Project 2: PEOPLE - feedback

I need to make a decision about my concept in terms of who, what and why.

The 'looking glass self' concept created by Charles Horton Cooley in 1902 is essentially about a person who views themself through their judgments of others' perceptions of them in society. They then choose how to portray themselves according to these judgments.

Three Main Components of The Looking Glass Self

The rudiments of Cooley's sociological theory can be reduced to three facets.

• One imagines how they appear to others.
• One imagines the judgment that others may be making regarding that appearance.
• One develops a self-image via their reflection; that is, the judgments or critique of others.

Source from:
http://political-philosophy.suite101.com/article.cfm/sociology_cooleys_the_looking_glass_self

I'm still unsure about how to approach this project so I will try to get some initial shoots in then report back.

Studio 5: Photoshop merging

This is my first attempt at merging two faces. The top half is Lukas and the chin and mouth is Paggy.

Project 2: PEOPLE - planning

In order to carry out this concept of the twisted mind manipulation, a series of photos need to be developed.

Sculpting light and angles will be particularly important with this project and how it's used to portray a certain feeling.

The idea I have is to shoot a person/s viewing themselves in the mirror but the reflection is not of the person but of what they wish to be. Another view could be the reflection of how the public see them and another could be how the photographer views the person.

Second idea could be something fantastical where the person can see through the mirror into their own idealised world.

Third idea, something based around racism and facial expressions. If the person viewing themselves in the mirror saw another race in place of their reflection what would their reaction be?

Project 2: PEOPLE - initial thoughts

A concept has suddenly struck me. Leading on from the last post in reference to the scene in 'The Ring' film as well as today's lecture about a photographer and/or viewer's perception on portrayed imagery. I thought the play upon the relationship between how people view themselves and how they want to portray themselves is something I'm intrigued about. The image of what someone would see in the mirror is likely rendered towards the ideal image of themselves. This is often displayed through their behaviour in this particular setting - what they'd be doing, how they're holding themselves up, whether they're smiling, active or just stationary. This usually is different to how others would view them outside of this setting. Society and the media shape and mould our perception of who we are and who we're supposed to be in order for us to feel a sense of belonging - to fit in. This is an interesting concept I'd like to take further. Hard to portray I would think, but interesting nonetheless.

The fact that the subject matter is more or less powerless in each photographic situation, it gives the photographer the control of the image. The perception of the subject matter is now open to the public, the viewers. So will this alter the way the photographed person acts?

Project 2: PEOPLE

Project two is based around the exploration of portrait photography or capturing a sense of people without people existing in the frame.

My first response to this project is how could I capture a sense of people without people actually being in the photo?? What is an anti-portrait? The first images that popped into my head was from the film "The Ring", specifically from the curse tape. They are shown below along with a link to the video clip.



The Ring: The Curse Tape
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkVlC2WgEwc

Director: Gore Verbinski

The first image was very vivid in my mind after I read the brief. I like it because it gives off a sense there is life within this shot without the shot being directly on the person, instead a reflection. The way the mirror crops the person reminds me of typical Victorian portraits.

I'm not a big fan of people photography purely because I think people act differently when they know they're being photographed. It seems more logical to test the second option of trying to capture a sense of people instead. This seems somewhat difficult to grasp so I will brainstorm some ideas on how to do this and what things are exactly associated with people.

Things I think would create a sense of people:
* Emotions and expressions
* Body language
* Body actions
* Importance or power/authority - based on low angle shot of person
* Sense of family
* Hand held mirrors/anything hand held?
* Reflection
* Statues

It is important to keep in mind that this project is based on medium shots so the exploration of the medium shot is crucial and what its potentials are.

Reminder: Contact sheets

Contact sheets are up on Flickr because I had issues uploading to my blog.

Here is the link:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/52060788@N07/sets/72157624620467014/

Project 1: PLACE - final series in progress

A journey to the playground:



I have increased the series to 6 photos however there are some repeats within this set.