The working title of my project is “self-worth”.

What will your message be?

When seeing my final presentation, the audience and viewers should feel empathetic for the subject of the photo and feel sad. Through my presentation, I hope to convey the theme of self-worth and how someone may think they aren’t enough.

How will you show this message with your photography?

Using water reflection and editing, I will show the subject looking into a puddle, and their reflection in the puddle won’t be there. With this, I hope to show how someone can look into a mirror and not see anything of value.

Analyze your favorite images.

Naoya Hatakeyama

I like how the image in the reflection is the same, but there are specific differences, such as lighting (it’s dim), ripples, which create texture, and shadows that are emphasized with water. The features of the reflection set a sad or contrasting mood to the original image, which is what I want to capture with my work.

Because the surroundings are dark and the reflection/original image is light, your eyes are immediately drawn to the two, as it is the photo’s focus. But other than this, I like how the contrasting brightness and colors work together, which looks nice.

Develop and then clearly state your vision.

I would like to use water reflection to portray my message for my project. I plan to use editing to change the reflection in the water. I will use a wide-angle lens to make the water/puddle look bigger, giving it a more realistic effect. I will also try the color splash editing technique, which puts the original image in color and the water reflection in monochrome. I will try to edit the reflection so that the subject isn’t visible, portraying the “loss of self-worth” theme, as they will see nothing in their reflection. I will also make the reflection rippled so that it is clearly a different/tainted perspective and a “mirrored world.” My theme relates to the social context of “the internal sense of being good enough and worthy of love and belonging from others”. Self-worth refers to people feeling judged by society and thinking that society decides their value.

I plan to use a slightly narrow depth of field for this project. I intend to set the focus of the camera on the subject, but the background shouldn’t be too blurry. This way, the audience’s focus will be on the subject, and the background is still partially in view. I will also be using a neutral aperture (around f/4), to achieve the same effect I want with the depth of field. To properly light my photo, I will be using a white balance that fits a 6000-7000k color temperature, because it will be shot outside in “average daylight”. However, this might change depending on the time of day I shoot it.