The 1949 photograph 'Nude, Campden Hill, London' is a journey into the imagination.

By Michael Falis

Photographer Bill Brandt presents a surreal image to the viewer. In the fore ground, a nude figure appears out of the darkness. In the background of the photo, an unmade bed sits next to a night stand. On the night stand, a lamp with no lampshade projects a low-key light onto the bare walls and distressed sheets of the bed.

The lighting technique used by Brandt in this photo is known as chiaroscuro lighting. This technique employs fast falloff, and strong contrast between light and dark. The use chiaroscuro defines the three-dimensional aspects of the photo. It gives depth and clarity to both the fore and background. The large area of black between the nude and the bedroom scene is a perfect example of the contrast between light and dark separating the foreground from the background.

Fast falloff is the use of direct light to accent the attached shadows of an object and give it texture. A key light on the bedroom scene, as well as, the lamp on the night stand create fast falloff on the sheets draped over the bed. The texture of the sheets brings a feel to the photograph. This is an example of the tactile orientation function of the lighting.

The spatial orientation in "Nude, Campden Hill, London" is very interesting. The body of the nude is given shape by the key light that shines on her back. She has no cast shadow to tell the viewer exactly what she is sitting on, or what her relation to the rest of the photo is. This is left to the imagination of the viewer.

Chiaroscuro and fast falloff are once again used to reveal only a small portion of the nude's figure. The selective illumination of the nude's back adds to the mystery of the photo and the nude's role in it. The lamp in the background of the photo casts a shadow onto the back wall of the room affirming its position on the night stand.

The lamp in this photo is very important for many reasons. Using a source of light that appears in the actual photograph is possibly an innovative way to resolve a lighting problem that may have occurred in the back ground of the photo. The lamp also helps in giving the sheet on the bed a more defined texture.

Darkness, mystery, and surrealism are all themes in this photograph. The low key lighting of chiaroscuro is used by Brandt to give the feeling of night or darkness. There is no visible day light in the entire photograph, and, the lighting that is provided is very selective. Brandt stays true to the notion of chiaroscuro lighting giving an inner connection to the emotional feel of the photo. The subject of the photo becomes less important than the surreal effect presented to the viewer by his use of light and the arrangement of the very distinct fore and backgrounds.

At the point in Bill Brandt's career that "Nude, Campden Hill, London" was taken, He had reached a crossroads in his work. His search for new and artistic subject matter led him around the world, Yet he was not satisfied. He finally turned to his own imagination. He took a look inside of himself to see what surreal and unusual images he could create. The emphasis left his subjectmatter and turned to the emotions he could evoke with a photograph.

The use of chiaroscuro helped Brandt to evoke the strongest possible emotional response from the viewer by adding drama to his subject matter.

Copyright © Michael Falis September 2000