Final Images – Headdresses (LO1)

This shoot is the culmination of all my practical and theoretical research so far. In these images my intention was to symbolize my internal emotions through an external object, thus making the object a metaphor of my feelings. For the external object I chose to use headwear. Prompted by my research I had been looking towards historical art portraits for composition and subject content ideas, and noted how headwear played a significant role within may of them. Within historical art headwear was key as it acted as indicator to the subjects social standing, or role within the house or community. Headwear was obligatory within most social situation and therefore less of a representation of a persons emotions but rather a forces statement of their social role. However when I considered headwear within our current society I realized that predominantly it is used only to make a personal statement as it has become less popular within uniforms or forced clothes wear. Therefore I felt it was an appropriate choice when choosing an object to represent an emotional state.

 

I planned three shoots based on three different emotions; Purity, Anxiety and Shattered. For each I wanted the context to be minimal, with the focus of the image to be the headwear and myself. To ensure this I decided to shoot all of them in a studio setting.

The first image I shot was for Purity. For this I knew I wanted high key lighting, taking inspiration from Joel Grimes’s white portraits. I chose to wear a band of Orchids because of their association with delicate beauty, special occasions, rarity and healing powers. I then chose the willow branches because of their association with femininity and healing. As I wanted to create an ethereal feel I had seen in may historical art pieces, I decided to use the willow branches in a way that created the suggestion of wings, hence connoting light, innocence and purity and heaven. I shot various poses for this images but the final one I chose, I felt best signified the essence of the emotion. In postproduction a slight texture was added to the image, as with them all, to create a painterly look. However I’m not sure that really comes a cross in this image. Overall thought I am pleased with this image, although in reflection I feel if the lighting was softer and directional it would create a more classical fine art feel to the image.

The second shoot was for Anxiety. For this I wanted the headwear to represent the dark cloud that is visually associated with representations of depressions and anxiety. With my body I wanted to show the strain these emotions can have. To do this I created more structured poses and used my hands and arms to show the tension within the body. I also chose to shoot the image with no clothes on top to represent how exposed and venerable you can feel in these situations. Flagged side lighting was used to create shadows with a beauty dish in front to pick out the skin tones and details. In postproduction I added a texture after cleaning the image and skin smoothing. Overall I was very pleased with this image. I knew it was dark but felt it was bight enough to see the details in the skin tone and body. I purposely chose to keep it this way as it was aesthetically right for the images meaning. I also felt this image was the closest to creating a fine art painterly look.

 

The third shoot was for Shattered. For this shoot I decided to make a crown from shattered glass. Although using the class could be alleged as a too literal interpretation of the title I felt having it take the form of a crown opened up more questions within the image creating additional narrative. The crown could be preserved as connoting links to regal qualities such as status, power and the burned of responsibilities. Or it could be seen as symbolizing links to religion and Jesus crown of thorns. Ultimately it would be the viewer whose own experience would interpret it, but I felt it certainly suggested, with the position of the head facing downwards, adverse emotions, as was meant to be implied. As with the previous two I added a texture at the end to finish the look. Overall I was extremely happy with this image. I felt it was the strongest out of the three both aesthetically and technically and I feel this was due to it being the third shoot, as I learned from each one.

 

Although individually I am happy with all three images, as a set believe they do not work. Shattered and Purity could work together, however Anxiety is conceptually too different it fit in. Whereas with the other two the headwear is clearly be worn and my own hair can be seen, with Anxiety the black material looks like a wig, and therefore, for me, implied I’m dressing up as someone else. Also the nudity and body positioning seem to point the image much more towards fine art than the other two, which feel closer to commercial portraiture, although this was never my intention. Going forward I will take these observations and lesson’s on board. I feel I have learned a lot through these shoots and will be able to apply this learning to my future photographs.

Visual Rhetoric 2 (LO4)

Today I had a second attempt at using visual rhetoric within my work. The aim of my session was to look at another rhetorical figure which could be used to communicate my current area of exploration within my work. I did decided to take a pathos approach again, as this is what comes naturally to me, however whereas previously I used one of Santos figures, this time I focused on figures of exchange as identified by Durand in 1987.  In my image I wanted to communicate how outwardly appearance don’t always communicate internal emotions. To help me communicate this I felt the theory of Antilogy, a paradoxically connects two apparently opposite elements in the same proposition, would work well. In the images I would appear calm and relaxed, visibly OK, but then I would be covered with stickers that say ‘fragile’ implying I was anything but these thing.

I carried the shoot out at home using my studio lighting kit but was instantly faced with the usual issues of shooting in small spaces such as the subject (me) being too close to the backdrop so there was no depth to the shot. Also the lights were really close so there was no drop off causing everything to be lit up and strong shadows. To try and overcome these I dropped the power of the lights down, used a single soft box at the front and used a light low down behind the chair to create some depth to the image. I also used a shallow depth of field. However in doing this I made the ultimate school boy error of not ensuring the whole image was in focus! I’m not quite sure what I was thinking. I’m still learning about the technical aspects of doing self portraits and I am finding that ensuring the correct part of the image is in focus is my biggest problem. It’s extremely hard to focus the camera when the subject isn’t there. To overcome this I have either been using someone else to sit in while I set the scene up or resorting to placing an object in the scene to use as a focal point until I replace it. However, I am finding, this is not always successful, especially when using a very shallow depth of field. Aesthetically however I felt the shoot went well. With the person element my aim was to convey a feeling of being a mannequin or statue, as I wanted to represent the facade which people can put forward when faced with internal stress and anxiety. To do this I ensured I sat very upright and formal, trying to depict the ‘proper’ appearance of a lady. The teacup and saucer also allude to a time when emotions were not deemed suitable to be on show. This is then opposed by the bold red fragile stickers which are covering me, clearly labellings my internal emotional state.  The stickers are also clearly meant for a parcels, therefore almost objectify me back to my statue status.

The next stage for me would be to try and develop this idea further with another shoot.  Initially I’d like to re-shoot in focus(!), then I think I would like to play with the idea of objectifying people and their emotions. Firstly however I would like to show this images to my peers to get feedback and would certainly welcome any feedback from others viewing my post. I would then use this feedback to help steer my future ideas.