Upside Downy

Monday August 29th, 2011

Photographer Brandon Voges of Bruton Stroube Studios will take any excuse to photograph his friends doing weird things. A few years back, he put together a series called Shakey Face and had been itching to try something similar ever since. Brandon decided that he wanted to create another set similar to Shakey Face that would hold the viewers attention longer than the average portrait. With this in mind, he came up with the idea to hang and shoot his subjects upside down but print the images right side up, then make large scale prints to show all the nitty-gritty, upside-downy details. “I wanted to emphasize that odd, glitch-in-the-matrix feeling you get when you viewed them.  The weirder the feeling, the better. I debated doing the upside down part along with having the people scream to really make it intense, but decided against it, for fear of someone popping blood vessels in their face.”

Once he had the concept in mind, Brandon set out to make it a reality. The biggest challenge, of course, was how to hang his subjects upside down…safely. It took some thought and testing but the Bruton Stroube crew was there to help,

Our building manager and set builder suggested modifying an inversion table, the type you use for spine problems. We connected that to a 1/2 ton winch and secured that the the trusses in my studio. I, of course, had to take the maiden voyage. It was a little scary, but felt fantastic on my back.

Now that the rig was set and the studio filled with snacks and beers, Brandon invited his friends to come eat, drink, and be hung upside down.

Since I had done a similar project a while back, some of the people were aware of it and were excited to be involved. I essentially sent out an email with the concept and pleaded for people to come be a part of it. I think in the end, I shot around 30 people over a course of a few days. I was very fortunate to have such willing participants.

Brandon soon realized that lighting a subject upside down was a bit of a trick. He also found that, “directing people backwards is one thing, but upside down and backwards a whole new ball game. Nobody passed out or threw up though, that was a definite plus.” He titled the set Upside Downy.

Here’s a little video of how they did it:

After the shoot was finished and the beers downed, Brandon got the series together and put on a showing at a local tavern. There they built an Upside Downy Photo Booth so attendees could have their portrait taken in a similar fashion. The photos were displayed in real time on screens around the venue. “People really seemed to enjoy it.  The turnout was amazing, it was a great time. It was also hilarious to see people standing next to their own portraits.  Some of them looked like completely different people…or a creepy, bloated zombie version.”

Brandon’s subjects weren’t the only ones who liked the images. They quickly became a hit throughout the blogosphere and ended up catching the eye of some creatives at Y&R Brazil. They reached out to Brandon about using some of his Upside Downy faces in one of their campaigns. Brandon happily agreed and they worked on licensing from there.

That’s not the end of the story though! The Y&R Brazil folks were so happy with Brandon’s images and the subsequent campaign, that they entered the ads in the Cannes Lions International Festival For Creativity, where it then won a Bronze Lion award.

Headline text translates to, "You have more blood than you need. Give a little."

Of course, Brandon was thrilled, especially to have a personal project win such a prestigious award.

Anytime I do a personal project, I realize how important it is to concept and create images for myself. It’s good for my brain and I should do it more often. You shouldn’t discount the business value either. If you do something that’s unique enough to get noticed and passed around, it pays for itself. We’ve had multiple inquiries from agencies about using the images for projects or pitches. Those conversations have developed into relationships with clients we’ve previously not had access to, or had never spoken with before, and have turned into real jobs.  Oh, and did I mention I got to hang people upside down? It was a blast.

- Maria Luci