Evaluation: 

Overall, my final photosets compared to the practice photos turned out a lot more detailed and professional. They met more of my expectations and techniques during my planning stage. For example, the lighting, angles, and point of focus. I used three lights in the studio room, the blue one is placed diagonally towards the left back, while the two other warm lighting are placed at the right back and in front of the face. This can create a light reflection on the hair, and eyes, and also emphasize the facial features. For my final sets, I really made sure there were several changes in angles and different degrees of closeness. The point of focus is on the face, which means that I can alter a variety of angles and close-ups to demonstrate the beauty of the face for visual purposes. An extra technique I used that was not included in my practice photos was using colored silk to cover the camera lenses. This technique was something I discovered in the past, I wanted to use this technique again to make a natural filter and a gloomy camera effect.

The poses of the model are highly inspired by Richard Avedon’s photos, for instance, the facial expression in photo number 4 is taken based on the photo of Marilyn Monroe. The photo is portrayed as a wistful, distant figure – eyes lowered and fixed in the distance, and shoulders slumped. Additionally, Avedon’s photo of the woman with the butterflies is also inspirational for the last photo both from the concept of butterflies and the facial expression. It reminded me that the eyes and sharp have to be bold,  which is something I kept repeating to my model.

The connection between my photos and the theme of coexistence are essentially connected because of the peaceful atmosphere between the humans and the butterflies existing in one portrait. This shows a dynamic but sustainable image where humans and wildlife co-adapt to living in shared landscapes. The interactions with wildlife indicate that appreciating and caring for the natural world is a beautiful, positive, and high-quality sense of harmony. Ultimately,  these photos encourage the audience to reflect a genuine bond with nature.

For my practice photos, I tried using different colors of lighting, angles, and close-ups with the fake butterflies. The colors for half of my photos are edited with low saturation of the face and a tint of high emphasis on the complementary colors, blue and orange.  For my final sets, something I could improve on is sharpening the facial expressions and expressing more poses to appeal to the emotion.

Richard Avedon

Alexander McQueen (Fashion design collection)

Steve Mccurry

Kamilla Hanapova

The theme of my photo sets will be the coexistence of the planet. Specifically, raising awareness to the audience that the earth is shared with all living aspects. In Chinese culture, the symbolic insect butterflies evoke the qualities of freedom, earthly beauty, love, and the human soul. The process of butterflies forming is an essential symbol representing transformation, hope, and rebirth.

Coexistence Beauty:

The message of my photography creation will be the natural display of the coexistence of earthly beauty. The immense beauty of the earth is shared with creatures and animals all around the planet. The use of humans and animals filled in one portrait raises awareness of the beauty and fragility of the natural world, and the impact of human activities on the environment. As a response to my collection, I want my photos to present the emotions of confidence, hope, and faith.  For inspiration, I will find and develop my ideas by looking for photographers who use complementary colors, contrast of lighting, irregular patterns, and sharp focus to fully emphasize the person/subject. In my opinion, presenting someone with full confidence and sharpness is the best way to appear more effective to the audience. To process this, I will adapt props and tools (fake butterflies, makeup) with my model in order to make the subject more creative. I will also make sure that the camera is in full point of focus and instruct my model for poses and facial expressions.  Two guidelines that I will be using are the rule of thirds and the dominant eye. This can enable the subject to position in the center of the right or left vertical line, making the eyes more appealing for the viewers

1. Sharpness
2. Colorless
3. Sculptural
4. Artistic
5. Slight motion

The works of this photographer are mostly displayed in colorless and with sharp focus. Most of Avedon’s photos are still life, which makes the people look sculptural. Other photos also include poses with a slight motion that adds emotion and abstraction to the scene.

I chose Richard Avedon because of the multiple similarities between the ideas I want to include in my photo sets and the characteristics of his photos. Unlike my past works, this is the first time I want to step aside from blurred focus and try sharp focus on the person in order to express the uniqueness of the character. This means that the makeup and the materials have to be set up perfectly so that the photos will bring full emphasis to the people.

“My portraits are more about me than they are about the people I photograph.”

–Richard Avedon

Image #1: This was the first image that caught my attention when browsing through his photos.

Even though there isn’t a sharp focus on the person, the photo surprisingly demonstrates an intriguing sight of emotion and intensity. This can be shown through one of the most important formal elements which is tone. In this photo, the traces of shading bring contrast to the facial structure and hair. With a contrast of light and dark tones, the picture adds more sharpness to the woman’s body and its beauty.

The tone of this photo is important because it’s one of the main aspects to catch the view’s attention without any color. Apart from using vibrant colors, the tone also levels the brightness and adds layers of meaning beyond the photo. From solid black to pure white, the viewers are more likely to evoke emotion because of the mysterious effect the tone creates to a scene.

The creations of my chosen photographer are considered self-identity because the photos identify more of himself than the people in the frames. The characteristics of how the people are positioned are adapted by Avedon’s own style and techniques. At the same time, the facial expressions, poses, and eye contact of the people are all telling a story about the person in the portrait. This evokes a specific emotion by making the viewers feel a special connection between a captured essence of a person.

Something that I like about Avedon’s style is that his photos exhibit the beauty of human nature in simple ways. There aren’t high-saturation colors or a complex background, but he’s still able to beautify the scene in his own ways and use photos to make a work of art. This is effective for me because the photos show complete confidence and attitude using the simplest context.

I will adapt this style to my own photography by using different props to gather in the frame with my model. I will also choose simple backgrounds so that the scene won’t be too crowded. This photographer inspires me by expressing a clear mood and attitude when taking a photo of a  human being. With this idea, I will make sure to capture and emphasize the disposition and movement of my model.

Contact Sheet

The reason why I chose these three as my red photos is that they have a mixture of human life and non-living objects. Even though they are something completely different,  they both demonstrate the most common aspects of street photography. Additionally, the three photos have an essential connection with my photographer. The first two photos have a variety of vibrant colors and the third one uses point of focus and contrast of lighting.