Introspection: part 2

http://picasaweb.google.com/107117356931581378530/UntitledAlbum#5551284646660168114

Part 1
...the image with the jar follows with the fantasy feel and this idea of perception. I did two of these images where the jar is in front of my face, blocking and distorting my view and looking at the picture, it blockers the viewers view and helps to add to understand of the skewed perception of self (myself). I like this one more because it reminded me of the hunchback of Notre dame, in away, but this wasn't what I thought of when I first made this image. In the Disney film, you usually see 3/4 of his face, what I remember of the film, that angle stands out more as you see how "grotesque" he is, his hunch and face are the focus. Because I wanted this part of my project to be more about a skewed, distorted vision, out of the two images with the jar, this one is more suited. There is something quite unsettling about how the shadows hide part of the face and the hand is creeping around the jar, and the one eye is larger and focused in the centre of the photo looking out at you.

My next image after this, of me holding two pairs of glasses follows the perception idea. As the one with the jar was more about the perception of self, as the focus was more obviously around the face (because the jar was encompassing it), This one was more about the perceptions you have within yourself and the ones outside of your head. So it is basically the way you look at things in the real world and in an artificial world- "A Double Vision". I had a slight Jekyll and Hyde idea with this, you can see me in the reflection and me with the smirk on my face. When you are out in the every day world you act differently than when you are by yourself, alone and isolated with your own thoughts. The angle of the second pair of glasses was used to show a different angle to the whole idea of this image, and the capturing of my reflection was my accident, but I think it helps the image.
After thinking of ways to focus on my self, I looked at focusing on others, I took pictures of my friends, and my family and I went back and took pictures of myself, but as a younger character. Cindy Sherman influenced   the idea of me dressing up, and becoming a different character. These next two images where I added text are about my memories. I thought adding the text would be crucial because I didn't want people to read too much into these images, unlike my others where self-interpretation was key, these images are relaying past events, memories that are factual. One reason why I did not shoot these images in a a documentary type setting- like how Jim Goldberg takes to the streets- was because I wanted to keep within the themes of how I took my other photos and keep the scenes within a conceptualized setting- not having them seem like they were reflecting "reality".

The image of my Nan and the light infront of her head and the text add to the bottom was looking at how I think of her. My nan if very important to me, and in this photo I took of her she stands bold and headstrong, central in the photo and the light highlighting and outlining her character and form. I think the text and the photo work together and show how stubborn and independent she is. With the text, I looked at Lorna Simpson and I also thought about spoken poetry where certain words are said with intensity to stand out. The word are about how my nan come and goes to help me out and look after me, but she stays as a background figure. The "Night Traveller" part was to stand on its own like the start of a letter to someone. The next two lines where the "come back" is louder and bigger than the other words is because those where the times I felt I needed her to hear me and come back and help me when I felt I was on my own. The last part I left a gap, as to say I taking a pause and reflecting and I made the text smaller almost like a whisper because I did not want her to know I couldn't cope being left alone at times.

The other image I took influence from Jim Goldberg's work where he asks the people he photo graphs to write something on the photo to help people understand more about them. This image where I am walking through the woods holding my teddy bear, central in the frame looking quite small in comparison to the trees standing tall around me, is a good image on its own in terms of how the scene is set you can understand that the character is young or child- like quality about her. However, I wanted the text there so people didn't read too much into the image and create their own interpretation. I wrote the text quite scrawly and added part of it at the top and bottom to show the changing of thought on the situation. I created this idea of a memory I had from when I was younger thinking that I wanted to escape the situation I was in, but also thinking about what would happen If I was too far away from it- would I regret that decision; so I created this scenario.

The images after that where about the many faces of fear. The way it marks us, takes us over and changes us. In these images I was not trying to be myself, but I was trying to be the "fear". I experimented with shutter speed to show the transformation process when the fear consumes you. It's very frantic, and you're almost in a daze or a blur when that fear is there. The fact that the images are black and white is to show that contrast, and how much it strips you back and reveals so much about you. Because of how alot of my images are focused on the face, making the photos more closed in and focused, I think this helps to bring out more of the emotion and meaning in the images.

I chose these images to put forward as my final images because of the way they tell a story individually, but together they show a progression of events- almost like a timeline. In the animation I think it becomes more obvious.