For my final assignment, I was very torn between ideas. I was very intriguied by the idea of self portraits. I often dislike having my picture taken, however, I wanted to experiment. After several attempts and different styles, I came to the conclusion to take my images at an abandoned YMCA building. I recently discovered this building and thought it would be the perfect enviornment for my photos. The building made me feel very unsafe and uneasy, which was reflected in my photos I took. I tried to replicate my feeling through my actions in the photographs. I was influenced by the photographer, Francesca Woodman, famously known for her black and white self portraits. Her images feature herself, or female models, displaying motion or obsecured poses. I was very interested in the idea of motion, while also relfecting on directoral photography. I found the location of the abandoned building to fit my tone, I also wanted to give my images a stark, creepy feeling. I found making my images black and white gave it the strongest feeling of ambiguity. I was also influenced by the Gregory Crewdson film. I found his style of photography to be very appealing and I wanted to incorporate that aspect as well. I used the directoral photography in some images where I set up the scene. I tried to create the feeling of movement in a confined space, reflecting on our current situations with the quarantine. In some of my images, I wanted to display the feeling of confinement in one space, while displaying a lack of movement.
In this photo, I wanted the tone to feel uneasy. I photoshopped my subjects, (myself), to represent the feeling of confinement, movement, and the idea of being watched. I had this feeling throughout my photoshoot, which I tried to replicate in my final images. Throughout the shoot, I heard footsteps in the buidling and glass breaking. I never saw anyone, however, I felt I was being watched. In this photo, I wanted the image to have depth, while also having the feeling of being watched.
In these images, I was experimenting with the use of motion. I was influenced, along with my other image, of photoshopping myself into one photo. In the bottom photo, I wanted it to have the feeling of running away from something. In this image, I was influenced by Gregory Crewdson, to set up the scene. I was also influenced by Francesca Woodman and her style of obscured faces. In this image, I wanted to draw the viewers eyes to the dark background and the open doors. While taking this image, I was most aware and careful of the open doors, I didn’t have the guts to look inside, however, walking past the room was very dark and scary. In the back of the image was a long dark hallway. I had to walk past several rooms to get to the staircase upstairs. The hallway continues after the staircase, with no rooms or windows. This image gave me the strongest feeling of uncertainty. I found this image to be the most interesting of all. It was pure accident, however, I felt it gave the best feeling of the atmosphere, open to all human life including nature. I accidnetally stepped on the dead mouse, I didn’t notice until I was leaving, but it set the tone for my images. During the photoshoot I felt very valnurable, unsafe, and open to anything.
PhotoChronologies 