What Are The Characteristics Of Photography In Keasler's Haunt

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Misty Keasler's, Haunt, features a collection of photographs of interior rooms and exterior scenes of haunted houses and rooms. Through her collection of photographs, Keasler is able to take photography to a point where it falls as a medium. There is a variety of photographs featuring haunted houses from the outside. The main characteristics that the photographs share is the lighting and angled perspective. Photographs feature bright lights, up lighting, or lighting only on specific parts of the photograph. The lighting affects the ominous feeling and creepiness of the photographs. The homes were also photographed at an angle. Photographing the homes from the ground up makes the viewer feel smaller in comparison with the house, makes it seem scarier. The remainder of the photographs featured smaller interior rooms. The rooms were extremely decorated, detailed, and vacant. This allows the viewer to let their imagination and interpretation of the image run free. One of the problems with the exhibit is that the still images lose their ability to fully show viewers the experience of witnessing them in person. …show more content…
They lack the sensory components one receives when in a haunted house, like smell and sound. Another thing the images lack, is the ability to make the viewer feel the tension of something waiting to jump out, or something lurking in the shadows or in the corners. The immersive experience of a haunted house cannot be portrayed through photographs. However, one of the biggest things I learned is how the photographs in Keasler's collection provide viewers with a different kind of tension. This lingering tension allows more time to look, notice, and find details one would not see when being led through a specific, darkened pathway in a haunted house. The viewer is not distracted by fear or movement, but instead is left stationary to explore the details in a photograph. This made me more scared than being in the haunted house itself. Having my imagination run wild, made me feel more uneasy, and frightened by what was in the photographs. The photography caused me to ask specific questions to myself. Who set these rooms up? Who lives in these rooms? Who is responsible for the people and bodies? How did the room end up like this? These questions really led me to understand that this exhibition was a lot about imagination and interpretation. The scariness of the exhibit lies upon the viewers ability to imagine a story in their head and interpret the objects in the photographs. The exhibit became a truly interactive experience for me, once I realized that the story was up to me to decide. Further thinking caused me to ask myself why Americans are obsessed with fear and inhumane things. There is a strangeness in the existence of these places were fantasies are manifested in real life. Why do Americans desire and further pay for the sensation of fear? I found this exhibit to be especially unique, because of the interactiveness of the photos. The more and more time I spent at the exhibit, the more I over analyzed each and every photograph. I found myself wondering why each detail was the way it was and how it related to room as a whole. I began to notice every detail, from the stains on the bed to the direction empty chairs were facing. The photographs contain an asinine amount of small

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