, you could no longer hear the sounds of firefights but rather her panting. She had wanted to get them all as far away as they could from there so she had run the majority of it but she was already swaying on her feet. 

   It wasn't a good situation that they were in, the wind picking up almost definitely meant it was going to rain and already being overloaded muddy terrain could quickly get them both injured, the only fortunate thing was that most creatures of the night would be hidden away if it started to rain. 

   She looked down at her Pip-boy and cursed the distance. If cars had not gone to hell when the world decided to explode they could be there already, and MacCready could have been helped by now instead of being lugged around drugged up. She was in a near nervous fit over the whole thing, she couldn't have another person die because she couldn't get them help, she refused. 

   She marched as fast as she could without jostling MacCready too much, already worried about running with him in his condition. She could feel the air becoming thick with rain and hear the trees swirling around them. 

   Riona hated storms and it seems like they were about to get a torrential downpour. She cursed and tried to take cover under an overhang of rocks, she managed to put MacCready and secured before it started raining, pelting her unprotected back. She searched for any piece of clothing that would be waterproof and had found an oilskin that was buried at the bottom of her ruck. She took it out immediately and used it to cover MacCready up before they continued on their way to Sanctuary. 

   It had only been an hour since they left the shack and it felt like it had only gotten darker, but she continued. She was drenched within moments, her hair was plastered to her scalp and her armor felt like it weighed an extra ten pounds, her leather trench doing nothing to keep her dry or warm. 

   The rain was coming down in sheets and she was worried it would turn into snow, the ground was sludge beneath her boots, dogmeat had started to walk along the tree line to take whatever type of protection he could get from the rain. Riona didn't dare get that close for fear of the ground falling into root pits with her movement. If she sprained her ankle doing that there would be no way they'd make it to Sanctuary before it was too late to help MacCready.  

    The wind was whipping around them, her coat taut behind her, cold wet air blew into her face and it felt like fire. It was the damn itching of radiation. The sky lit up in sickly green and she saw a tree crash to the ground a few meters in front of them. Another was pulled down directly in front of them, she almost tumbled to the ground trying to avoid being crushed to death by a tree. Dogmeat was howling and darting between her and far ahead trying to avoid falling objects.

   “Dogmeat! Go ahead! Make it to Sanctuary!” she yelled out at him, who was currently dodging another fallen tree. He made another mournful howl before taking off at full speed northwards and out of sight. 

   She had to get them on to a road, away from more trees, but the storm was only worsening and the cold rain was quickly making any type of movement painfully chill. She was shaking with every movement, but she carried on determined to just get them to safety. It started becoming a mindless task, of second nature to just keep moving forward, to get MacCready help and all she could think of was her old squad from  Anchorage and being trapped in her godforsaken power armor. 

   Everything felt useless like there wasn't going to be a happy ending to any of this, even if she got MacCready back to sanctuary there was no telling he’d make it, especially with everything going on. He could be dead right now. It was a dark thought, and something she tried to expel from her mind immediately, but with only the storm and trudging forward it was the only thing that kept returning. 

   She couldn't risk stopping to check and all of a sudden she regretted giving him another dose of MedX, she would take pained garbling and him being angry than this silence. 

   “Cready?” She jostled her shoulders, a vain attempt to check on him. He was silent. It should have been expected but all the dread that resided in her swelled and she couldn't keep herself from silently crying, itching rain mixing with her tears. 

   Riona had lost track of how long she had carried them, or how far. It was almost sunrise and she could feel the storm letting up. She tried to raise her arm to look at the pip-boy but found the movement excruciating, she cried out. 

   All she could hope for was sunrise, she could determine the direction she was going in at the very least. Her awareness was starting to slip from her, she’d stopped looking out for danger and instead focused solely on getting to the bridge. 

   She hoped Dogmeat had made it back and they would have alerted the settlement. She hoped the General would know what to do because she was hopeless at this point. She was convinced she was carrying the dead and her only solace was that she could get him back to somewhere with a little bit of beauty. 

   The sun brought faint light and the end to the storm. She was still soaked through but the rising sun revealed just how close they were to Sanctuary. She jostled MacCready again.

   “Cready, we made it.” She was crying again, the moment she reached the bridge to the development she collapsed. Dogmeat was already barking up a storm trying to get attention to her and was partially dragging the General by his coattails to her. 

   The moment Preston had seen them he called out for help, and Riona closed her eyes taking in the morning rays where she could finally just let go momentarily in the safety of Sanctuary. 

    “What the hell happened to you guys!” He was waving down a doctor that had settled down here as he worked on separating her and MacCready along with their gear. 

   “Cleared out Mass Pike, he was shot. Couldn't stay.” she was barely conscious at this point, the exertion of her travel starting to take over. “Gave him Medx to keep him out.” Preston leaned over her to examine the red blotches on her skin. 

   “Rad Rain. Riona you know how badly radiation like that affects you.” he had brushed her hair back to view her face better. Her face crumpled in distress. 

  “He can't die, please, Preston the radiation does matter, he can't die.” she was pleading with him and looked like she was going to be ill. The Doctor had dropped down next to her and she shoved her away. “Him, help him.” and very nearly snarled when she reached for her again, almost lunging at her. Preston pulled her back and nodded at the doctor before he lifted her off the ground. 

   “Riona we’ll help him, but you need to be tended to before you get ill.” He was bringing her to her home and quickly called in Codsworth who took over. She was extremely dizzy and could barely stand herself. 

   The moment she was settled into the tub and surrounded by warm water she nearly slipped into sleep, Preston had gone to collect supplies for both Codsworth and for the town doctor. 

   “Mum, I thought we agreed last time you wouldn't overexpose yourself.” He was hovering behind her helping wash her hair while she haphazardly cleaned up her body. 

   “It was important.” They didn't know MacCready, none of them did. She hadn't been here in a long time and especially after the wall she hit trying to find Shaun. It pained her to be back in her home, quiet and childless and while Codsworth didn't mean to upset her he nearly constantly asked about Shaun. 

   Once she was mostly cleaned up Codsworth helped her to her room and let her dress before coming back in and insisting that she “lay down for a spell” She was almost asleep burrowed under numerous blankets that he insisted on pilling on to her,

   “Codsworth?” she was quiet again, in a whisper. 

   “Yes, Mum?” He had turned back to her eyes focusing on her and brought one of his hands to pet her head. 

   “Will you please make up the guest room?” 

   She knew the doctor's building was small and figured if when he came to, he’d want somewhere else to stay. Codsworth just hummed affirmatively and stayed with her till she was forced to stop worrying and was pulled into sleep from exhaustion. 

Next

[themattress]

Regina & Rumple

I still think these two were once-excellent characters and villains whom A&E proceeded to mutilate by turning them into some of the most whitewashed, morally offensive, overexposed yet poorly written, wish-fulfillment characters that I have ever seen. But with that said (and this may be part of old biases showing), I think Rumple ended on a better note than Regina.

Don’t get me wrong. I still think Rumple’s ending should have happened in the S5 / series finale that should have been, with him being the Final Boss and putting the whole multiverse in danger out of selfishness, but has an atoning death when Belle and his unborn son are put in danger too as a result, with him literally standing up to his dark side and overcoming it. 

Otherwise, his ending should have happened in “The Final Battle”, with his atoning death, happening during the face-off with his dark side, being done to save Gideon from having to kill Emma: breaking the Black Fairy’s spell on his heart by merging his own heart with it just as he actually did with Rogers’ heart in the real finale but without a follow-up afterlife scene.

But the ending he got, as it stands? It’s serviceable. He killed himself and his dark side (now embodied in Wish Rumple) in order to save the life of his friend (an alternate reality version of his biggest victim, at that), showing clear anguish at the possibility of said friend dying so that there’s no doubt in his sincerity, and even saying he knows he won’t reunite with Belle afterward, but that truly doing the right thing is “doing it because it’s right, not for a reward”. Even his afterlife scene with Belle, which I still say weakens the power of his sacrifice, wasn’t as bad as it could have been due to there being no solid on-screen confirmation that he and Belle went on to Heaven (which Rumple doesn’t belong in) and instead stayed in limbo or Purgatory or whatever you call it to have a second chance at marriage, without any of the abuse and dysfunction that unfolded throughout all of S4-6. Yeah, remember all of that?

Really, that’s my biggest issue here (besides the bizarre and kind of creepy emotional Regina monologue over his carcass): Rumple’s entire character in S7 is completely reliant on the audience just completely forgetting that S4-6 ever happened, or accepting that the bare minimum, token decency (that really wasn’t even all that good when you think about it) he displayed at the end of “The Final Battle” means that he’s redeemed and that all should be forgiven, which is bullshit especially since it ignores him becoming the Darkest Dark One in the 5A finale. There being no consequences for that move whatsoever (it was ignored as a factor even before Wish Rumple claimed the Darkness completely for himself via the Author’s pen and made it a moot point) is galling and just reinforces what a Nice Guy fantasy Rumple is for A&E. Any competent showrunner would have had that action spell Rumple’s doom. Having an atoning death is fine, but he shouldn’t get a hero’s death after all he did in S4-6.

However, other than that, the way Rumple went out was OK. Regina’s ending, though...

It’s funny - had “The Final Battle” as it is, with Rumple surviving and being totally forgiven by everyone, been the end of OUAT, then I’d say his ending was the worst and most offensive one, with Regina’s (Mayor titled “Queen” with dwarves bowing to her in one realm, actual Queen in another) only coming in at a distant second.  But as it turns out, his ending in the actual finale was decent while Regina’s...WOW. Where do I even begin? The conclusion to her battle with Wish Henry would’ve been bad enough as it is, but then came the last act of the episode. Regina gets the idea to make a “good version” of the Dark Curse completely out of nowhere - it’s not necessary to happen, but she just decides that it should and all the idiots around her decide so as well because of course they do. Flash forward to the realms being merged, and Regina is crowned Queen of the whole thing (with it being said that it was decided by a vote that overwhelmingly went in her favor), with it being done by two of her biggest victims, while a crowd mostly made up of her other victims smile, applaud and even fucking bow to her. She makes another cheesy speech and the entire show ends on that (oh, and scenes from the past play during this monologue of her’s, and when she addresses that everyone has suffered loss, Graham’s death is even shown. I wish I was making that up.) 

And she’s now called “The Good Queen”. Gag me.

I’ve seen Regina fans gush over this ending because Regina began the show so unloved and now she’s surrounded by people who love her.  To which I pose this question: what the Hell did she do to EARN that love? To DESERVE it? She ruled oppressively over them, killed their loved ones, manipulated them, tortured them, constantly belittled and abused them (yes, even after she’d reformed), whined about how unfair her life was while ignoring the pain in their lives (much of which she’d caused), and generally accepted all of their love and help and support while giving little back in return. They did all the heavy lifting to support her, whereas a proper redemption should have had her do the heavy lifting to support them, the people she’d wronged. Almost all of her heroics that they benefited from were for her own self-benefit, and her goal never stopped being her own personal happiness, just as it was when she was a villain. RUMPLE actually learned that “you do the right thing because it’s right, not for a reward”, and yet Regina never truly did learn this. The only person she ever was shown to personally sacrifice for was Henry - but he was the exception, not the rule.

Moreover, while you could argue that the status she gets at the end here was a result of her doing good, let’s actually look at all she gained from being evil that she still has? Her status as a Queen and/or Mayor (both of which coming about from evil-doing), her money, her magic, custody over her son - hell, she even kind of got to get revenge on Snow and Charming by killing the Wish Realm versions of them and suffering no repercussions, even getting a second loving son out of it! And what did she truly sacrifice by the end? She got closure with her dead loved ones in the Underworld (including the one she killed), got to keep a motherly relationship with Henry so her sacrifice in 3x11 didn’t stick, she never sacrificed her magic like Zelena did even if that didn’t stick, she never sacrificed her life like Rumple and Hook both did twice even if it only ever stuck with Rumple the second time....she basically got everything she could have ever wanted. The real kicker is that the start of Regina’s story had it so that being Queen is something Cora was forcing on her since birth and she herself didn’t want it - and yet her Happy Ending is being Queen of EVERYTHING?

But the ultimate thing that gets me down about this ending is the simple fact that OUAT started out as Emma’s story. Emma’s fairy tale. That was how the series was portrayed in the beginning: with Emma as a lonely lost princess who felt like an unloved, unlovable orphan. An ending where Emma, the rightful princess of the realm, is crowned Queen by her parents and surrounded by people who love her, including her son and husband, would have been a perfectly natural ending to that story. But instead, it becomes the story of the character who was portrayed as the villain and Emma’s arch-nemesis, the one responsible for Emma growing up so miserable, and SHE is the one who gets that kind of ending as the last scene of the show? Are you fucking KIDDING ME!? If it wasn’t clear already, this solidifies it: Regina Mills is one of the biggest, most blatant Mary Sue Creator’s Pets in all of fiction. 

Rumple may embody OUAT warts and all, but Regina is the embodiment of its sad decline.

[sailorrrvenus]

Shooting Dreams and Nightmares: An Interview with the Bragdon Brothers

Great photography tells a compelling story. Weaving narrative into photos and photo series is a challenging task — the storyteller cannot simply make the world conform to their imagination as the author or painter can. Photographers only have one frame to convey meaning — motion and action have to be paraphrased and the moment of transformation captured.

The limitations of physical reality and framing a decisive moment to tell a tale are what makes being a good photographic storyteller so hard. You need to think laterally, as your story relies heavily on the imagination and subconscious mind of the audience, much like infiltrating someone’s dreams.

Gareth (above, at left) and Gavin (above, at right) Bragdon are two street photographers who do this artfully. It’s unusual to find someone who performs this effectively, let alone two brother’s whose work compliments each other in a style that blends dreams with nightmares, emphasizing the surreal aspects of the everyday. There is a meaning in here, but just like in a dream the meaning is unclear and muddled- strange things are illuminated people become alien lifeforms, and life the world becomes a surreal and scary place.

I interviewed them to divine some understanding of these surreal images they create.

James Cater (to Gavin): On your old blog you wrote that “I can easily see commonalities between my handwriting, photography, music, drawing and so on…for example, I tend to favor delay/reverb which to me would be the sonic equivalents to photography’s slow shutter speeds, multiple exposures, blur and the like.” This is an interesting way for an artist to find their element in photo taking — by looking outside the photographic art to find their ‘punctum’ as you called it. Things have definitely developed since this, but what kind of art outside of photography continues to influence your style?

Gavin: I would definitely say movies/TV…in fact, maybe more so than other photography itself. Books as well. My favorite genre for all of those tends to be science fiction as well horror if it’s well done, you know focuses more on the eerie, uncanny, surreal, atmosphere and so on. And at least nowadays, consciously or subconsciously those are the sort of things I try to capture.

And I think it reflects the real world at the moment. We are living in a sort of sci-fi/horror. Everything seems off-kilter, unwinding, surreal, not quite real, this twilight zone. You got Donald Trump, of course, Britain is committing suicide with Brexit because it’s collectively lost its mind, you got other similar movements popping up in other countries. There’s also the effects of climate change becoming more and more tangible. We’re in a very weird and dark place right now.

(To Gavin) Many of your photos look like they are from stills the X-Files. How are you influenced by the paranormal or surrealism?

Gavin: As far as the former goes, when my brother and I were kids we spent a lot of time reading about the paranormal- ghosts, UFOs, cryptids and so on. I suppose that came from the fact that unlike many other kids our age, we never were able to watch say Friday the 13th or the Freddy Kruger movies. I think all kids have something of a need for horror and scares of some kinds, so for us, the books and shows about the paranormal supplemented that. The only difference was that, supposedly, what we were into was non-fiction. And there is something very surreal about the paranormal versus Hollywood horror.

Incidentally, we were/are planning to do a documentary project on “paranormal culture” if you will, in Scotland, you know tagging along with ghost hunters, UFO watchers and the like. Because of circumstances involving my brother’s illness, its been shelved for the time being but as soon as he’s in a better state its something I really look forward to jumping into.

(To Gavin) Do you have any experiences with extra-terrestrial life forms, or do you have any beliefs that some may consider ‘fringe’ or conspiratorial?

Gavin: I tend to be agnostic about the paranormal/unexplained. I tend to think there is “something” that happens, like what we think of as ghosts or alien spacecraft are things that are real in a way – that something is happening, and not just a bunch of lies or sightings of Venus/swamp gas (some of the skeptical explanations are just as ridiculous and far-fetched as the explanations of some of the most out there “believers”). But of course, yeah, there is a lot of bullshit out there.

Ghosts and UFOs and so on seem almost like glitches in the Matrix…they don’t belong in our rational, scientific natural world and yet there they are. What are they? Are they what they seem at face value? I mean even if none of it is real, I still find fascinating to think that maybe there is a thin membrane between our natural/rational world and others that leaks over sometimes. If it is all a modern form of mythology, then it’s a fascinating one.

I can say I have a short handful of what would be considered paranormal experiences, things that I can’t explain otherwise. And believe me, I wrack my brain for alternatives because I don’t want to go around believing I had an “experience” for the sake of it. I have seen what I believe was UFO once, its small fry stuff, but it’s one I really can’t explain. Basically, it looked a bit like a star flying around in erratic patterns around a larger and brighter star before the former seemed to disappear into the latter, which then just stayed there like a star or planet would. It’s a weird one and doesn’t even quite make sense as an alien spacecraft much less anything natural.

(To Gavin) How did you shoot this? Was it come across by accident with no explanation? What is the back story to this pic?

Gavin: I did indeed come across this by accident, as to what is really going on…I feel in this case it is best to say a magician never reveals his secrets. In some cases, I think the photo is best served by keeping the back story to one’s self, to keep the mystery. This is the kind of shot I really really actually hope to find every time I go out and shoot. A scene that, when framed correctly, is truly surreal and creates its own bizarre reality as a photograph separate from what really transpired in life. I really wish I would come across stuff like this more often!

(To Gavin) How did you light this? Who is this person in the photo?

Gavin: This is actually a staged shot. Back in college, I was working a project about, incidentally, the paranormal and I was trying to create photos that sort of resembled allegedly real photos you find in books on the subject. This is my brother on a rooftop in Malta. I put the flash behind him and put the camera in P-mode on a high ISO. The camera exposes for the ambient light, so doesn’t know the flash is there so thus things the flash hit end up being overexposed and seem to glow. The eyes are just basic “light-dots” I added in Photoshop. My PS skills are quite basic actually.

(To Gavin) Is this lit with a flash? Or just natural light? How did you achieve this hyper-realistic look?

Gavin: Natural light. Very straight ahead shot, point and click. I didn’t do very much with it in post-processing so I figure the hyper-real look is just from the layers in the scene.

(To Gareth) From an except I read on your bio from Forward Thinking Museum, you mentioned that you were learning photography in the hope of becoming a photojournalist, I read also in a 121clicks article recently that you have been struggling with a diagnosis of Lyme disease. How has this impacted your aspirations?

Gareth: It’s honestly a bit painful and unimaginable at this point to think I once such aspirations. The interview with Forward Thinking Museum was done back in 2013. My symptoms had suddenly started in February of 2012. I was having hundreds of skipping heart beats a day, breathlessness, random dizziness attacks. All the doctors assured me these symptoms where simply being caused by “anxiety” and “panic attacks.” I constantly felt like I was one missed heartbeat away from death. Despite this, my fascination with photography was only growing and my will power was stronger than my fears. When I look back at my old B&W pictures I can really see that weird mixture of passion and physical discomfort of the time reflecting off the pictures themselves. Living like that was hell and I still have no idea how I managed to capture those pictures, study photography, work or be in a relationship well dealing with that shit. I was sick but I was also healthy enough to still dream. What I did not expect is how much worse I was going to get over the coming years. By 2015 I started having daily headaches and migraines and by 2017 I was deathly sick having memory problems and crippling fatigue. It was not till the eleventh hour that my invisible illness that made my body into a torture chamber was finally exposed and diagnosed. Right now I’m undergoing treatment, but it’s been very difficult and is a slow process. For right now all of my dreams aspirations are being kept in a metaphorical shoe box until I’m better.

(To Gareth) When I read the quote, “I think the streets will prepare me for future battlefields,” it made me thought of a Bruce Gilden video, where he is walking around NYC and talking about the really dangerous place is ‘right here’. In any disaster area, working as a journo, you have a press pass that gives you permission to take photos. But being just a shmuck with a camera means anyone can do what they want to you. With your in your face style of photography, what are some of the most interesting reactions you have inspired from an uninvited flash to the face?

Gareth: Shooting this way, of course you’re not invisible but most of the time the reactions are fine. Sometimes people laugh or say thank you if you compliment them, sometimes it elicits a conversation. Bizarrely enough, there are quite a few people who don’t seem to notice it. However and inevitably you will get the odd bad reaction. One time I shot this guy smoking a pipe. He literally punches the camera into my face and starts having this big go at me, saying he’s a lawyer, he’ll sue me blah blah blah.

I stood my ground saying what I was doing was not illegal but physically assaulting someone was, which is what he just did to me. Usually when you get a bad reaction or whatever I try to be apologetic or defuse the situation not always “stand my ground”, but when someone acts like that and starts getting physical over their photo being taken, then no. Anyway, I was later informed that this guy was a lawyer — in fact, an infamous one well-known for his hard unionist and anti-Catholic leanings. He’s been caught out singing sectarian songs and jokes. He’s a bigot. After learning that, I did not feel bad in the least for ruining his day.

(To Gareth) In your series “Breathing Mannequins” you bring a high fashion style to the streets. It seems with this series that the intention is to make photographs that contrast human skin to the unnatural covering of clothing. What inspired you to look at people this way and how did you learn to shoot in this way?

Gareth: When I was first exposed to street photography I was attracted to its unpredictability and the unforgiving nature. I remember trying to find the “decisive moment” when I first started shooting the streets and completely failing to capture anything compelling. It was not until a Halloween night when I decided to use the pop-up flash on my camera that I discovered the potential of the flash. Soon afterward I purchased a flash gun and a set of flash triggers.

Much of my inspiration to capture subjects up close and off guard came from looking at the work of a local street photographer and friend Paul Cruickshank. I was drawn in by the feeling of energy and intimacy in his pictures. Armed with my flash gun and lots of courage I began getting closer to subjects. The black and white lighting storms soon led to interesting results and further pursuit of that aesthetic.

When I was shooting in black and white I was thinking in black & white and looked for people and things that would fit the dark and eerie look. It was not till I reluctantly switched over to color that I begin to see the visual potential of the subjects that peacocked their way down Edinburgh’s busy high street. I was also simultaneously being inspired by the surrealistic color work of Guy Bourdin. I believe his work had an even greater impact on me than most of the well-known street photographers.

(To Gareth) Do you yourself wear clothing that draws attention to yourself, that sacrifice practicality for fashion?

Gareth: No, not deliberately unless my clothes are falling apart. I used to wear this leather jacket where the sleeve was torn to shreds, but I was too skint to replace it for ages. One of my friends said it looked like I’d been run over by a car. That’s as flashy as I get with my fashion.

(To Gareth) How much warning did you get to take this- did the umbrella reverse itself just as you hit the shutter?

Gareth: Not very much warning. I was crossing the street and the umbrella reversed itself right in front of me and it was thanks to fast reflexes that I was able to catch this at the drop of a hat.

(To Gareth) Did you know this guy before you took the photo? It looks as if you were just having a drink with him?

Gareth: This was in Monmarte in Paris. There was a camera crew around this guy and I just jumped into the middle of this crowd and took the photo. Had no idea who he was but was later told he is something like a famous owner of cabaret clubs or something like that. Some celebrity anyway.

(To Gareth) What is the story behind this wretched creature?

Gareth: I caught this just as its owner was about to pick it up into a taxi cab. It’s some sort of particular breed. No idea which.

(To Gareth) How was this lit? How did the copper react to you flashing his horse?

Gareth: Lit with an off-camera flash from under the horse’s snout. It was years ago I took this, but I don’t recall the cop really reacting. I guess sometimes you have to be careful with horses. Horses can scare the shit out of me sometimes.

(To Gareth) When putting together your portfolio or an exhibition, what do you look for? What are the themes or feelings that speak to you to create a series like Under Grey Skies?

Gareth: When we put together things like that, I suppose not only are we trying to pick strong individual photos, but also have a sort of consistency to them. Not necessarily something literal, or something you can express with words, but the sort of thing you can see coming together when you’re actually in the act of putting it all together. I suppose the same can often be said of when we have series like the one you mentioned. Like when those photos are taken, we’re usually just out to take photos, not necessarily with a particular theme in mind, not consciously anyway. It’s later on that you notice when you have enough of these pictures does the “theme” become apparent.

(To Both) What is a vivid dream that you can pull from recent memory?

Gareth: I had this really vivid dream recently that involved a really strange lighting storm with these sort of UFOs in the sky and everyone looking up at them and then this apparition of a girl appearing in the hallway. It was really eerie and a bit omen-y. Then the dream moved on to going to the theater with my brother and parents and having a bad feeling about it and getting us to leave in a taxi, only for it to bring us back to the theater which then gets attacked by these guys with samurai swords. One of those dreams where you end up feeling really weird when you wake up.

Gavin: I had a dream where I found out Karen O died from meningitis or something. I was proper tore up about it.

(To Both) Lastly, this wouldn’t be a photographer interview without a gear shot, so show me what you shoot with!

About the author: James Cater is a digital and analog photographer, film lab operator, and model. The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author. You can find more of Cater’s work on his website and Instagram. This article was also published here.

source https://petapixel.com/2019/04/01/shooting-dreams-and-nightmares-an-interview-with-the-bragdon-brothers/

[pauldeckerus]

Shooting Dreams and Nightmares: An Interview with the Bragdon Brothers

Great photography tells a compelling story. Weaving narrative into photos and photo series is a challenging task — the storyteller cannot simply make the world conform to their imagination as the author or painter can. Photographers only have one frame to convey meaning — motion and action have to be paraphrased and the moment of transformation captured.

The limitations of physical reality and framing a decisive moment to tell a tale are what makes being a good photographic storyteller so hard. You need to think laterally, as your story relies heavily on the imagination and subconscious mind of the audience, much like infiltrating someone’s dreams.

Gareth (above, at left) and Gavin (above, at right) Bragdon are two street photographers who do this artfully. It’s unusual to find someone who performs this effectively, let alone two brother’s whose work compliments each other in a style that blends dreams with nightmares, emphasizing the surreal aspects of the everyday. There is a meaning in here, but just like in a dream the meaning is unclear and muddled- strange things are illuminated people become alien lifeforms, and life the world becomes a surreal and scary place.

I interviewed them to divine some understanding of these surreal images they create.

James Cater (to Gavin): On your old blog you wrote that “I can easily see commonalities between my handwriting, photography, music, drawing and so on…for example, I tend to favor delay/reverb which to me would be the sonic equivalents to photography’s slow shutter speeds, multiple exposures, blur and the like.” This is an interesting way for an artist to find their element in photo taking — by looking outside the photographic art to find their ‘punctum’ as you called it. Things have definitely developed since this, but what kind of art outside of photography continues to influence your style?

Gavin: I would definitely say movies/TV…in fact, maybe more so than other photography itself. Books as well. My favorite genre for all of those tends to be science fiction as well horror if it’s well done, you know focuses more on the eerie, uncanny, surreal, atmosphere and so on. And at least nowadays, consciously or subconsciously those are the sort of things I try to capture.

And I think it reflects the real world at the moment. We are living in a sort of sci-fi/horror. Everything seems off-kilter, unwinding, surreal, not quite real, this twilight zone. You got Donald Trump, of course, Britain is committing suicide with Brexit because it’s collectively lost its mind, you got other similar movements popping up in other countries. There’s also the effects of climate change becoming more and more tangible. We’re in a very weird and dark place right now.

(To Gavin) Many of your photos look like they are from stills the X-Files. How are you influenced by the paranormal or surrealism?

Gavin: As far as the former goes, when my brother and I were kids we spent a lot of time reading about the paranormal- ghosts, UFOs, cryptids and so on. I suppose that came from the fact that unlike many other kids our age, we never were able to watch say Friday the 13th or the Freddy Kruger movies. I think all kids have something of a need for horror and scares of some kinds, so for us, the books and shows about the paranormal supplemented that. The only difference was that, supposedly, what we were into was non-fiction. And there is something very surreal about the paranormal versus Hollywood horror.

Incidentally, we were/are planning to do a documentary project on “paranormal culture” if you will, in Scotland, you know tagging along with ghost hunters, UFO watchers and the like. Because of circumstances involving my brother’s illness, its been shelved for the time being but as soon as he’s in a better state its something I really look forward to jumping into.

(To Gavin) Do you have any experiences with extra-terrestrial life forms, or do you have any beliefs that some may consider ‘fringe’ or conspiratorial?

Gavin: I tend to be agnostic about the paranormal/unexplained. I tend to think there is “something” that happens, like what we think of as ghosts or alien spacecraft are things that are real in a way – that something is happening, and not just a bunch of lies or sightings of Venus/swamp gas (some of the skeptical explanations are just as ridiculous and far-fetched as the explanations of some of the most out there “believers”). But of course, yeah, there is a lot of bullshit out there.

Ghosts and UFOs and so on seem almost like glitches in the Matrix…they don’t belong in our rational, scientific natural world and yet there they are. What are they? Are they what they seem at face value? I mean even if none of it is real, I still find fascinating to think that maybe there is a thin membrane between our natural/rational world and others that leaks over sometimes. If it is all a modern form of mythology, then it’s a fascinating one.

I can say I have a short handful of what would be considered paranormal experiences, things that I can’t explain otherwise. And believe me, I wrack my brain for alternatives because I don’t want to go around believing I had an “experience” for the sake of it. I have seen what I believe was UFO once, its small fry stuff, but it’s one I really can’t explain. Basically, it looked a bit like a star flying around in erratic patterns around a larger and brighter star before the former seemed to disappear into the latter, which then just stayed there like a star or planet would. It’s a weird one and doesn’t even quite make sense as an alien spacecraft much less anything natural.

(To Gavin) How did you shoot this? Was it come across by accident with no explanation? What is the back story to this pic?

Gavin: I did indeed come across this by accident, as to what is really going on…I feel in this case it is best to say a magician never reveals his secrets. In some cases, I think the photo is best served by keeping the back story to one’s self, to keep the mystery. This is the kind of shot I really really actually hope to find every time I go out and shoot. A scene that, when framed correctly, is truly surreal and creates its own bizarre reality as a photograph separate from what really transpired in life. I really wish I would come across stuff like this more often!

(To Gavin) How did you light this? Who is this person in the photo?

Gavin: This is actually a staged shot. Back in college, I was working a project about, incidentally, the paranormal and I was trying to create photos that sort of resembled allegedly real photos you find in books on the subject. This is my brother on a rooftop in Malta. I put the flash behind him and put the camera in P-mode on a high ISO. The camera exposes for the ambient light, so doesn’t know the flash is there so thus things the flash hit end up being overexposed and seem to glow. The eyes are just basic “light-dots” I added in Photoshop. My PS skills are quite basic actually.

(To Gavin) Is this lit with a flash? Or just natural light? How did you achieve this hyper-realistic look?

Gavin: Natural light. Very straight ahead shot, point and click. I didn’t do very much with it in post-processing so I figure the hyper-real look is just from the layers in the scene.

(To Gareth) From an except I read on your bio from Forward Thinking Museum, you mentioned that you were learning photography in the hope of becoming a photojournalist, I read also in a 121clicks article recently that you have been struggling with a diagnosis of Lyme disease. How has this impacted your aspirations?

Gareth: It’s honestly a bit painful and unimaginable at this point to think I once such aspirations. The interview with Forward Thinking Museum was done back in 2013. My symptoms had suddenly started in February of 2012. I was having hundreds of skipping heart beats a day, breathlessness, random dizziness attacks. All the doctors assured me these symptoms where simply being caused by “anxiety” and “panic attacks.” I constantly felt like I was one missed heartbeat away from death. Despite this, my fascination with photography was only growing and my will power was stronger than my fears. When I look back at my old B&W pictures I can really see that weird mixture of passion and physical discomfort of the time reflecting off the pictures themselves. Living like that was hell and I still have no idea how I managed to capture those pictures, study photography, work or be in a relationship well dealing with that shit. I was sick but I was also healthy enough to still dream. What I did not expect is how much worse I was going to get over the coming years. By 2015 I started having daily headaches and migraines and by 2017 I was deathly sick having memory problems and crippling fatigue. It was not till the eleventh hour that my invisible illness that made my body into a torture chamber was finally exposed and diagnosed. Right now I’m undergoing treatment, but it’s been very difficult and is a slow process. For right now all of my dreams aspirations are being kept in a metaphorical shoe box until I’m better.

(To Gareth) When I read the quote, “I think the streets will prepare me for future battlefields,” it made me thought of a Bruce Gilden video, where he is walking around NYC and talking about the really dangerous place is ‘right here’. In any disaster area, working as a journo, you have a press pass that gives you permission to take photos. But being just a shmuck with a camera means anyone can do what they want to you. With your in your face style of photography, what are some of the most interesting reactions you have inspired from an uninvited flash to the face?

Gareth: Shooting this way, of course you’re not invisible but most of the time the reactions are fine. Sometimes people laugh or say thank you if you compliment them, sometimes it elicits a conversation. Bizarrely enough, there are quite a few people who don’t seem to notice it. However and inevitably you will get the odd bad reaction. One time I shot this guy smoking a pipe. He literally punches the camera into my face and starts having this big go at me, saying he’s a lawyer, he’ll sue me blah blah blah.

I stood my ground saying what I was doing was not illegal but physically assaulting someone was, which is what he just did to me. Usually when you get a bad reaction or whatever I try to be apologetic or defuse the situation not always “stand my ground”, but when someone acts like that and starts getting physical over their photo being taken, then no. Anyway, I was later informed that this guy was a lawyer — in fact, an infamous one well-known for his hard unionist and anti-Catholic leanings. He’s been caught out singing sectarian songs and jokes. He’s a bigot. After learning that, I did not feel bad in the least for ruining his day.

(To Gareth) In your series “Breathing Mannequins” you bring a high fashion style to the streets. It seems with this series that the intention is to make photographs that contrast human skin to the unnatural covering of clothing. What inspired you to look at people this way and how did you learn to shoot in this way?

Gareth: When I was first exposed to street photography I was attracted to its unpredictability and the unforgiving nature. I remember trying to find the “decisive moment” when I first started shooting the streets and completely failing to capture anything compelling. It was not until a Halloween night when I decided to use the pop-up flash on my camera that I discovered the potential of the flash. Soon afterward I purchased a flash gun and a set of flash triggers.

Much of my inspiration to capture subjects up close and off guard came from looking at the work of a local street photographer and friend Paul Cruickshank. I was drawn in by the feeling of energy and intimacy in his pictures. Armed with my flash gun and lots of courage I began getting closer to subjects. The black and white lighting storms soon led to interesting results and further pursuit of that aesthetic.

When I was shooting in black and white I was thinking in black & white and looked for people and things that would fit the dark and eerie look. It was not till I reluctantly switched over to color that I begin to see the visual potential of the subjects that peacocked their way down Edinburgh’s busy high street. I was also simultaneously being inspired by the surrealistic color work of Guy Bourdin. I believe his work had an even greater impact on me than most of the well-known street photographers.

(To Gareth) Do you yourself wear clothing that draws attention to yourself, that sacrifice practicality for fashion?

Gareth: No, not deliberately unless my clothes are falling apart. I used to wear this leather jacket where the sleeve was torn to shreds, but I was too skint to replace it for ages. One of my friends said it looked like I’d been run over by a car. That’s as flashy as I get with my fashion.

(To Gareth) How much warning did you get to take this- did the umbrella reverse itself just as you hit the shutter?

Gareth: Not very much warning. I was crossing the street and the umbrella reversed itself right in front of me and it was thanks to fast reflexes that I was able to catch this at the drop of a hat.

(To Gareth) Did you know this guy before you took the photo? It looks as if you were just having a drink with him?

Gareth: This was in Monmarte in Paris. There was a camera crew around this guy and I just jumped into the middle of this crowd and took the photo. Had no idea who he was but was later told he is something like a famous owner of cabaret clubs or something like that. Some celebrity anyway.

(To Gareth) What is the story behind this wretched creature?

Gareth: I caught this just as its owner was about to pick it up into a taxi cab. It’s some sort of particular breed. No idea which.

(To Gareth) How was this lit? How did the copper react to you flashing his horse?

Gareth: Lit with an off-camera flash from under the horse’s snout. It was years ago I took this, but I don’t recall the cop really reacting. I guess sometimes you have to be careful with horses. Horses can scare the shit out of me sometimes.

(To Gareth) When putting together your portfolio or an exhibition, what do you look for? What are the themes or feelings that speak to you to create a series like Under Grey Skies?

Gareth: When we put together things like that, I suppose not only are we trying to pick strong individual photos, but also have a sort of consistency to them. Not necessarily something literal, or something you can express with words, but the sort of thing you can see coming together when you’re actually in the act of putting it all together. I suppose the same can often be said of when we have series like the one you mentioned. Like when those photos are taken, we’re usually just out to take photos, not necessarily with a particular theme in mind, not consciously anyway. It’s later on that you notice when you have enough of these pictures does the “theme” become apparent.

(To Both) What is a vivid dream that you can pull from recent memory?

Gareth: I had this really vivid dream recently that involved a really strange lighting storm with these sort of UFOs in the sky and everyone looking up at them and then this apparition of a girl appearing in the hallway. It was really eerie and a bit omen-y. Then the dream moved on to going to the theater with my brother and parents and having a bad feeling about it and getting us to leave in a taxi, only for it to bring us back to the theater which then gets attacked by these guys with samurai swords. One of those dreams where you end up feeling really weird when you wake up.

Gavin: I had a dream where I found out Karen O died from meningitis or something. I was proper tore up about it.

(To Both) Lastly, this wouldn’t be a photographer interview without a gear shot, so show me what you shoot with!

About the author: James Cater is a digital and analog photographer, film lab operator, and model. The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author. You can find more of Cater’s work on his website and Instagram. This article was also published here.

from Photography News https://petapixel.com/2019/04/01/shooting-dreams-and-nightmares-an-interview-with-the-bragdon-brothers/