T H E S H

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Overview
Steph, hands photo shoot.

The set, the hands…
This set is very important for the meaning of the photograph and a lot of thought has gone into how it would be created. The cube symbolizes being surrounded and being stuck in a certain situation. I have constructed the set very carefully and the end photograph gives the illusion of a 3D, showing how feelings are realistic, and emphasizing of the idea, feeling and illusion of being surrounded.

I originally wanted to stick white latex gloves all over the walls inside the box, but for many reasons it would have been ineffective, such as; the cost for purchasing many gloves, would have been very expensive- due to the fact I would have to of had enough to cover 5 square meters of area, adhesives such as: blue tack and tapes would have been ineffective and weak in holding such a surface to the vertical walls and ceiling, there wouldn’t have been much texture to the walls because all the white would have blended together and form one cohesive mass and I wouldn’t know if the walls would have held it for an entire photo shoot and the time to construct the set would have been unimaginable…
I knew I wanted to do something with hands and I later came up with the idea of using a photocopier and photocopying my hands as the design for inside the cube. It also seemed to be more environmentally friendly than using latex gloves because paper can be easily recycled. Also there was little cost involved, I could use blue tack to stick the paper to the walls securely, there isn’t much mess involved and it only took me about 3-4 hours to photocopy my hands and complete the set.

I have been fascinated with the idea of using hands for a photo shoot because I like how they can be posed in many ways to give different meanings, messages and symbols.
This also seemed ideal for my theme and ideas for my photo shoot in showing the inner feelings of teenagers.

With reading and understanding my message for the need to create such a set, so when photocopying my hands, the poses I did were crucial- they all had to be different and show the idea of trying to harm and to get to whatever what in the box, the poses had to be aggressive and angry looking.

I also really liked the contrast of the white hands to the black background- this also showed the important detail of the positive space what you can see: the hands and how they were trying to get into the box, to the person in it and made the negative space: the black area looks dark as though to think ‘what else is out there?’, and to reveal that there is the unknown

When sticking the hands to the wall, I had the choice of sticking them anywhere and everywhere or neatly in a pattern or an order. I chose to do them in a pattern, not only to save paper but to add to the meaning of the set. To just stick them all over the place would still have meaning to it- how people can attack from any direction any where, but I feel that the meaning of the contrast between the black and white was like ‘good vs evil’ and normally when two sides confront in a battle there is an order of event and who goes first- like in a game of chest which also incorporates the these shades. The pattern of the paper is of a brick laying pattern which demonstrates the foundation of the ‘attacking’ on the victim in levels, that it keeps building up and up, until it consumes you- thus being in a box and the wall are covered in this pattern.

The message…
I wanted to show symbolic and surreal pictures showing inside an emotionally unstable, victimized and bullied persons head and telling how some people can’t even find comfort inside them self to escape from the world, how it feels like that some ‘things’ and people just never go away; like your in a small dark enclosed room thinking your safe and suddenly you realize that your not alone, and you cant see the objects of words and abuse attacking you again, no matter how much you try to adapt, change yourself, ignore them they are still there, trying to get to you and destroy you.
I must admit this idea seems very negative in how I have wrote about it, but I want people to understand my messages as clear as possible, I want people to understand how some people can feel, and to open eyes to these predators who are looked upon with fear and the act of conformity, to avoid being the victim.
I feel that there is hope to be found in certain understandings, not from my picture as such, but from the viewer; to see it, and to then think about it and realize what not to be and what not to let happen to cause a reform in society where there is no need to for suicide, self harm, bad thoughts for ones self or others or anything of this nature which is primarily caused by that persons environment- ‘others’, these others who aim to torture drive one insane, insane to a breaking point, where you think ‘maybe there right, I don’t belong’ and then you become what you fear most, you become your own enemy.

I also have more meanings into this set/photoshoot which are more subtle but are there. It also displays how people having expectations of you, wanting to control you and your life, you not being able to make your own decisions freely and peacefully and the feeling that everyone is watching you wanting and waiting for you to fail and screw up. A lot of my inspiration for this photo shoot comes from myself and my understanding of the lyrics of the Linkin Park song ‘aper cut’, the lyrics and my feeling about them can be found in my inspiration near to start of my folio.

The model…
I used a family friend, Steph for this photoshoot. She is nine years old, a very shy girl and a very nice person. I used her not only because she was photogenic but because she is young and she worked with me very well to get a range of expressions and poses. When you’re young you have a silliness and immaturity where you can get into a range of moods, but with her shyness it took her a while to let loose but having fun and really mucking around and making faces really helped her adapt into a range of characters which was necessary for my aim.
This was the second photoshoot I had done with her. The first one she was very shy, it was hard for her to feel comfortable, she seemed scared that I was mocking her by having her pose, but she then learned to trust me and I tried to make her have as much fun and be as comfortable as possible. The first photoshoot she had never done anything like that before and when I asked to do another photoshoot with me she was more comfortable, excited, and understood what to do and enjoyed herself through the photoshoot.

The hair…
I instantly wanted to do her hair big and teased, to give her a crazy unstable look, and to associate her with looking like she is going insane, that she isn’t normal like every one else, that she is unstable and out of control-like her hair. And I also wanted to cover as much space negative space in the cube as possible, so by having the hair big, it took up more area.

The make-up…
For the make-up I wanted something dramatic and dark to contrast with her white clothes, so put heavy black eyes make-up around her eyes and then smudged it with water so it looked like she had been crying. I really liked the make-up especially how it makes her look like she had been crying.

The clothes and costume…
I had done the set the day before Steph was to come over for the photoshoot and she wanted to know what clothes to bring. I thought that white would have been the most appropriate due to the large amount of black in the box. Also I think the white outfit works best because white is seen to be a shade which symbolizes innocent and good and black is the opposite, the contrast of white and black displays the fight between those good and those bad, Steph as a good person trying to be corrupted by bad people- the black darkness around the hands- demonstrates the unknown possibilities of what the future brings and what she is install for, for no one can see the future.
Also for the costume the white gloves on her hands are an important aspect which helps link her to the set and give an important meaning.
The gloves question the person/victim(Steph), about their intention, and reveal what she is escaping from: people. The white gloves contrast to the white hands in the direction they are going. I made sure that when I was photo coping my hands that it was only my palms facing down wards on the scanner, and not showing the back of my hands- it contrast because Steph is unable, and its impossible for her to be on the same side of the wall on the side of the hands who are trying to attack her, the only direction she can put her hands is against the ones on the walls- which shows hope and courage, that she can over come this and strive for better turns in the future- that good can over come evil.
Also the hands on the wall can be seen as ‘fake’, copies, followers and symbolize conformity in their repletion and 2D form, where as Steph white gloves are realistic, are a real objects, individual, 3D and you can see who they belong to.

Lighting
For lighting I used natural light and flash light. Klieg light was an idea to trial but I didn’t have access to it at the time of the photo shoot.
With using natural light that meant that I had to turn off the flash off on the digital camera which seemed to affect the quality of the images in that it made them blurry and distorted, I haven’t incorporated many of these photos in my folio due to this, but if I had, it was because I really liked the composition of the photo and that I will try to see if I can fix them with photoshop later down the track.
Flash light seemed to be the best because natural light couldn’t get all the way into the cube because of it’s depth and angle of lighting during the time of day of the photoshoot, but the flash seemed to be able to help this and get into the box to lighten it up as well as the model when I took a picture.

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thanks to those who read all this..................