“The eyes behind the mask” is a set of portraits taken in 2020 of NHS hospital staff in Ipswich Hospital. It is taken by Colin Gray, one of the hospital staff.
The tone of the photographs is all black and white. The masks are portrayed to be lighter than the background in all photographs, drawing attention to the faces of the individual within the photographs. The use of black and white photography could be of symbolic or connotative purposes (e.g. darkness associated with despair, light associated with hope), but could be to eliminate distractors from the more complex backgrounds within the photographs. Some of the photographs (clockwise from top left: 1st, 2nd, 4th, 7th, 8th, 9th) seem to have a black vignette effect surrounding the borders of the image which could also, likely, be used to put more emphasis and focus on the faces and away from the background obstacles. The contrasting effect derived from the white and black portions of the image shifts the focus toward the head within the photograph. I personally think that these photographs may be more effective on a completely plain background, but considering the circumstances of these photographs, it was not accomplished due to this being taken within a hospital and not a photography studio.
All of the individuals are portrayed in focus and very sharply, with most photographs having the background out of focus due to a shallow aperture. This effectively limits the interference that the background may have on the heads/faces, which are the subject of the photographs. In some photographs, the individuals may be oversharpened, producing some texture on certain parts of the picture that attract the viewer’s attention.
The skin’s texture is entirely focused (if not oversharpened) to provide different qualities to the head, which the photographer is attracting attention towards. In a way, this also weighs the individuals within the photograph, and the photograph itself, back into reality when considering the commonly unrealistic depictions of skin and people within commercial or other photographs, in addition to some of the connotative meanings that this could mean to the hospital staff.