19th January 2020
The final image for this exercise is called, “Oh where were you, my Lord, my God, my King?“
The overall concept is a self-portrait that brings the viewers into a complex mixed emotional world of someone recovering from domestic abuse.
It looks at themes connected with the self, recovery and the role of religious belief.
The genres that I used have been very difficult to define and I still am unsure to whether I have labelled them correctly. The genres are:
- Peace Globe – still life
- Head – self-portrait = portraiture
- Darkness – still life or astrophotography
- Darkness text – Digital manipulation
- 527 text – Digital manipulation
In the post, Exercise 3.6 research and background tests, I have explained how I produced the individual genre images and also how I combined them by adjusting each in an iPad app called ‘SketchBook.’ It also explains the concept behind each specific genre, which includes the themes: Self-portrait/ portraiture of a survivor of domestic abuse, Peace Globe still life and the role of relationships and beliefs in a religious context, Darkness still life? Solitude and negativity, Darkness text digital manipulation, solitude and negativity, 527 text digital manipulation hope and salvation.
After writing and publishing both posts for this exercise I put the link to the blog pages on Facebook and asked if I had chosen the genres correctly, this is the conversation:
Toyah Flowers I am debating on my blog now. I will post the final outcome so you can critic it for me… it has been a learning curve! 🤔
Toyah Flowers THIS IS ONE POST FOR THIS EXERCISE IF ANYBODY WOULD LIKE TO SEE IF IT MAKES SENSE OR NOT https://dawntomlin.blog/…/exercise-3-6-mixing-genres…/
Lynda Kuit After reading that great write up – definitely self-portraiture. You used darkness to represent the Unseen. When you do Context and Narrative you will do a whole assignment on photographing the Unseen and will be able to link back to this exercise. Very relevant!
Toyah Flowers Lynda Kuit Ooooo thanks for telling me that! There is so much to photography than I had ever imagined!
OCA Photography Students Facebook
16th February 2020
OK, Nearly a month later and this final image is still playing on my mind because of the negative space in the lower right hand corner.
I decided to re-visit this exercise and manipulate the composition slightly taking into account elements such as negative spacing, sizing of individual components and where my eyes are looking.
I manipulated the final edit image three more times which can be seen above.
The first image shows how I enlarged the portrait to fill in more of the negative space on the right. However the portrait had a straight line at the right side of it from previous cropping. However I did feel that loosing some of the negative space was a positive within the image. I also didn’t like how the metal construction of the globe was running through the top part of the forehead. Although the portrait is supposed to be a ghostly image with the background showing through, the lines of the globe were not placed well and distracted my eyes from the portrait.
With this in mind for the next trial I enlarged the portrait so that it filled half of the picture frame at the bottom. I felt that this was out of perspective, the head certainly looks far too large for the composition and the eyes are not focusing on the cross or on the numeral, but beyond it and out of the picture frame.
I therefore trialed another composition. This time I reduced the portrait and moved it directly into the negative space. This adjustment worked much better than the first two trials. As with the first trial I still had the lines from the globe running through the portrait however I feel that where they are now within the composition is less distractive to the viewers eye and aids the upward flow of the portraits eye and the connection between cross and portrait.
I will compare the final cut with the third image which utilises the negative space and see if the new composition is better than the original.
After taking a second to absorb the information and compare the images above, I still prefer my original image, negative space and all.
The original image has a much better sense of scale, in that the cross is large, symbolising its importance and it is also situated above the portrait which can signify many different things to the viewer depending on their personal relationship with Christianity and the Crucifixion symbolism. I believe the eyes also, focusing directly beneath the cross works better than between the cross and the candle as in the image on the right.
Although the final image is still the same as before at least I have satisfied my mind by going back and trying some different compositions.
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