Last Updated on 08/26/2018 by Mark Beckenbach
All photos by Dan/FlimDan. Used with Creative Commons permission.
The color purple means a number of things. It’s the color of royalty and luxury. In literature, purple prose means something written too elaborately or ornately. Purple is associated with magic and mystery too, and it’s this vibe that photo series “Purple Dread” gives off.
“Purple Dread” is the work of a Zaragoza, Spain-based photographer and graphic artist who’s simply known as Dan. It’s mostly a mix of emotive portraits and multiple exposures, as well as posed and random snapshots, all shot in dim light both indoors and outdoors. And as its name implies, all the photos in this series are bathed in purple, blue, and green tones – color shifts that were achieved as he used Lomography’s LomoChrome Purple film.
“Purple Dread” tells a visual tale we can’t quite figure out just yet. As we’ve said, the color purple alone can signify mystery, but by shooting his subjects in dim light, this vibe is intensified even further.
Dan didn’t share his own take on this, but his photos are inspiring enough to let one spin their own story based on them. There’s a woman whose face is only half shown, if not completely hidden. In a couple of shots, she’s seen reaching out to something (or probably someone?), but why? To add to the mystery, there’s an image of a headless mannequin under the cover of darkness, too.
The rest of the shots are trippy doubles and multiple exposure shots of lights and a building. If we are to arrange the photos in “Purple Dread,” these shots would be the in-betweens, those that would fill the gaps in this surreal story.
For more purple goodness, check out Kate Hook’s creative portraiture, also shot with the LomoChrome Purple. While you’re at it, you can also read through this review of this quirky emulsion.
Don’t forget to check out the rest of the “Purple Dread” series here as well as Dan’s Behance portfolio here.