the Contrarian

the Contrarian

We all know someone like this, and some of us are this person - the contrarian. A contrarian is a person who takes up a position opposed to the majority, seemingly because they are compelled to always disagree with everyone. In other words, the contrary position.

I cannot help but empathize with this stance. Perhaps I am a bit of a contrarian too, but objectivity in analyzing oneself is next to impossible. It can be annoying to others, it can seem like the contrarian is addicted to conflict and tension, but perhaps this personality type is part of the natural order. Perhaps we need someone who rails against the majority every now and then. Many of our heroes, both fictional and historical, are indeed contrarians.

My image is a simple one, and rather plainly conceived in line with the concept. We see four identical men all leaning towards the angle of the land, and one, leaning away from it. It is an awkward stance, but it is how he is built, he cannot help but go in the opposite direction of the others.

As easy as this image seems, it actually was a bit of a difficult one to finish. The original shot of the model was not one where he was leaning at an angle, so those angles had to be created. I made a copy of the shot and angled him from the calf up, and then merged the upper and lower half together. I made one version of him leaning backwards and one forwards, and then spent hours trying to place the "majority" in a good distribution pattern. At one point I had eight, then six, then two, and finally, four. As always with minimalist images, the few elements there are have to be placed just so or it knocks the composition out of balance.

A Before and After version of this image can be seen on my Facebook page at: www.Facebook.com/MichaelBilottaPhotography

model: Ed Barron