The Pursuit of Happiness Portraits – Shoot 4 (LO2)

The Pursuit of Happiness Portraites – Shoot 3 – part 1 (LO2)

This was another shoot in my Phototherapy series. This subject this time brought running shoes that representative of his form of release from everyday stress. After my initial discussion with the subject it was clear there was room for various approaches towards this shoot. The subject was very relaxed and happy to take a lighthearted approach, as well as a more serious one. I also knew that I would want to produce these portraits in black and white as the subjects clothes and dark features, such as hair and beard, would really lone themselves to that finish. With this in mind I decided to try directional lighting to produce some good highlight and shadow detail.

With my initial set up I wanted to create an atmospheric portrait, which communicated the serious element of what the shoes represented, that being a way to combat daily anxiety and stress. I used a hard side light to create shadows on the face, connoting the two sides of the emotions, before and after running. I was really pleased with the results of this set up and felt it was my best from the shoot. I then went on to try a more lighthearted approach as this more accurately represented the subject personality, which is fun and easy going. I was happy with these images an aesthetical point of view, however I didn’t feel they communicated to the viewer the purpose of the shoes, therefore objectively they were not as successful.

The Pursuit of Happiness Portraits – Shoot 2 (LO2)

The purpose this shoot was to continue shooting my Phototherapy Portrait series. Each subject in the series was asked to bring with them an item in relation to a significant event or experience in their life. In this shoot that object was a box, which was connected to a member of her family. As with every shoot in this series before I began to photograph we discussed the object and their emotions surround it. This way I ensured ethical and moral obligations to present a true representation of their emotions and to ensure they are comfortable with the shoot and it is not placing any additional emotion stress upon them.

 

I decided to create a natural soft light with this portrait to connate the direction of the emotions. They were not hard or angry, but rather soft and loving and I wanted to present this within the images. I also tried to communicate this with how the box was held and her body language. I wanted to show her protectiveness towards the box and how it meant something special to her. Eye contact was also important within these images as they allowed my subject to show her emotions to the viewer, which I felt was very successful as she had beautiful intense eyes which connected with you instantly and drew you into the photography.

 

Overall I was very pleased with these images. I felt the emotion and atmosphere really came across in the final images and when you looked at them you felt her mixture of love, happiness and sorrow in them.

The Pursuit of Happiness Portraits – Shoot 1 (LO2)

As stated in my earlier post calling for models, the aim of this series of shoots was to continue exploring the theme of phototherapy and it’s links to portraiture, but this time from a photographer’s prospective. As my previous shoots, based on this area of research, were all self-portraits, I was interested to see how different meaning could be generated and modified by changing my method of production. This time instead of taking quite a literal approach, as seen in my body and words image, I asked the subjects to represent their emotions through an object which was significant to their feelings or state of mind.

As this was my first shoot for this series I tested various approaches I could take by varying the lighting, composition, set and props. I also spoke to my subject about their feelings towards their chosen objects then experimented with ways to represent that. In the first series of picture the subject takes a more defiant stance, looking at the objects on the table, however I was unsure that these images successfully communicated our message, as I didn’t know if a viewer would know what the objects were. Therefore in the next set up, we decided to create a more literal interpretation, with the model acting as scales with a bag of sugar on one hand and a bottle of insulin in the other. Although this clearly communicated the subject matter, it did feel very contrived and less emotionally lead than the first set. To try and remove some of the blatancy, in the final set I replaced the sugar and insulin with a can of Coca Cola and Glucose tablets. I also wanted to introduce some visual rhetoric’s so produced a place setting with a plate, but replaced food with a glucose tablet and had the Coca Cola as a drink. The idea was to play around with the perceptions of what a diabetics diet should be.

Overall I felt the shoot was successful on many levels. Visually I thought my first and last setup were the strongest, even though I took different approaches. The first used emotions to communicate meaning, while the last played on social perceptions. From a photo-therapy point of view, based on a conversation I had with the subject after the shoot, I believe it did benefit her emotionally. She said she enjoyed discussing it with someone else and thinking about how it makes her feel. She also said she enjoyed the shoot and would look forward to seeing the images.

My next step will be to take what I have learnt from this shoot and apply it to the next one in this series. I believe communication with the sitter is key, as to enable me to fully communicate their emotions, I first need to understand them myself.

Photo Art Therapy (LO2)

The purpose of these images was to trial techniques I had read about during my research on Phototherapy and the work of Rosy Martin and Jo Spence. In their work they took portraits that represented very literal interpretations of their feels and emotions. This included re-enactment of events that led to certain feelings, using words written on the body to convey how they felt about it and very honest, sometimes graphic, self-portraits that plainly put their emotions on display.

In my images I wanted to replicate their approach and consider how I would accurately display my own emotions at certain times. I also wanted to consider the use words to communicate feeling towards by own body. Upon reviewing the images I feel they are successful in being a form of Phototherapy as in taking them I had to confront how I felt about certain issues within my life. However I feel the blatancy of them is not only hard to look at, both for the viewer, and myself but also reveals too much for them to be considered pleasurable artistic images. This however is not surprising as Phototherapy images are not meant to be pieces of art, simply a part of a process to help people deal with their own emotions.