These are my 5 best shots of the identity project.

My intent was to show darkness and how a little bit of light can make it seem more mysterious. The faces are hidden in order to signify how lack of light hides and how it can cast even greater shadows and mysteries. In this photos, I show my friend Ethan who walked in the black box to meet friend. There was nothing in the black box. He waited long time but nobody come. So he tried to go out but the door suddenly locked.  He tried to open it but it didn’t work. He went to the glass and look at his reflection, try to what to do. He turn back and he saw mask on the chair, which was there nothing before.  He put it on and there was a light. But later the light was faint and disappearing. The lightness shows what we know, although it is not a lot. It does not really show the person’s face, making the viewer guess more.  It only shows Ethan shadows. 

I have experimented with wearing the mask and dragon shirt.  However, my teacher gave me a feedback and said mask doesn’t show persons face because it is hidden and for shirts there is dragon which distracts from the main elements. Using this, I decided to take photos of very simple elements with dark and some light.  Main element  ( dark , light & blue light ). 

My concept for these images is to show a person trapped in some sort of dark place  ( black box ) with only some light. It brings together what I learnt from light and shadows, utilizing the best angles possible to create mysterious shadows from a small source of light.

The artists that inspired my presentation was Man Ray.  He used masks, shadow as well as black and white to create mysterious and interesting photos.

The light creates shadows in the image, outlying the subject. It often simply lights up a small part of Ethan. The eyes are drawn to the mask or the person standing in the frame. There is where I want viewer’s eyes to go. The light color is not really consistent in the images. One is blue and another is white. The viewer may be a little bit perplexed, especially as to what the sequence of images might be about and what happens at the end.

favorite

least favorite

The first image subject is framed quite well, with light behind him that casts equal shadows. It’s nice composition because it shows that top is black and bottom is white. There is a nice contrast between the two. My eyes are immediately drawn to the figure standing, but also the shadows which look interesting. This is where I want the viewers eyes to go. Not really any distracting elements. Exposure is correct. Next time, I will try using a wider focal length to get more in the shot and make shadows longer. The background just shows a dark place and adds to the mystery. It is balanced well as it has two main colors –  black and white. In my opinion I think the color is ok. No depth of field needed. The storytelling is trying to show the person what are there emotions when they stay in dark or mysterious place. It looked mysterious and even creepy as the figure looked a bit scary.

The second image composition of this photo is not so good. It shows mostly black and white and light is shining to me so it doesn’t create a shadows. I am wearing dragon shirts and it doesn’t really match with what mood I’m trying to create. I would wear just black shirt next time. The shirt is a distracting element. The exposure is correct. I would want a more close up shots with a zoomed in length. The background is too dark and there is no contrast with the white. The photo is not balanced because it is mostly black with no shadows. The color is accurate, and depth of field is alright. It does not really show my vision well because of the shirt and the subject is not staring directly which makes it less mysterious. The light is also not shining properly.

I have chosen this images to show dark and mysterious pictures of a masked in the style of photographers like Man Ray.

How do they tell a story?

They create a mysterious story where the viewer wonders who this person is and why they are dressed and looking like that.

What are the overall strengths of these images?

I think they utilize light and shadow very well, and the mask adds a layer of mystery.

What skills have you developed and how applied them?

I have developed how to use a light to show shadows of me. I put the light behind and there is a glass to behind to show more shadows.

How have you developed as a photographer – what did you learn from your previous tasks?

I have improved in my storytelling and using props for photos.

Something that works well about this/these images is the first one. First one really looks generic than other two images.

Something I need to develop further is composition and framing shadow further, as well as choosing more interesting subjects.

What are you looking for in your next set of images?

I am looking forward to tell an even more interesting story with better photos.

What would you do differently next time? How would the photo improve as a result?

Next time I would not wear dragon cloth,  just black shirt and don’t wear mask. If I wear mask it doesn’t really show who it is.

Blue Selection

Green Selection

I have taken this photos in the style of Dianne Arbus and Man Ray as I like the dark and moody work of the photographer. She focuses on portraits of black and white portraits of people.  I have done something similar by using dark and shadowy images of a person. Man Ray also uses a lot of masks in his work which I have done as well.

Man Ray

2. The themes of Man Ray is a wide range of subjects and concepts. His photographs often contained dreamlike and symbolic elements, challenging the boundaries of reality. He was fascinated by dreams and the unconsciousness, making his images feel  disorienting and mysterious, almost like he was taking pictures inside someone’s mind. He also challenged traditional ideas about beauty, and the body, distorting and rearranging familiar forms to make us question what we see.

3. Analyze their style: He often used masks, veils, and other disguises to question fixed notions of identity and challenge viewers to consider the fluid nature of personal expression. His photographers continue to captivate and inspire audiences with their distinct blend of surrealism, experimentation, and thought-provoking imagery. He also created ‘Rayographs,’ made without a camera, which produced ghostly images by placing objects directly on light-sensitive paper. He also used a technique called solarization, which partially reversed the tones in a photograph, giving his work a strange, glowing effect.

4: Justify your choice:  The reasons why I selected Man Ray is that his photos explore deep ideas about dreams, identity, and how we can see the world – it makes me think hard and gets me excited to experiment with my own photography.

The evaluation data indicate that and financial modeling is well-done. Percentages for the cheese is about 69.86% and the pepperoni, which is about 65.50%. For the financial modeling, we present models based on the ingredient elements indicating which items would be used for the projects. Furthermore, I add pictures which you can see at down and we use an Excel sheet to outlined the prices costs, and measurements.

This project has met our goals, where one of our main goal is to have a well-developed structure for our product. Our design, fit’s our target audience. Target audience is people especially younger audience who enjoy and love both traditional Chinese and Italian dishes. I think we had enough time for this project where everyone as a team worked well. However, we didn’t have time to go to the kitchen and cook.

My contribution to the team has been significant that would eventually be appealing to our target audience. Additionally, I did collaborated with my team members but not that much because my goal was to do the nutritional research. I asked Bago what ingredients he had so I can research about that. Next time, if I had another team project like this I will collaborate more with my teammates. Overall, I am satisfied of the successful implication of this project.

The title of this project is Mystery

The social/culture issue I want to explore with my photographs is the idea that masks can hide a person’s true emotions. Even though people wear masks to secure themselves and others, they can also use them to hide their identity or how they are feeling.

I want  my audience to feel a sense of mystery and intrigue. I want them to wonder what the people in the photographs are really thinking and feeling.

I will get inspiration and develop my ideas by looking for photographs that are black and maybe also white and have a moody or atmospheric feel. I will also look for photographs like Man Ray or Diane Arbus that shows people emotion when they are looking in dark or mysterious place.

My focus will be photos that show how people feel, especially mysterious emotions. It will explore their mysterious expressions. I will take photos of my friends or teachers and show it. I will explore the social issue of people’s reactions to strange things and their feelings. I will show dark places to make it more mysterious. I will try to make the viewer feel the dark mood. My image inspiration photographer is Diane Arbus. I will try to show my friends showing face mystery like looking around or wearing mask in the dark place.