Exactitudes

It is definitely the season for beard photography, with winter on its way. Ideally i wanted to take portraits of people with different types of beards that are typical to their styles. For example, the truck driver beard would be handle bar like and full bodied. There are so many types of beards, that you can reflect on the bearers character.

I wanted to label the beards to correspond with its style. Lazy beard, Metal-head beard, Bogan beard, Trendy beard, Workers beard, Mutton Chops beard, Charles Darwin beard......

After presenting this idea to Jenna Corcoran, she pointed me in the direction of Exatitudes.

Ari Versluis is a Rotterdam-based photographer who has an interest in the striking dress codes of various social groups and have systematically documented numerous identities over the past 14years. Exactitudes is a contraction of exact and attitude. Their subjects are placed in an individual framework, with similar poses and a strictly observed dress code.

Their work, one could say is scientific and anthropological, where they capture people attempts to distinguish themselves from others by assuming group identity.

For the period that i have been taking photos of beards the reasoning that i hear for growing the beards is becoming more evident. On a majority, men have said that they have a beard as they are 'lazy' and shaving is a monotonous task that is practiced too often. Although there were the select few who were 'trying' to go the beard without success. I think the manly nature of the beard is not only attractive to women, but in this case, to young adults trying to address and prove their manhood. I was unable to capture the 'attempted' beard, as the subject did not classify it as a beard. That made me question, what draws the line between stubble and beard? Can stubble be classified as a beard?

More updates to come...