The first photograph of the blog showcases a person submerged underwater and potentially drowning. I designed the second photograph to represent the idea of suffocation through the containment of the plastic. Both pictures deal with the loss of breath of the individual, and I utilized the same material, plastic wrap for both picture. From all of the research that I conducted, I learned that water serves as a significant symbol in dreams because it could mean many different things such as the emotional stability of a person, death, change, life, or rebirth. Which in this case, the viewer can assume that the water represents the death of the person. In both photographs the model appears to not be able to breath which typically symbolizes the weight of external pressures on a person.
In both pieces, I hoped to showcase a mixture of tranquility, beauty, and horror. Even though I used plastic to cover the model in for both pictures, through digital editing, I was able to differ the ideas presented by the pieces. Furthermore, both portraits have an out of focus background filled with the plastic wrap. In the underwater picture, the out of focus background is used to mimic the quick, blurred motion of ripples of the waves. In the photograph of suffocation, the viewer can see the wrinkles in the plastic swirling into face of the model which exemplifies the lack of oxygen that she is experiencing. Both photos show a clashing between the cool colors of the background and the warm colors of her face, which shows the body's struggle to maintain a steady oxygen count. In both works of art, I used plastic wrap over top of the photographs in order to create additional layers and further the severity of the situation. In future projects, I hope to continue my exploration of contrasting coloration and creating layers over top of the printed out photographs for the purpose of contributing to the theme.
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After I conducted further research regarding common dreams that people have, I chose to capture two different situations portraying nightmarish types of dreams. Specifically, I decided to capture a person's potential visual in a dream about demons and in a nightmare about their own death, two very common types of dreams seen among individuals. When a demon appears in a dream, a person's mind is creating an embodiment of a threat that he or she might be facing in real life. If the demon possesses a person in the dream, the dreamer's mind might be trying to cope with feelings of grief or a loss of control over oneself. Death, on the other hand, symbolically represents closure in a certain aspect of life. Surprisingly, when an individual dreams about his or her own death, that person will normally never truly die in the dream since people do not understand all of the sensations that death would cause their bodies to experience; instead, he or she might wake up right before that occurs.
Both works of portraiture, I believe, effectively exemplify the themes that I hoped to capture. The resulting portraits not only display the horror one might feel while having a nightmare, but also a slight touch of beauty. The negative space that I incorporated into the demon piece showcases the vulnerability and the isolation of the model. The high contrast of the picture expresses the good and the evil in the situation and the severity of it. Furthermore, the black ribbon that is stitched into the picture across the model's mouth further expresses her helplessness against the demons. While in the other the photograph, death is symbolically showcased throughout the portrait. For example, the background of the piece showcases a winter scene; winter is the type of year associated with death due to the demise of many plants and animals during that season. The cloak of the symbolic representation of death flows through the majority of the piece. The only portion of the piece that does not directly represent death is the girl in the picture whose dress is covered in white roses, which historically signify innocence and purity. However, her dance with death associates her with the idea of death. Then, the black roses bordering the picture serve to contradict the white roses and further symbolize potential forthcoming death. For future photographs in my concentration, I hope to include further examples of juxtaposition which help to insure that the viewer understands the type of dream that each photograph strives to portray. |
ThemeFor my concentration, I am focusing entirely on the creation of portrait photography using mixed media with an emphasis on the unconscious mind. Categories |