Category: Portraiture

Vision for the Photos

The vision for my photos is to explore the emotional journey of mental health. Capturing the moments of despair and hope, struggle and joy. Through abstract and layered techniques, I am to create two images that evoke different aspects of this journey with two different people. I hope to illustrate that while each individual’s experience is unique, the emotions and transformations are something many can relate to and understand.

The societal/cultural issue I want to explore with my photographs is the emotional journey that is mental health struggles. I want to highlight the progression from feelings of despair and confusion to a sense of resilience and hope. This issue is something that resonates globally, but mental health still remains a subject that is often stigmatized, leaving many feeling isolated. Through the pictures, I want to capture the subtle yet powerful shifts in emotion, symbolizing the strength it takes to navigate these challenges. The other photo will juxtapose feelings of struggle with happiness and light. The blur represents the dynamic nature of happiness. Emotions like happiness and joy often come in moments that feel hard to fully grasp, just like how motion blur captures a sense of movement.

Contact Sheet

 

Other set:

 

This part of the series contrasts the darker images with photos that evoke a sense of curiosity. The subjects in these photos are looking at different places the middle one looking at the camera represents confidence. There’s no detachment or hiding here. The photos where the subjects are looking to the side will capture a sense of curiosity. Like they are in the middle of processing something or looking towards a new possibility.

I intentionally made the lighter one take up more space on the photo, showing resiliance

Artist: Ernst Haas

• Ernest Haas used color photography, motion blur, and experimental techniques to capture the world. His work focuses on transforming everyday scenes into vivid abstract compositions by capturing movement and light. Through blurred motion he conveyed the dynamic nature of life, emphasizing the fluidity and transience of time. Haas’s photographs often reflect his desire to capture not just to capture the physical reality of a moment but also its emotional and psychological essence.
• Haas uses motion blur to capture dynamic movement. By panning the camera with a moving subject or using long exposures, he creatures abstract images that merge the real and the imagined.
• Haas’s work blends sharp elements with flowing, blurred motion creating a sense of movement and energy within a still frame. The motion blur adds an element of unpredictability.
• Haas is most famous for his color work, his motion blur images often rely on contrasting colors to emphasize movement

How it applies to my work

Ernst Haas’s use of motion blur in his work inspired my project to explore faces in motion, focusing on the emotions through blur. I plan to use exposure and slight movements of the face to abstractly represent expressions and emotions. Haas’s techniques inspire me to explore a deeper representation of human emotion by visually layering different emotional states in one image. The sharpness in my central face represents control or normalcy, while the blurred screaming faces internal chaos or conflict.

A portrait is typically defined as a photograph that captures the personality, likeness, of a person. It often focuses on their face or upper body. The subject is usually the focal point, so the composition and lighting will aim to emphasize this subject’s features in a way that will reveal something about them, whether it’s their mood, character, or context. A portrait’s main element is a person; a good portrait often will convey something about the person, whether it’s through their expression, posture, or the environment they’re in.

Selfies can be considered portraits, though they might not always meet the more formal, artistic standards of portraiture. A selfie is more of a self-portrait where the photographer is the subject which is typically taken with a phone nowadays. The key difference from traditional portraiture is the level of control over the composition, lighting, and context. Unless it serves a purpose, things that distracts from the subject (like a cluttered background or object that takes attention away). A portrait is about focus.

It’s also possible to represent a person photographically without actually being physically present in the image, which can be a more metaphorical portrait. By arranging inanimate objects or still life compositions so that they reflect the personality and interest of the individual, the photograph can tell their story. It’s the idea that the person’s presence is implied rather than a literal person. The objects will act as a symbol for the subject.

A sequence of images will allow for a dynamic representation of the subject. Each image in the sequence might capture different aspects of the person’s personality, various moments in their life, changes in their modd etc.