This portrait explores profound themes of duality, isolation, and mental well-being. It hints at the complexity of human experience by juxtaposing laughter and sadness within one symbolic image. The teardrop and hat represent the coexistence of apparent enjoyment and unseen struggle – reflecting how a single person can encompass happiness and heartache simultaneously. Through the motif of a lonely clown tear, the work touches on the anguish that can exist even when surrounded by others yet without true connection. It suggests how vocations centered around amusing the masses may inherently isolate those providing entertainment from sharing their authentic selves. Most significantly, the portrait raises awareness of depression – a condition that seldom discriminates and one whose sufferers often project joyfulness while internally experiencing darkness. In doing so, it promotes empathy for all people while giving visibility to invisible inner demons. Ultimately, this multi-layered representation of the “teardrop of clown” resonates profoundly through its exploration of duality, loneliness, mental health, and the full diversity within each human experience.

This edited portrait amplifies the dichotomy explored in the original concept through its manipulation of lighting and frame. The vignetting effect draws the viewer’s eye directly to the teardrop and hat, isolating the subject in shadowy despair. Darkening the background further underscores the sense of loneliness and melancholy implied by the symbolism. By exaggerating the contrast between light and dark, a mood of deep sadness infused with darkness is conveyed. The edits force the viewer to directly confront this clown’s private torment without distraction, making the psychological toll resonate even more strongly. This amplified sense of isolation and depression more profoundly suggests the inner turmoil that often hides behind smiling facades.By editing the lighting, cropping and compositions to evoke a heightened sense of gloom, this revised portrait powerfully underscores its underlying thesis about clowns suffering privately amid public performance. The exaggerated shadows and framing compel reflection on how inner anguish can lurk just out of view. It prompts consideration for the considerable emotional labor endured by entertainers and emphasizes the potential for pervasive yet discreet depression despite joking exteriors. In manipulating aesthetics to emphasize themes of loneliness and inner shadows, this portrait lays bare the darker aspects frequently shrouded yet integral to the clown experience. It brings to the forefront the otherwise obscured private pains that those who delight crowds may face.

I am deeply inspired by Arnold Newman’s skillful ability to authentically capture the complex characters of his subjects through perceptive portraits. By focusing my lens on capturing candid silly moments between people, I aim to explore how shared moments of genuine laughter and mirth can help cultivate deeper understanding and intimacy between individuals and groups. Through portraying the little absurdities of daily life that elicit chuckles, I hope to convey humor’s important role in promoting health, connection and joy – values increasingly needed in our serious world.

• The title of this photographic project is “Capturing Candid Comfort: Breaking seriousness.” The societal issue I aim to explore is how breaking serious conventions in portraiture can help normalize public displays of playfulness that cultivate joy and bring people together through shared vulnerability.
• I want my exhibition’s audience to feel uplifted by witnessing how closely linked happiness and humanity truly are through these peeks into authentic moments where self-consciousness slips away amidst laughter together.
• I will gain inspiration from seeking out the types of candid photographs and illustrations that resemble tiny snapshots into scenarios where absurdity briefly reigns and silliness spreads mirth as people momentarily prioritize having fun together over anything or anyone else.

By depicting humanity’s capacity for humor and play, this photographic series aims to add levity and balance to traditional portraiture conventions. Trailblazers like Newman prove subjects can be powerfully, authentically captured through showing virtues like silliness worth cultivating too. With patience and humor as guides, I hope to make viewers smile by celebrating our shared proclivity for nonsense and laughter’s intimacy.

Task 2 – Issue: Beyond superficial smiles captured for appearance sake, genuine moments of mirth and frivolity have immense power to bring people together and closer through creating shared vulnerability. Laughter exposes our inherent human fallibility while celebrating our capacity for resilience. Yet traditional portraiture tends to prioritize serious expressions and context over capturing playfulness, lightheartedness and fun – integral elements of a balanced, wholesome life. I aim to explore how whimsical portrayals could help normalize the display of humor and silliness.

Task 3 – Inspiration: Illustrators like Norman Rockwell possessed a gift for capturing the everyday absurdities and amusing ironies we can all relate to in his depictions of typical community scenarios. Photographer Annie Leibovitz demonstrated a knack for capturing candid moments of genuine spontaneity between celebrities and public figures. Their lighthearted images bring smiles by celebrating humanity’s shared ability to find moments of levity and joy, even amidst life’s difficulties and duties. Their styles inspire me to seek out funny foibles and silly antics that highlight humor’s power to unite rather than divide.

Task 4 – Mood Board: The collage includes clippings depicting amusing images like a smiling businessperson with cereal or whipped cream in their hair mid-conference call; overzealous multitaskers wielding toys into household tasks; carefree dancers giving their all oblivious to any lack of rhythm. Accompanying quotes emphasize the important social functions laughter serves in building comfort between individuals as well as whole communities. Collectively, the mood board aims to visually convey the focus on showcasing whimsy’s relatability and stress-relieving nature and humor’s capacity to unite all.

Final set

For my final set, I have chosen three photos from the Hutong field trip. Through the subject of street photography, I found that it includes various objects and different themes. At the same time, I also found that the key is in people themselves, since street photography conveys the meaning of human society and social communication. Street photography also has some challenges that other types of photography do not have. For me, I have experienced a lot of awkward situations when I asked people for photos, and I also got rejected by some of them. However, the communication, even though it is awkward, makes street photography more realistic. I tried to focus on getting people’s emotions; therefore, I zoomed in or got closer into their faces in order to get a realistic facial expression. I made a decision to isolate himself by focusing on a single person and cutting off or blurring out the surroundings of other people. I also added saturation in order to make the audience more attracted to the main object, people. I edited the background to create a unique atmosphere, namely, a memory from the past. For the first photography, I zoomed in on the girl staring at the camera and used isolation to focus her and create a feeling of old memories. In the second photo, I asked his father to hide half of his face in order to make a different interpretation for the audience of why they hid the face. I also used isolation to create a focused atmosphere. For the last photo, there is a man with a slightly sad expression, and the expression of facial emotions is maximized by using isolation technology among the audience. He created a new atmosphere by bringing out one person among others. I have met the standards that I set by photographing emotion and creating an atmosphere focused on single person

Context Sheet

Ernst Haas

Haas played a significant role in elevating color photography to a respected and artistic medium during a time when black-and-white photography was considered more serious and prestigious.

• Haas’s photographs captured a wide range of subjects, including landscapes, street scenes, and portraits
• He had a unique ability to use color contrast and isolation to create visually striking and emotionally evocative images
• Haas’s work often had a poetic and subjective quality, transcending mere documentation
• His use of selective focus, blurred motion, and narrow depth of field added a sense of dynamism and abstraction to his photographs
• Haas’s contributions to color photography and his emphasis on audiovisual presentations opened new possibilities in the medium and influenced generations of photographers

Haas was among the first photographers to promote color when black and white was the industry standard. In his opinion, color has the ability to elicit strong feelings from viewers and produce more engaging and expressive visuals. Haas’s images were distinguished by their rich, vivid colors, which gave visual storytelling a fresh perspective.Haas has worked on a variety of projects throughout his career, including assignments for esteemed magazines like Vogue and Life. He took pictures of a wide range of subjects, including fashion, street scenes, and portraits. He frequently captured emotion and movement in his photos, giving them a lively, unplanned feel.Throughout his career, Haas has produced multiple books and pursued personal projects in addition to his editorial work.When the norm for photographers was black and white, Haas was one of the first to advocate for color. According to him, color can create more captivating and expressive images and arouse strong emotions in viewers. Rich, vibrant colors set Haas’s photographs apart and offered visual storytelling a novel viewpoint.Throughout his career, Haas has worked on a wide range of projects, including assignments for prestigious magazines like Vogue and Life. He photographed a variety of subjects, such as street scenes, fashion, and portraits. His images usually had a lively, spontaneous feel to them because he was able to capture emotion and movement.In addition to his editorial work, Haas has published several books throughout his career and undertaken personal endeavors.

Saul Leiter was known for his work in street color photography. He often captured images with strong color contrasts, using vibrant hues and juxtaposing elements to create a sense of isolation and visual impact.He was a contemporary of renowned street photographers such as Robert Frank and Diane Arbus.His compositions often included abstract elements, reflections, and layered textures, which added depth and complexity to his work.

Ernst Haas was recognized for his mastery of color photography. He employed vivid colors and played with contrasts to create dynamic compositions that often emphasized isolation or singular subjects against vibrant backgrounds.When black-and-white photography ruled in the field, Haas embraced color photography. He often uses long exposure in order to create an active atmosphere. His photographs were identified by the rich, vivid colors they used, which gave visual storytelling a fresh perspective.

Alex Webb is known for his street photography. His images often feature vibrant color contrasts, using bold and intense hues to isolate subjects within the frame and create a sense of visual tension. Webb’s images are characterized by their rich colors, strong graphical elements, and a sense of visual complexity.

My inspiration photographer was Alex Webb, who is best known for  characterization by their vibrant colors, intimate compositions, and often offbeat subject matter. He is particularly interested in photographing people in their everyday lives, and his work often explores themes of identity, culture, and social change.Webb’s work has been widely praised for its originality, beauty, and social importance.

• contrast
• dynamic colors
• outdoor
• vivid scene

Those are photo from Alex Webb, specifically I choose these context since it shows not only the dynamic color of several objects but also express the situation of feelings in that situation and reveals their identity, culture, and social change.

Context sheet

Final Set

First of all, I tried to take all photo on outdoor since i wanted to deliver the dynamic mood of the place and pastel colors of nature objects. The first photography was took in ISB stadium. I focused on making the dynamic objects such as sky and grass. For second and fourth photograph, I focused to get the exact color of fancy color of the flowers and make contrast for each of the flowers, therefore I added saturation after. For third photograph, i delivered the vivid and pastel color of the cap and made a clear contrast so it cloud be more dynamic.

The artist I have chosen for my inspiration is Saul Leiter as his photo makes unique atmosphere by isolation and several contrasts such as color and sight . His photos also has color that highlights specific objects in the photo. He also uses blurring  very effectively since photos borders are darker, giving a sense of surrealism. Overall,He makes his own mood and give us a surrealistic atmosphere.

• Isolation
• color
• contrast
• blur

Specifically in fourth photography, he uses color contrast by the umbrella that the man has, which as complementary color with gloomy background. He gives us surrealistic atmosphere by blurring the background, which makes us to focus on the man at the center. The isolation of the man reveals the lonely situation and also the depression; however, the bright color of the umbrella makes different mood.

Context sheet

Final set

The second and last photo is my favorite since the second photo make so clear color contrast, which is mainly the black body and white line on the train. I add some contrast and saturation to highlight the contrast. For the third photograph,It gives a isolatic atmosphere by focusing on the construct material on the center.Each of the photo gives a simuliar vibe with Saul leiter since I created surrealistic atmosphere by using contrast and isolation

Extreme contrast and isolation

Contrast and isolation makes a unique atmosphere that is not usually found in real life. Contrast and isolation is a key element to convey certain moods through images. High contrast photos pop out, show textures in the subject and give a feeling of edginess, high energy and strength. and low contrast images tend to have a dreamy feeling. I would like to use contrast techniques, specifically, light and darkness,  color contrast using  complementary colors,  shadows and highlight which could make a atmosphere of isolation  ,moreover, adding some extra contrast by editing will affectively exaggerate the mood of image. My goal is to create a photography that shows high or low contrast and isolation that makes a surrealistic or gloomy mood that cannot be found in real life.My inspiration photographer is Nico Goodden, who focus on lines, aesthetics and shapes instead of always having to tell a story. Sally Mann, best known for her large black and white intimate portraits of her young children and family.