2023
For my first shoot, I was inspired by Cho Gi Seok’s ‘Angels Don’t Fight’ and by chance, I happened to have an angel set so I played around with the props. At the time I didn’t know if I wanted to use natural and artificial lighting, therefore I did the shoot outside, a bed sheet hung up against the fence and where the sun was mostly shining through. Looking back the location I chose was not the best since the direction of the sun was creating my shadow and it could be seen in the images so I had to move slightly so that my shadow could not be seen. At the time of the shoot, the sun was just setting and our house was also blocking the sun so we had to work fast in order to get the natural light but also not to create my shadows. I had my model do many poses with and without the wand; I preferred the images where the wand was seen and by pure accident, the tassels of the wand was in front of the camera lens, for some reason I liked those images the most. I also applied some glitter onto the models chest and eyelids but with the lighting, it cannot be seen too much.
For my second shoot I booked the lighting studio and had my model prance around the room to create some sort of motion as I start to lower the shutter-speed. I kept with the angel idea but I still did not know what idea I wanted to pursue with. I asked my model to wear the wings upside down and for some reason I ran with it; it sort of reminded me of devil horns in a way.
I thought about identity since I enjoyed doing that last year but I was not to sure how I was going to show my identity or show part of my identity through someone else. After discussions with Dieneke, I brought up how my model was wearing a Sai Sin; a Thai cotton thread, worn on the wrist, blessed by monks for protection and wealth for the individual. I wanted it to be subtle about identity but not have the main idea be about identity. We talked about Buddhism and Christianity, growing up in a Christian country as a Buddhist. There were talks about bringing in more Thai related things such as the a traditional Thai outfit called Pha Sihn, or even bringing in my family members. I did leave with lots to think about and how I could develop my images but I was not confident in how I was going to create the images.
I looked through my images and thought if I picked different images, would it make me think of a different story? I still wanted to work with manipulation so I did something I usually wouldn’t do but I don’t hate it. I used the quick selection tool in Photoshop and only selected the model’s face and it would not select the entire face so I layered each selection on top of the other layer to create the face but make it seem obvious that it is meant to be that way. I also emphasised motion blur only on the face.
For the second image I thought of presenting my work in a sequence so I picked a random photo and thought of how it would make sense with other images. I added motion blur onto the entire image just like Anne Noble did on Ratanui #1, Whanganui. 2021.
After reading Image Flow: Photography on Tap by Michelle Henning as a class reading discussion, it helped me figure out my ideas. I mentioned about sequence/series of images so I wanted to see how it would help with the flow of images. My interpretation of the reading was how the images would have a relationship with another image and how it makes it a cohesive piece either as a standalone or together. When I thought of flow I thought of water; the way it can be a liquid then a solid when frozen. Everyday materials came to mind when thinking of how it becomes more dense depending on the material.
I did a trial shoot with just some bubble wrap and glad wrap, covering the model’s face with it. I did this at home so lighting options were limited. I made use of my projector by creating a spotlight and being able to choose which colour I wanted to have, which depicted how it would make the viewer feel. Personally it made me feel scared but this was a different photographic approach that I never did before therefore I was conflicted if I wanted to go with this idea or slightly change it up a bit so that I am not upsetting others.
I decided that I wanted to take a slightly different approach but still the idea of how materials flow with each other. While in post-production, the different lighting colours made it hard to edit the photos and to not feel a certain way, therefore I chose to stick with a simple white lighting spotlight for the rest of the shoot. I wanted the images to be consistent with having hands and the shot to be a close-up shot. I had my model close his eyes because the light from the projector was making it hard for him to keep his eyes close. I told him to wrap the material around his face but to not cover his entire face, sort of like haptic. Being able to feel the material without actually touching the material.
As the image progresses, the material starts to become dense from bubble wrap, tissue paper, satin pillow case and foil. The only post-production done was the motion blur because I wasn’t sure how I was going to manipulate them.
During talk-week, I was lucky enough to have other students that were not from Photography because they see things differently from photography students point of view. I received suggestions such as using the material shown in the image to display the image, print/scan onto the fabric/material. A few students expressed that they were able to feel what it would feel like by looking at the images which was what I was hoping for. I wanted to try mixed-media by doing layering in real life as well, and not just in Photoshop.
I used different types of paper and found that although drafting paper is great for layering, not the best when going through regular printers. And tracing paper is slightly thicker, it prints better but the layering can only be seen if light was shining from behind the images.
This image has me thinking of the relationship between my model and the material. I want to learn more of our senses and its relationship with other senses.
I wanted to try a different way to showcase the sensations of the materials so I did a shoot from a birds eye view. It has been awhile since I strayed from portraiture so I was quite nervous how it would turn out. During the shoot, I only used a phone flashlight, since all the lights we own are yellow lights and some created unnecessary shadows.
I decided I wanted to cut an image into clusters of images to form the image and went with squares. I still might try 6×4 since the different orientations will be an interesting experiment. I also found that I had to figure out if I wanted the final image to be straight or have frayed pieces of squares poking out randomly and how big I wanted to cut them.
This was a trial and error. Although this was only on A4, I have to rethink the size of the squares onto A3. I will try to print the images individually and layer its corresponding image on top and see which process is better at showing the layering and manipulation.
2022
Lighting Studio
For this practice, we were introduced to the Lighting Studio where we learned to use the lighting equipment and recreated a painting. Yuto and I decided to go with Boy with a Basket of Fruit by Caravaggio, 1593 with a cultural twist. We included items that related to Yuto’s cultural background, Japan. We swapped out the fruit with paper cranes and used a kimono for the white shirt. We played around with the lighting a lot before we came to a conclusion; the only thing I wished we did differently was to use a darker backdrop but nonetheless, I enjoyed this practice and playing with different sorts of lighting.
Modalities of portraiture and the construction of identity
This practice was part 1 of the Modalities of portraiture and the construction of identity. I hate being my own model because I knew I wouldn’t be satisfied so I thought I would do it through my friend. I wanted the idea to be about her upbringing and what her life has become. I asked her to pick out 3 items that are from her childhood, cultural item, and her future path. She chose Diary of a Wimpy Kid, a red pocket from the Lunar New Year, and a stethoscope; as seen red is seen as the brightest colour in my photos symbolising luck and happiness which means a lot to her as it is part of her Chinese background; by chance, her mum is also wearing a red robe which was unintentional.
Contact Sheets
Final
For this project I knew I wanted to go out of my comfort zone and do a style I wouldn’t do which is community style. For the ideas, I was inspired my Edith Amituanai; the way she tells about her story of being Samoan and growing up in Auckland, it really sparked me to want to share something about me. My first shoot was to just shoot a bunch of images and choose the ones that caught my attention the most but during the critiques I found it interesting how differently everyone thought about my photos. My idea was to show the isolation and nostalgic feeling I had during my time there but a really good point was pointed out about how it felt like a advertisement for a high school so I thought of using photos of empty spaces only, which was a good start for me to move forward.
I have also come to the realisation that I do not enjoy taking photos of strangers in public and the public overall. Which I found ironic since my piece was originally about my community but with the help of critiques, I was able to decide what photos would stand out to my viewers and what the message I wanted to give them. When choosing my final images, I already knew about the 2 photos I wanted to include since one told a story and the other was overall a strong photo. In a way I wanted it to be storytelling, since I decided to stick with identity, after looking through my images one last time, I realised that I took them in positions I would usually stand in like I did back in high school. The way I was going to present my work was another factor in choosing the photos, what experience did I want my viewers to have and how it would make them feel.
diana seepha 