Self Portrait Project
Project Description:
To create this project I first had to find a way to work around my constraints. I do not own an actual camera, I do not own a tripod, so I had to find ways to work around this. I first found a space in my room, that was fairly blank, and then set up my desk chair as a "tripod". After taking around 150 photos I went through all of them and decided on the image shown above. After finding my image I took into a photo editor app. I put it in black and white, and then used the brush tool with the transparency turned almost the way down to create the illusion of red lipstick.
Artist statement:
When going back and forth between ideas for my self portrait, I knew I wanted it to be simple. I came across the idea of black and white with only a pop of color on the lips to portray the message, of how powerful words can be. I know for me personally this resonates a lot. I have always thought of myself as a "silent leader" meaning although I may not have a lot to say the words, the words I do speak are the most meaningful. You do not always have to be the loudest in the room, once people get used to your voice it looses its power. If you only speak when you have something meaningful to say those words obtain so much power.
Design Your Own Project
"Raw movement"
Project Description:
When we were assigned this project, I knew immediately that I wanted to do something involving dance. I went back and forth between taking pictures, or creating a video. I ultimately went with taking pictures, as shown above. I did a lot of research about how to take an action shot, as well as lots of research on photo movement, specifically in dance. With some trial and error I was able to come up with the images above. I then started scouting out locations, and had identified the French doors I have in my house, and how they could create a really cool look for a silhouette picture. I do not own a tripod, and because I had to quarantine due to Covid-19 exposure, I was unable to obtain one from Roxy. To get around this obstacle I simply set up my laptop in front of my French doors, propped my phone up against my screen, and then set my phone to the "10 sec timer" option on my camera. I took maybe around 50 different photos, including some action shots, and went through and decided the best ones. I then took those images into an editing app called "VSCO" and just played around with the exposure as well as different filters until I had come to the amount of silhouette I was trying to achieve.
Project Reflection:
This project was really fun to complete! Due to a back injury I had to push off completing this project a little bit, but I was really excited about the idea, so I wanted to wait until I could fully complete this project to the best of my ability. Dance has always been a really big form of expression for me. I have been a competitive dancer for around 10 years, and dance has always been the easiest way for me to express myself, both physically and emotionally. It has been a huge backbone for me throughout my life, and has given me an outlet to create art. I think that the movement a dancer creates is so unique and beautiful. Dance puts you in such a vulnerable spot not only physically, but mentally and emotionally as well. Dance forces you to open up to the rawest form of yourself you can be. I choose to encapsulate this in a silhouette, because I felt it truly enhances the connection between the movement of the body, and the unique images and photography you can create with dance. A silhouette to me is one of the most vulnerable pictures you can take. When looking at a silhouette maybe of a tree or the mountains, all you're seeing is the shape. The points, the edges, the rawest shape of the object. As a dancer taking a silhouetted picture can be extremely intimidating, because of all you're seeing in the images are the lines, and the shapes you are creating with your body. That is an extremely vulnerable place to put yourself in. One of the biggest thoughts I had while creating these images was not only what was most pleasing to the eye, but as wells as how can I portray the message of unique movement. In the end this is why I decided to do multiple images. One thing I would love to change about this project, is just the variety of background. I wish I had gone out to different unique places for each shot and found cool little nooks and crannies that could have enhanced the poses I was doing. I think if I were to complete a project similar to this in the future I would love to involve some more dancers as well to help grow my skill as a photographer. Overall I am happy with the way my images turned out, but I believe that there are more things I could have done to enhanced my images and made them that much more spectacular!