A Day in The Life of a Superhero.

I love EVERYTHING superhero, from comics to the films. Even as a child I have had this obsession with superheros. I think it was an escape from reality, as they didn't really have to concern themselves with everyday life as much as the average person, they had bigger fish to fry. But photographer Gregg Segal has looked at the other side of the life as a superhero, in his series 'Super Heros at Home' 2006, where he takes great interest in the impersonators of the glamorous Hollywood Boulevard. Where he then follows them home, capturing them while still in costume showing the reality of things not actually being super at all, just highlighting how monotinus their home daily routine is in comparrison to that of a "superhero".

   By following the subjects home he unveils the true nature of these people and with them still in their costumes creates a contrast between the amazing and the mundane. Unmasking them through their homes and their chores. In that domestic context, the need to dress as comic book characters becomes more pronounced and obsessive, that on the street where it makes some sort of sense.

Gregg Segal - 'Captain America getting his mail' 2009

   Segall states, 'While I photographed Batman, a family pulled over to take his picture. He strode up to them with super hero confidence and the children approached him with awe. He was Batman because he was Batman to them. Then late, in his apartment, when he'd taken off his mask and cape and was reheating leftovers in the microwave, he was merely ordinary.' 

Gregg Segall - 'Spiderman hanging laundry' 2006

Gregg Segal - 'Spiderman drinking grape juice' 2006

    These vivid portraits succeed in both being funny and poignient, mixing the reality with humour produces what I feel a well rounded image. By following the "actors" home he looks beyond the obvious, giving the subject more of a sense of individuality and a voyeuristic look in to the real worlds of the people. Also i feel prehaps by masquerading themselves as these icons and posing for pictures with tourists, it allows them an illusory sense of stardom.

Gregg Segal - 'Batman on his bike' 2006

    Whilst looking at Segal's work I came across the works of photographer Agan Harahap, and his series 'Super Hero' which looks at memorable black and white political and war time scenes, and then placed with in these scenes are superheros, as if there to hel the situation, much like in the superhero films.

Agan Harahap - 'Greenham Air Field, June 5th 1944' 2009

Agan Harahap - 'A Camp Near Minsk, 1941' 2009

Agan Harahap - 'Cherbourg Normandy 1944' 2009

 Websites
www.greggsegal.com 
www.behance.net/aganharahap
www.melmanandthehippo.blogspot.co.uk