This next exercise was to take one photograph that had a story behind it. This kind of photo is good if you are doing a still life portrait as you have more control o composition and lighting, subjects and objects that you would like to use to get your message across. Usually a picture of something happening or a hint of something that has just happened work the best, and additional props can give off hidden signals to a viewer that may not be clear or apparent on first appearance. By creating this kind of hidden relationship between objects and or subjects you can put a lot more emotion into your photograph and give it meaning.
It was suggested that an image of something half full or a broken item would work well. I choose to use a wine glass as I thought this could conjure up a few different emotions in different people, depending on how your outlook is. I tried a few different ideas and at first came up with this:
It was slightly out of focus which I thought might have made it have a feeling of drowsiness, and the shadow in the background of the hand could show either a dependency on alcohol, violence through alcohol or possible a cry for help. Although the initial though process behind the way the image would come across, the composition and layout of the items didn’t really appear to work. It looks far too artificial and the glass in the middle looks too static.
I tried another approach with the same ideas about alcoholism in mind and decided it needed a more personal subject involved so that it would feel more realistic to the viewer:
This worked a little better with the glass in focus to make it more predominant in the image, and the sleeping face just behind. I was happier with this kind of set up, but still wasn’t entirely pleased with the position of everything. Also I felt that in colour it looked too dream like as if the person was having a lovely sleep and hadn’t just passed out. Not quite the emotion I wanted to provoke.
In the end I finally settled for this image:
Converted to black and white to stop the colour from distracting from the subject matter, and with the face slightly hidden but turned in towards the glass creates a tension between the empty glass and back to the face again. Also I liked the position of the subject this time as you could see the way the body is splayed across the bed in a hap hazard manor. I had under exposed the image in camera but also tweaked the shot on the PC afterwards adjusting the contrast so that the highlights became more pronounced and the shadows were darkened so that the reflections on the face and glass were picked out making the connection between them stronger. I finally cropped the image so that the more rectangular frame makes the shot feel like you are laying down at the same level as the subject, and the elongated frame exaggerates the line from the glass to face. This back and forth tug of war in the frame creates tension so it amplifies the ideas of becoming dependent on alcohol and the struggle of getting out of that cycle. I also like the fact its not clear that the subject is drinking for emotional issues as the monochrome colours and laid down position makes it appear like an old school romantic holly wood movie shot, yet at the same time a grimy dark despairing feeling as though it could be something more serious such as addiction.
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