Class Four
Photography that constructs rather than captures. This class introduces tableau photography, the artists who defined it, and the character-driven approach we will use to make our own.
What We Are Doing
Tableau Photography: The Field
A look at the photographers who built this practice. Gregory Crewdson, Jeff Wall, Cindy Sherman, and Shane Hulbert. Different methods, different decades, one shared idea: you decide what exists in the frame before the camera comes out.
A Character-First Approach
An introduction to the method behind the project Remembering What Never Happened and how working with writers to develop characters changed the entire practice. Then: the 30 Questions, a structured tool for building a character from the ground up.
Begin the 30 Questions
You start building a character today. Work individually or in pairs. The goal is not to finish, it is to get the character specific enough to share. At the end of class, each person presents their character in 90 seconds.
From Finding to Deciding
“None of them pointed a camera at something already there. All of them decided what would exist in the frame before the camera came out.”
Documentary photography is about being present when something happens. Tableau photography is about making something happen so it can be photographed. These are not better or worse than each other. They are different disciplines, and this week and next we work entirely in the second one.
The images we will be looking at today were built from nothing. Locations were selected, props sourced, actors directed, light designed. The event in the frame never happened before the camera was there. In some cases, no version of that event has ever happened at all.
Different Ends of the Same Idea
Each of these artists approaches constructed photography differently. What they share is the fundamental commitment: the image is decided, not found.
Cinema Without Film
Enormous productions. Cranes, lighting rigs, closed streets, hundreds of crew. The images look like stills from a film that does not exist. The scene is real. The event never happened. Ask yourself: what is the story? Nobody agrees, and that ambiguity is entirely intentional.
The Observed, Reconstructed
Wall witnesses a moment in real life, then rebuilds it from scratch months later with actors, locations, and artificial light. If something really happened and he reconstructed it faithfully, is it a document or a fiction? Both. Neither. That tension is the work.
The Self as Character
Sherman is always the subject. She is never herself. Every image is a character she has constructed: costume, wig, lighting, pose, expression. The Untitled Film Stills look like frames from B-movies that never existed. What she is studying is how identity is performed, how we construct who we are for the camera.
AI as Medium
Hulbert uses AI not as a filter or special effect but as the primary image-making tool. Inspired by Robert Adams’ documentary work, he creates synthetic portraits of people marked by ambient anxiety: economic instability, environmental worry, the unease of contemporary life. The images look like photographs. They are not photographs. That is the argument.
Hulbert’s project A Quiet Unease was shown at Pingyao International Photography Festival in 2025. It replaces documentary objectivity with synthetic construction. The question it raises for our practice: what is the image for, and does it matter how it was made?
Remembering What Never Happened
A long-form tableau project built around a house that does not exist, characters who were never in the same room, and a party that never happened.
The house was designed in collaboration with an architecture firm briefed as though the client was real. The characters were photographed individually against blue and black backgrounds, then composited into a digitally rendered interior. Nothing in any frame was present in the same space at the same time.
But the characters are real. They have histories, desires, and relationships with each other that shaped every image in the project. A writer was brought in to help develop them, someone who asked questions about these people that had not been considered. Those questions changed the work.
“Once you know who a person is, every production decision becomes easier. Wardrobe, location, props, light: they stop being arbitrary choices. They become specific answers to specific questions about specific people.”
The turning point in this practice was the shift from aesthetics-first to character-first. When the focus was on the technical and the visual, the frustration came when stories were not clear and characters lacked substance. Working from character outward changed everything.
The 30 Questions
The 30 Questions is a structured tool for building a character from the ground up. The goal is not to answer every question perfectly. It is to know this person well enough that every subsequent decision becomes obvious rather than arbitrary.
Before you think about what your character looks like, or what location would suit them, or what they are wearing, you work through these questions. The visual decisions follow. They do not lead.
A Worked Example: Jonathan Parker
54 years old. Senior advertising executive. Los Angeles, 1980s. Married, but conducting a clandestine relationship. Tonal reference: Bret Easton Ellis.
- He wears tailored suits. He owns a Rolex that belonged to his father, who he both admired and resented.
- He is emotionally detached in professional settings but occasionally and unexpectedly sentimental in private.
- His deepest fear is abandonment. His greatest skill is making people feel chosen.
- His apartment is immaculate. His car is always clean. He is careful about what he allows to be visible.
From these answers you can already see the image: the light, the wardrobe, the location, the expression. That is what specificity does.
Begin Your Character Today
Start with someone you find interesting. Not necessarily someone you know. Someone from a film, a book, a photograph, a half-remembered story. Then work through the questions below. Begin with 1 to 5 to anchor the character in a specific world, then keep going.
Generic is easy. Specific is the work. “A young woman in a city” is not a character. “A 28-year-old translator in 1990s Shanghai who has not spoken to her mother in three years” is a character. Push toward that level of detail.
The 90-Second Share
Each person or pair presents their character to the room. You have 90 seconds. Cover these five things only:
After each character is presented, the room answers one question: what image does that create in your head right now? If no image comes, the character is not specific enough yet. That is useful information, not a criticism. It is the work pointing to where to go next.
Before Next Class
- Continue answering the 30 Questions. Aim for at least 20 of the 30 before Class 5.
- The character you are building now is the character you will photograph. The more you know about them, the easier every decision becomes.
- Do not start thinking about locations, wardrobe, or lighting yet. Stay with the questions. The visual decisions will follow.
- If you get stuck, ask: what does this person fear? What do they want? What are they not saying?
Next class we move into the monologue, giving your character a voice. Come with a character solid enough to speak.
30 Questions
A structured tool for building a character from the ground up. Work through these questions before you think about location, wardrobe, or light. The visual decisions follow. They do not lead.
The Point Is Not to Finish
The goal is not to answer every question perfectly or completely. The goal is to know your character well enough that every subsequent production decision becomes specific rather than arbitrary. When you know who a person is, wardrobe, location, props, and light stop being guesses. They become answers.
“Generic is easy. Specific is the work. A 28-year-old translator in 1990s Shanghai who has not spoken to her mother in three years is a character. A young woman in a city is not.”
Start with questions 1 to 5 to anchor your character in a specific world. Then keep going. Come back to any question you skipped. Push for detail wherever you find yourself writing something vague.
You do not need to answer the questions in order. Some will unlock others. If you are stuck, go to questions 17, 18, or 19. Fear, regret, and love reveal more about a person than almost anything else.
Jonathan Parker
To show what specificity produces, here is a partial character built through the questions. Notice that every detail is a visual decision waiting to happen.
54. Senior advertising executive. Los Angeles, 1983.
Married. Conducting a clandestine relationship. Tonal reference: Bret Easton Ellis.
- Name: Jonathan Andrew Parker. He goes by Jonathan, never Jon.
- Appearance: Tall, lean, immaculately dressed. Tailored suits only. A Rolex that belonged to his father, who he both admired and resented.
- Occupation: Senior VP at a mid-size agency on Wilshire. Has been passed over for the top role twice. Does not discuss this.
- Personality: Emotionally detached in professional settings. Occasionally and unexpectedly sentimental in private. His greatest skill is making people feel chosen.
- Fear: Abandonment. He ends things before things can end him.
- Most treasured possession: A first-edition novel his father gave him the year before he died. He has never finished it.
- Childhood: Grew up in a household where success was the only language spoken. He learned early that feelings were a liability.
From those answers alone you can already see the image: cool interior light, a tailored jacket, a watch catching the afternoon, a face that is composed but watching something just out of frame.
All 30
Answer in as much detail as you can. Write in full sentences where it helps. There are no wrong answers, only vague ones.
Identity and World-
01What is your character’s full name? First, middle, last. Do they use a nickname? Who calls them what?
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02What is your character’s age and birth date? Be specific. Not “mid-thirties.” 34, or 37.
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03Where was your character born and raised? City, country, decade. What was that place like? Did they leave?
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04Describe your character’s physical appearance. Height, build, hair, hands, how they carry themselves. What do people notice first?
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05What is your character’s occupation or profession? Not just the job title. Where do they work, how long have they been there, do they want to be there?
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06What are your character’s hobbies or interests? Not what they say at dinner parties. What do they actually do when no one is watching?
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07Is your character introverted or extroverted? Or neither, or both depending on context. How do they recharge? What drains them?
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08How does your character handle stress or conflict? Do they go quiet, go loud, go somewhere? Do they resolve things or let them fester?
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09What are your character’s strengths and weaknesses? Be honest. The most interesting characters have weaknesses that look like strengths.
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12Does your character have any special talents or abilities? Something specific. Not just “they are good with people.”
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22Does your character have any unique quirks or habits? Physical habits, rituals, things they do without knowing they do them.
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10Describe your character’s relationship with their family. Parents, siblings, anyone who shaped them. What is said and unsaid between them?
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11What is your character’s educational background? Where, what, how did it go. Did education open things up or close things down for them?
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19Has your character ever been in love? What happened? With who, when, where did it go. This answer usually tells you most of what you need to know.
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30Describe a memorable event from your character’s childhood. Not necessarily dramatic. Something that stayed with them. Why did it stay?
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17Does your character have any phobias or fears? Surface fears are fine. Deeper fears are better. What do they never talk about?
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18What is your character’s biggest regret in life? Something they did, or something they did not do. How do they carry it?
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25What are your character’s long-term goals or aspirations? What they say they want, and what they actually want. Are those the same thing?
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27Does your character have any hidden talents or secrets? Something no one knows, or almost no one. How does carrying it affect them?
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29How does your character handle failure or setbacks? What is their first instinct? What do they do the next day?
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24Does your character have any recurring dreams or nightmares? What keeps coming back to them? What does it say about what they are carrying?
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20Describe your character’s style of clothing. Not just what they wear but how they wear it. What does their clothing say about them without words?
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21What is your character’s most treasured possession? The object that would devastate them to lose. Where did it come from? Where do they keep it?
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23What is your character’s favourite place they have ever been? Not necessarily beautiful or famous. A place that felt like theirs. What happened there?
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13What is your character’s favourite book or film? What does that choice tell you about them?
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26What is your character’s favourite type of music? What do they listen to alone? Is it different from what they admit to publicly?
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14Does your character have any pets? Or have they ever? What happened to them?
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15What is your character’s favourite food or cuisine? And what do they eat when they are sad, or celebrating, or alone?
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16What are your character’s political or social beliefs? What do they think is wrong with the world? Do they act on it or just think it?
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28What is your character’s favourite season and why? Simple question. The answer is often revealing.
Can the Room See Your Character?
At the end of class you will present your character in 90 seconds. Name, age, world, occupation, and one specific detail. After you finish, the room will be asked one question:
“What image does that create in your head right now?”
If no image comes, the character is not specific enough yet. That is not a failure. It is the work telling you exactly where to go next. Go back to the questions and push harder on the details that feel vague.
Keep Going
You do not need to finish all 30 today. Aim for at least 20 before the next class. Keep the document open. Add to it when something comes to you, on the bus, before you sleep, whenever your character surfaces.
The character you are building now is the character you will photograph. The more you know about them, the easier every decision becomes. Next class we move into the monologue: giving your character a voice in their own words.