Above are the top ten photos that I selected from my reflection series. These photos have a strong focus and have the water ripples captured clearer.

These are the top 60 photos that are labeled with a yellow tag. The 60 photos selected have the water ripples captured and clearer focus.

These are some of the photos that I picked out for the experiment shots. I focused on capturing the facial features and the contrast between dark and white shades. For the final photos, I would need to crop them to make the subjects fill the frame.

Some areas for improvement would be to take more photos of people of different ages or genders. For the final shot, I would aim to photograph children or older people to show the diversity of identity. Since I will be taking photos in a dark environment, I must also change the ISO higher to avoid blurred images. Then, the photographs picked out would be printed out for the final, where I would place the photos in a tray of water.

Nick Fancher, born in Columbus, Ohio, is a photographer who experiments with bold contrasts and dramatic lighting. His ‘This is water’ photo series, posted on February 25th, 2021, specifically stood out to me. The photographs in this series show the reflection of people’s faces and the ripples of water on their faces. Personally, I feel that these photographs evoke a sense of self-reflection, making the viewers reflect on their identity. Fancher was significantly influenced by hyperrealism. The main elements of hyperrealism that Fancher was influenced by was the key focus on capturing every small detail of the subject’s facial features, making the photos look realistic.

For the first photograph displayed above, my center of attention is drawn to the details of the person’s face. The photo has a clear focus on even small details of the facial features, such as the subject’s freckles. Additionally, the water ripples on top of the face also add texture to the appearance of the photo. The bold contrast of the black and white shade evidently highlights the photo’s texture. Moreover, the photograph is cropped so that the subject fills in the entire frame, which allows the viewer’s attention to be focused directly on the face. Nick Fancher used a 45-degree angled light for the photographs in this series. This allows the water ripples to be captured clearly, which is one of the main elements that makes his pictures visually appealing. He also used a faster shutter speed to make the exposure time shorter, which avoids the motion blur of flowing water and allows the camera to capture the water ripples clearly.  I am deeply inspired by Fancher’s “This is water” series and I will focus on the composition between the facial features and the water ripples. I will first photo portraits of people with different age and gender, where I aim to illustrate the theme of different identities. Then, I would print out the photos and place them in a transparent tray filled with water. With a light angled at-45 degrees and the camera on a tripod directly above the tray of water, I would shake the tray to produce water ripples. This process is inspired by Fancher’s idea. Similar with his targets, I would aim to portray the texture of the water ripples and facial features, which evokes self-reflection of the identity of the viewers. I would also focus on a evident compare and contrast between black and white tones.

Citations:

https://www.nickfancher.com/bio

https://www.nickfancher.com/blog/2021/2/11/this-is-water

https://www.ikepaisley.com/nickfancher

https://gallerease.com/en/magazine/articles/the-stunning-reality-of-photo-or-hyperrealism-in-art__b3615b18d85f

Mood Board:

The mood board below shows s0me of my source of inspiration for my final set of photos. These elements would be experimented in my photographs.

For my final project, my target would be to evoke self-reflection of the viewers. The main message that I want to convey is self-exploration, aiming to make the audience reflect on their identity and boost their self-esteem. This would be represented through distorted reflections of a person’s face or body, which symbolizes the complexities of a individual’s inner identity. I am inspired by photographer Paul Apal’kin, who focuses on the distortion of human faces on pieces of mirror. Similarly, I would also like to experiment with the distortion of different facial expressions. However, I would also be adding elements of water to further highlight the core concept of reflection. My final piece would be in a black and white shade to emphasize the compare and contrast between tones, guiding the viewers’ attention towards the subject, which will be the reflection/distortion and the original face.

Citations:

Portrait Photography by Paul Apal’kin

https://arthur.io/art/paul-apalkin/portrait

In this set of photos, I had the focus on the scenes that are reflected from the mirror. The frame of the mirror helps guide the audiences’ attention to the scenes inside the mirror. By having the outside of the mirror blurring, a depth of field is created.

At first, the photos were to dark. I then used a higher ISO to make the photos brighter. The black and white tone creates a sense of compare and contrast with the colors, making the subject evident. The distortion of the subject’s faces are shown through the reflection of the vase. I also cropped the photos to make the subject take up bigger space.

Annie Wang is a 16 year-old student born in Sydney, Australia, currently studying in Beijing. She uses photography as her primary medium to captures the beauty of everyday life, bringing together themes of abstraction, portraiture, and landscape in her work.

Annie finds inspiration in the ordinary, seeking to highlight moments that often go unnoticed. Her photographs aim to invite viewers to pause and reflect on the intricacies of daily existence. By focusing on the interplay of light and shadow, she focuses on transforming simple scenes into compelling visual narratives that resonate on a deeper level.

Her interest in abstract photography allows Annie to experiment with shapes, colors, and textures, creating images that evoke emotion and provoke thought. This exploration of abstraction encourages viewers to engage with her work in a more profound way.

What:

-Sceneries with reflection such as mirrors and water.

How:

-Space & Balance

-Scenery

-Close-ups

-Portraits (People)

-Abstract

-Windows

– Metallic objects

-Depth of field

-Mirror

-Water surface