My inspiration for this work was the photography of Francesca Woodman, an American photographer who was extremely prolific within a tragically short career. She focused on being unfocused- using double exposures and movement to produce blurred images reminiscent of ghosts. She once wrote "Am I in the picture? Am I getting in or out of it? I could be a ghost, an animal or a dead body, not just this girl standing on the corner …?” This sense of being lost in not only the picture, but the picture's perception of the subject was what drew me to her intially, since I knew I wanted to explore my vaired emotions through this time of social distancing. Her work is largely in black and white, but I chose to work with her brief series of photographs from 1979, in New York. The strong color palette and sense of softness was something I wanted to emulate.
I drew my inspiration for posing and setting largely from the photo to the left, as well as a general direction for my color palette and the use of vertical parallel lines, in both the environment and the subject. As well as these technical elements, I thought the sense of being boxed in tied in well with my concept. |
Here, I sketched out the pose itself, as well as a previous idea for clothes (I scrapped this idea because of worries that the pink sweater would reduce the contrast). I also briefly mapped out my hallway, where I took the photo, so I could have a place to figure out angles and where to place my phone.
Moving forward, I planned to use a string of pink lights to illuminate the dark hallway early in the morning, and to take the pose and boxed-in emotion from Francesca Woodman's work, as well as at least partially obscuring my face. I wanted to use a darker environment to differentiate my work from Woodman's and bring in another facet of where I find comfort. |
Here, I lit the space. To the left was my version as I intended to edit it (increasing exposure and saturation to let more light in) and to the right is what it looked like.
The string lights didn't reach from the nearest outlet to the door, so I draped a pink bed sheet over a lamp. This was a fire hazard, and I should not have done it, especially since it was incredibly dim and didn't add the amount of light I needed. |
Similarities May Include
Self Portrait- Both the works I was inspired by and my final project used the photographer as the subject Coloration- All pieces use warm colors, and the monochromatic palette of the second photo is mimicked in the saturation of the final photo Pose- Both the first photo and my photo uses the same pose, and is slightly off slanted. Use of Line- The first photo uses continuous vertical lines in the walls and unfinished paint to create a sense of repetition and being boxed in. I mimicked this to an extent by using a corner and a plank to create a less open sense of the space Contrast Between Sharpness and Blurriness- In the second photo, Woodman uses the sharp line of the tub's edge to make the burred subject more impactful, and i copied this sentiment through standing in a dark area where my phone camera would be less able to capture details, and next to a sharp line. Metaphorical content- Woodman's work focuses on blurring the lines between movement and stillness, being there or not there. Obscuring herself in relation to her surroundings is a part of this. Similarly, I have obscured myself in my piece to represent how I feel I've been lost in the background. |