Sunday 26 January 2014

Shadow Laughter Beginnings: An eye-witness account

Hamish and I had discussed the possibility of working together some time before Shadow Laughter began.  Our own artistic disciplines were different, but Hamish recognised our common interest in photography and in movies.  The suggestion of working on something film-noir based seemed very appealing... 
  
'Shadow Laughter' began in the summer of 2012, the name coming from an initial set of photos taken in July of that year.


"Laughter Shook Them from Their Seats" was photographed in the narrow confines of a hallway, with little room for varied camera angles, and using basic lighting.  This situation was inspired by a scene from a Laurel and Hardy film, where the two are laughing uncontrollably, until discovering their wives are nearby... (You will notice that, at the top of our facebook page, we use the pseudonyms 'Laurel and Marty'.)  In our set, a more sinister overtone develops.

At this early stage, we had little idea of the characters who would come to be involved in our project, the locations we would visit, or what challenges Thursday evenings would hold in store for us...