Gregory Crewdson's "Brief Encounters"

A week ago Irvin and I took a trip to the Portland Museum of Art to see a showing of Gregory Crewdson's "Brief Encounters" co-presented by the Space Gallery. "Brief Encounters" is a documentary that takes you along as Gregory creates some of his haunting images of small-town America for a series called "Beneath the Roses". All I can say is wow!

©Gregory Crewdson

These images are elaborately staged and executed on a grand "cinematic" scale. Sometimes entire sets are built on sound stages (including the image shown above) though most are shot on location in some of the old industrial towns of Western Massachusetts like Pittsfield and Lee. The scale of the production of a single image is mind boggling and crazy to see first hand. Gregory points out that the budget for a single image can cost as much as a small independent film. Shot with an 8x10 camera the images are produced on a very large scale, some as large as 48"x60" and the results are breath taking. He is a self admitted control freak and it shows as he takes over every aspect of crafting the image, refining it until it is flawless. It was interesting however to note that although most of the work is done in camera ultimately the film is scanned and edited in Adobe Photoshop, allowing him to tweak them to a dizzying level of perfection.

It was such a pleasure to get a behind the scenes perspective on these shoots from an artist of his caliber. His interviews are insightful not only for his thought processes but also how his experiences when he was a child affect his photography today. Irvin and I came away inspired and with the sense that sometimes, maybe we think too small......

Even if his style doesn't appeal to you, I would still recommend checking this movie out. It will soon be available through Netflix, although there is no specific release date listed on their website. (DVD only) See the trailer below and a link to its site.

http://www.gregorycrewdsonmovie.com