1. In my photos, I was hoping to create portraits that successfully uses important elements of portraiture such as the face mouth and eyes, and combine them with different elements that I learned from previous lessons. I also wanted to juxtapose different elements to the main subject of the photo to add another layer of depth to the photographs, and convey a sense of abstraction in my photos. However, I think the most important criterion on my mind by far was connecting with the audience. I wanted to use the elements of portraiture and different methods and techniques to invoke a strong emotional response from my audience with the photos that I took. For the photos that I took, I believe that I accomplished what I wanted to do very well. Looking at the techniques that my artist of inspiration, Jack Davison, used, I was able to play with the tone and lighting of the photographs, creating a strong contrast in the photos,  juxtapose different elements in with the subject, all of which were combined together to meet my statement of intent which was: “showing social isolation and emotional impacts that rejection has on individuals”.
2. My artist of inspiration was Jack Davison. Based on my analysis of his photographs, his style of photography varies in lighting and subject, including a diverse range of elements and subjects in the photo, but I find that photos involving interplay between light and shadow are very interesting. The strong contrast invoked by the greyscale, strips all the color off of the photo, and in my experience of looking at his photographs, the strong contrast helps me really focus on the subjects and elements around me, not letting the color distract me. I also thought that the strong contrast between the photographs helps convey a sense of abstraction and invoke a strong emotional response from the audience. His style of photography, and the techniques that he uses align with my vision for photography, and is the artist that I wanted to take inspiration from. Looking at his artworks, I was able to convey a sense of abstraction in my photographs, and I was also able to juxtapose different elements successfully to the main subject to achieve my statement of intent.
3. I think that I have successfully explored the themes of portraiture through my research, and the photos that I took. One thing that I learned in this class is that in photography, you want to establish a strong emotional connection with the audience through different parts of the face which I did. I also researched throughly on different photographic techniques, and learned how to apply different concepts of photography to portraiture by looking at my artist of influence.
4. One thing that is personal about my work is my statement of intent. In my statement of intent, I wanted to explore deeper into a psychological theory called social identity theory, and how rejection from different groups around us causes social isolation and great emotions of sadness for different individuals. I chose this statement of intent because there was a time when I was rejected from a group. When I was in first grade, I attended an international school for the first time, and most of the people in my grade was not Korean. So they made fun of me, and did not respect my nationality, where I came from. So, these set of photos in my identity unit, is also a method of self reflection, a way of showing a facet of my identity through photography.
5. I hope that my viewers will emotionally connect with my photos and understand the social isolation and pain brought forth by rejection
6. As for the things that I could have done more, I think I could have experimented with a bit more variety of elements juxtaposed to my subject to establish a stronger emotional connection with my audience through portraiture.

This is my green contact sheet, and I started to narrow down the options that I could take for my photos, and choose my red photos for the final evaluation, and I want to select the photos that portray the photographic style of Jack Davison very well. Like how photographer Jack Davison adds a strong sense of contrast to his photos, and invokes a strong emotional response from the audience, the majority of my images should have the face to convey a strong emotional response from the audience. Some trends that you can see in these set of images is that they all have a strong contrast. I invoked a strong contrast to convey a sense of abstraction, and invoke a strong emotional response of gloom and melancholy from the audience, and to encourage the audience to focus on the essence of the subject. To put in specific terms,  removing color strips away distractions, emphasizing composition, light, shadow, texture, and contrast, which intensifies emotional responses and invites deeper viewer introspection. I am starting to narrow down the options for the photos that I will be evaluating specifically later on in the project. I think that at this point, the quality of the techniques and ideas used will be an important factor in decision. For example, which photos, using a strong sense of contrast, best encourages a strong emotional response from the audience, which photos place the subject in a specific position juxtaposed with different elements that makes the photo aesthetically pleasing, allows multiple interpretations from viewers, and establishes a strong connection with them? These are the kinds on questions that I will be asking myself as a commence onto the final parts of the project.

This is my set for the Yellow Photos. These set of images are images that portray a sense of sadness and social isolation, through lighting, or by showing the subject’s face and revealing his emotional state. In a lot of the photos, there is greyscale, creating a strong contrast in the photo. The strong contrast in the photos allows different interpretations from the audience that are viewing the photo. One, the audience could interpret the loss of color and a strong contrast as a message to really focus on the subject, and what he is feeling, not letting the color be a hinderance to interpreting the subject’s emotions in the photos. Second, the audience could interpret the loss of color and a strong contrast as loss of emotion, melancholy, and etc. Many people, especially myself, relate the lack of color, as a sense of gloom. Either way, I believe that the strong contrast in some of the photos helps emphasize what the subject is feeling, what emotions he is going through, and delivers a message to the viewers that the photograph should be viewed in an objective perspective, rather than a subjective one. The second set of images do contain color in the photo. In the yellow photos section, I wanted to experiment how the change in lighting affects what emotions the photos bringabout in individuals, and to choose the lighting that best fits my statement of intent and the techniques of my main aritist, Steven Mc. Curry. In my contact sheet and the whole project, I wanted to explore different forms of portraiture that focused on light, and how the absence or presence of color can affect my photos. In the end, I think that the photos with greyscale are the strongest photos for conveying a sense of gloom and allows the viewer to interpret the emotions of the subject better.

These are the three best photos that I chose for evaluation.

The title of this project is going to be “Face”. The societal and cultural issue that I want to explain with my photographs is how many people in the world does not understand the diversity of different cultures around the world, and I also want to connect that to social identity theory, how our unwillingness to accept each other’s differences forms the social groups around us. For example, when I was young, I had to move to the middle east because of my father’s job as a diplomat. The kids in my school did not like my culture and did not accept them into their friend group, and I think that is a serious issue that affects many people around the world. I want my audience to feel that the this action is wrong, and that although we might not embrace the culture, respect one another and the cultures that we have. Oh, and I forgot to mention, because my project name is face, I want to communicate with my audience through the face. The face is an important element in a portrait, and it can often convey a lot of information, so I think that focusing on my face for my project is a good idea. I will use the faces to show different emotions, mostly the emotions of the people that face cultural rejection. I will get inspiration from looking at photos that shows a lot of detail in the portrait through the face and eyes, such as photographs from Jack Davison. Jack Davison takes photos of a wide range of subjects, and each of them seems to have their own unique expression that establishes a deeper connection to the audience. While there are no patterns to his selection of his subjects, there seems to be one thing that stands out, a pattern that seems continuous in every single one of his photographs: his interest in tone and lighting. His use of abstraction techniques tone and lighting, strengthens the contrast, and adds a sense of depth and abstraction to the photos that seems to pull the subjects closer to the photo. Like Jack Davison, my artist of inspiration, I want to continue focusing on lighting, and tone, and see where it could get me on my photographic journey when I use an abstraction technique, and apply it to a type of photography that connects with the audience. By creating a strong sense of contrast in the photos, I want to connect with the audience, and make them FEEL how our unwillingness to accept each other’s differences forms the social groups causes social isolation, and severe emotions of sadness in those around us.

Link to my creative mood board: Identity Unit Creative Moodboard

This is my link to my creative mood board for the identity unit. I tried to take a look at different abstraction techniques that could be combined with portraiture to establish a strong emotional connection with the audience through the essence of my photos. I also researched tone and lighting and how strong contrast affects different aspects of the photo. Most of the photos that have a strong contrast are Jack Davison’s artwork: my artist of inspiration. I also tried to include photos of group photography since my vision statement is centered around social identity theory: a study of different groups across society.

My image of inspiration comes from a portraiture photographer named Jack Davison. Jack Davison first picked up his love for photography at age 15, when he started taking photos with his family’s Canon IXUS camera. He is largely self-taught, learning through experimentation rather than formal education in photography. His passion deepened during his time studying English Literature at the University of Warwick, where he spent much of his time photographing, especially in monochrome, and developing his signature style of spontaneous, starkly-lit portraits. After university, he funded a six-month road trip across the United States by working on a building site, during which he created his first major body of work, 26 States. This trip was an important moment in his career, as he learned film photography, met other photographers, and refined his artistic vision. Davison’s images often have a dreamlike, elusive quality, achieved through the interplay of light and shadow. He uses chiaroscuro (the treat effects to both illuminate and obscure parts of the image, creating tension and inviting the viewer’s imagination to fill in what is left unsaid or outside the frame. Though self-taught and initially raised on digital photography, Davison embraces both film and digital formats. His early travels across the U.S. helped him develop a diverse visual language, combining formal portraiture with street photography and experimental techniques involving reflections and slow exposures. His style is informed by a wide range of influences, including surrealist painters like Salvador Dalí and Man Ray, as well as photographers such as Elliot Erwitt and Saul Leiter. Based on my analysis of his photographs, his style of photography varies in lighting and subject, including a diverse range of elements and subjects in the photo, but I find that photos involving interplay between light and shadow are very interesting. The strong contrast invoked by the greyscale, strips all the color off of the photo, and in my experience of looking at his photographs, the strong contrast helps me really focus on the subjects and elements around me, not letting the color distract me. I also think that the strong contrast between the photographs helps convey a sense of abstraction and invoke a strong emotional response from the audience. His style of photography, and the techniques that he uses align with my vision for photography, and is the artist that I want to take inspiration from. One of his most famous sets of portraiture photography is his work for The New York Times Magazine’s “Great Performers” portfolio from 2019, which includes striking portraits of renowned actors like Jennifer Lopez, Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Adam Driver. These portraits are notable for Davison’s unique use of natural light, and invoking a strong sense of abstraction through the use of greyscale. This approach results in images that are simultaneously arresting, sensual, and hauntingly beautiful, capturing something elusive and poetic about the sitter beyond a conventional likeness. This is my image inspiration from Jack Davison. Through his technique of portraiture, Jack Davison invokes a strong emotional response, and convey a sense of abstraction in his photos.

Work Cited:

Brinkhurst-Cuff, Charlie. “Jack Davison.” Dazed, 6 Apr. 2017, www.dazeddigital.com/projects/article/35357/1/jack-davison-photographers-biography-dazed-100-profile.

Task 2: I think that in my photos, I want to explore the societal concept of social identity theory. To put in simple terms, social identity theory is an act of categorizing, identifying, and comparing different groups from one another. For example, I classify as a Korean male, and many people around be will classify like that as well. So, I fit into my Korean male group, and for every social group and box, there is an opposing group (ex. Korean females, Japanese males, etc.). Social identity theory is the study of how we compare groups, and how those groups shape human history. The reason why this is important to me is because I find social identity theory really interesting in general and I want to find out more about social identity theory, and how it impacts us.

Identity Unit Mind map

This is my identity unit mind map. In the mind map, I tried to document my entire process of getting inspiration and taking photos, as well as answering the questions on the DX post.