Two Sides To Every Story
August 5, 2012 6:54 AM Subscribe
Half-Drag is photographer Leland Bobbé's series capturing both the 'male and the alter-ego female side' of a person's face in a single image.
Harvelyn Dent was a vanilla district attorney until a mob boss threw cosmetics on one side of his face.
posted by BrotherCaine at 7:13 AM on August 5, 2012 [2 favorites]
posted by BrotherCaine at 7:13 AM on August 5, 2012 [2 favorites]
For a photographer, he's not half bad.
posted by hal9k at 7:20 AM on August 5, 2012 [3 favorites]
posted by hal9k at 7:20 AM on August 5, 2012 [3 favorites]
That's a good bit of fun, and well shot.
I think I would like it better if he'd shot two photos, before and after, then 'shopped them together. It would be quite tricky technically but certainly possible. C.F some of the portraits where siblings are 'shopped together.
I have this belief that you get a better portrait if a person can be 100% who they are, and in these shots they are (obviously) neither drag nor stag, and while it's a valid exhibition for what it is, I'd like to see something more.
posted by seanmpuckett at 7:23 AM on August 5, 2012
I think I would like it better if he'd shot two photos, before and after, then 'shopped them together. It would be quite tricky technically but certainly possible. C.F some of the portraits where siblings are 'shopped together.
I have this belief that you get a better portrait if a person can be 100% who they are, and in these shots they are (obviously) neither drag nor stag, and while it's a valid exhibition for what it is, I'd like to see something more.
posted by seanmpuckett at 7:23 AM on August 5, 2012
These are great, thanks, gman. 17 cracks me up, and 29 just works so well. I disagree with you, seanmpuckett; capturing the mental space of in-betweenness seems key to what makes these work. You can really see it in this one.
I find I like the simpler ones best. I mean, I love over-the-top performative femininity, but I'd also love to see a series of these that used a more everyday version of what it means to be feminine. That would rock just as much.
posted by mediareport at 7:29 AM on August 5, 2012 [3 favorites]
I find I like the simpler ones best. I mean, I love over-the-top performative femininity, but I'd also love to see a series of these that used a more everyday version of what it means to be feminine. That would rock just as much.
posted by mediareport at 7:29 AM on August 5, 2012 [3 favorites]
These photos are amazing.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 7:34 AM on August 5, 2012
posted by flapjax at midnite at 7:34 AM on August 5, 2012
Stunning looks, costumes, styling, lighting and photos!
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 7:48 AM on August 5, 2012
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 7:48 AM on August 5, 2012
Huh, I just noticed that there's one photo where the female side has facial hair.
posted by gman at 7:48 AM on August 5, 2012
posted by gman at 7:48 AM on August 5, 2012
The other portfolios are great, too. Compare the candid shots in the Women of Fifth Avenue set, e.g.
posted by mediareport at 7:54 AM on August 5, 2012
posted by mediareport at 7:54 AM on August 5, 2012
This is what that one Star Trek episode should have been like.
posted by pracowity at 2:14 PM on August 5, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by pracowity at 2:14 PM on August 5, 2012 [1 favorite]
At first I thought these were of mixed models going both ways, but these are all males, right? I had a hard time telling in this one.
posted by porpoise at 3:22 PM on August 5, 2012
posted by porpoise at 3:22 PM on August 5, 2012
I like the idea, but I realized I would be just as interested, and maybe more provoked, to see photos of all women who were half relatively unadorned and half made up, geared up, and glammed up the same degree as these men.
posted by Miko at 5:08 PM on August 5, 2012 [2 favorites]
posted by Miko at 5:08 PM on August 5, 2012 [2 favorites]
These are beautiful portraits - I love the creativity the models put into their drag personas. Very artfully shot as well - what a cool idea.
posted by Lipstick Thespian at 5:10 PM on August 5, 2012
posted by Lipstick Thespian at 5:10 PM on August 5, 2012
These work so well because the two sides support each other. You can see the woman in the man and the man in the woman. It's really beautiful, and feels truer (closer to the true person) than just seeing one side or the other would be.
Miko, yes! That's brilliant. Someone should do it, Leland Bobbé or someone else.
posted by alms at 8:01 PM on August 5, 2012
Miko, yes! That's brilliant. Someone should do it, Leland Bobbé or someone else.
posted by alms at 8:01 PM on August 5, 2012
The strangest* part about that was seeing a lot of the masculine sides with absolutely fucking a-MAZING eyebrows. Super jealous
*and by strange I meant something my brain wasn't used to looking at, not unnatural or any other such nonsense.
Also, hate to be nitpicky, but isn't "male/female" the wrong way to express drag? I thought those terms were used in reference to sex [i.e. physical makeup]. Drag is more genderswapping than sudden sex change.
Also, I have a crush on #24, both in and out of drag.
posted by FirstMateKate at 9:30 PM on August 5, 2012
*and by strange I meant something my brain wasn't used to looking at, not unnatural or any other such nonsense.
Also, hate to be nitpicky, but isn't "male/female" the wrong way to express drag? I thought those terms were used in reference to sex [i.e. physical makeup]. Drag is more genderswapping than sudden sex change.
Also, I have a crush on #24, both in and out of drag.
posted by FirstMateKate at 9:30 PM on August 5, 2012
This is artfully and skillfully done. It also appropriately triggers and frustrates my deeply wired sex discernment mental machinery.
posted by danl at 12:26 PM on August 6, 2012
posted by danl at 12:26 PM on August 6, 2012
Also, hate to be nitpicky, but isn't "male/female" the wrong way to express drag?
is it? If so this is the first I've heard of it and would love to know the alternate terms.
I thought those terms were used in reference to sex [i.e. physical makeup]. Drag is more genderswapping than sudden sex change.
Is there a chance you're confusing the "sex/gender" usages with "male/female?" I agree with you insofar that "sex" refers to physiology, and "gender" to social assignments. But something can still be "gendered male" or "gendered female" in discussion, even if we acknowledge those gender assignments are stereotypical.
posted by Miko at 12:36 PM on August 6, 2012
is it? If so this is the first I've heard of it and would love to know the alternate terms.
I thought those terms were used in reference to sex [i.e. physical makeup]. Drag is more genderswapping than sudden sex change.
Is there a chance you're confusing the "sex/gender" usages with "male/female?" I agree with you insofar that "sex" refers to physiology, and "gender" to social assignments. But something can still be "gendered male" or "gendered female" in discussion, even if we acknowledge those gender assignments are stereotypical.
posted by Miko at 12:36 PM on August 6, 2012
I'd like to see Miko's suggestion of women with/out makeup. And a series of women in drag as men, too. Not to take away from this set, though, it just makes me want to see the idea continued and branched out.
Although pop-culture has fried my brain. I cannot help but feel a bit wary of someone called Leland Bobbe.
posted by harriet vane at 4:15 AM on August 7, 2012 [1 favorite]
Although pop-culture has fried my brain. I cannot help but feel a bit wary of someone called Leland Bobbe.
posted by harriet vane at 4:15 AM on August 7, 2012 [1 favorite]
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posted by gman at 7:04 AM on August 5, 2012