I am deeply inspired by Nick Fancher’s ‘This is water’ photo series, where he focused on the reflection of people’s faces and the ripples of water. The photos’ center of attention is focused on the details of water ripples and the facial features of different people. The water ripples on top of the faces create an underwater effect, adding texture to the appearance of the photos. The bold contrast of black and white shades evidently illustrates the photo’s texture.

For my final photos, I chose three, each referring to a different age group with a diverse identity. My photographs aim to evoke a sense of self-reflection, making the viewers reflect on their identity. By arranging the photos from youngest to oldest, the message of the passage of time is displayed. The message of the passage of time is displayed by arranging the photos from youngest to oldest, which allows the audience reflect on the different stages in their lives. Expanding specifically on the photo in the middle, the bubbles and the water ripples appear to cover the subject’s eyes, demonstrating a unique composition and juxtaposition. This corresponds with the intended theme, representing the process of finding identity and promoting further reflection within the viewers.

To successfully reach the intent that I want, I first printed out portraits of different people that I took. Before printing the photos, I photoshopped them to convert the background into black, making the subject stand out more. Then, I placed the portraits in a tray of water. When shooting the photos, I used a light angled at 45 degrees to clearly capture the water ripples’ shades. The photos were then photoshopped and cropped to make the subject fill the entire frame, which allows the audience’s attention to be focused on the major elements of the photos. While taking the photos, I used a higher ISO and faster shutter speed. This was to ensure that the photos would not be blurred and that the water ripples could be captured clearly as I took the photos in the studio with the lights closed. Some areas of improvement to focus on would be to add plastic covers to the photographs to prevent the paper from soaking. Since the photos were printed with no protective covers, the paper were fragile in water, resulting in some pieces of paper floating in the tray of water.