This series of work by Long combines videos and photographs of dates that she has been on. The intriguing concept about this project is that it was all captured on a hidden camera by Long. Long wanted to create this project as she said that she has no time in her life for romance, with her busy schedule. The unorthodox composition in this project works, the hidden camera sees what she sees on the date, which ultimately shows the viewer an insight to the date. She wouldn't tell the man on the date that she was filming which means this project gives a true insight to the person. The viewer feels involved with the date, especially in this photograph. The man is leaning forward towards Long, enabling her to capture a view of the man's face. The main aspect of this series that I enjoy is the way that the date doesn't know he is being filmed. It's raw footage, an insight to a person's life you wouldn't normally see. Unaware of being filmed the man reaches over to try Long's food, a normal thing you'd expect on a date. If the man knew he was being filmed, he would be conscious at all times of where the camera was, not showing the reality of the date.
“Each date is a kind of reconnaissance mission: my outfits are disguises, my behaviour is a persona, and my questions are interrogations. I am a spy in my own life… The experience of covertly filming my dates is similar to that of being a private detective – there’s a lot of waiting around for something exciting to happen.” Laurie Long
Stranger is a project by photographer Shizuka Yokomizo that explores the confrontation between two people who are complete strangers to one another. Yokomizo sent her subjects an anonymous letter asking to stand at their window at a specific date and time, then Yokomizo would turn up outside and take their photograph. Unlike Long's series the strangers know that they are being photographed. Yokomizo can however construct the image how she wants and use photographic equipment that Long wouldn't be able to with her hidden project. But the viewer still gets a personal insight to the stranger. This photograph raises many questions; Why did the man decide upon wearing no trousers? Aswell as on the phone? But this is a very different surveillance project compared to Long's. This man knows he is going to be photographed at this time, whereas Long's subjects didn't. It's the unawareness in Long's project that makes it work whereas in this project it's the awareness of the man knowing he is being photographed that works. Both projects are very different in terms of the relationship between the photographer and subject. Long interacted with her subject, although they didn't know they were part of an art project, the role between photographer and subject is far more relaxed and this is conveyed through the composition of the photographs. Whereas in Yokomizo's project the only interaction between photographer and the subject was an anonymous letter, the pair wouldn't meet. The man knows he is being photographed but has no idea who the photographer is. He's staring out of the window into dark. Both project are about the encounters with the subject with very different outcomes.
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