Physical identity
Moving further into identity, this part of my journey focuses on the physical identity of a person, how they look and their body. First i shall look into the form of the body and then move onto the more detailed aspects of the body.
Shadow form
In this section of my journal I will focus on the form of the body. I used silhouettes to completely stripping the subject of defining features, leaving just a shadow of the body. I love the contrast I achieved with this technique and really made the form apparent and bold against the background. I used props to show how the form changes when interacting with different objects. The body is an important part of identity, due to it being the main part of the physical appearance, which is where people achieve their first impressions of you. I also wanted to show a distorted version of the body through using the glitch design. The reason for this was to show how media can distort the body and change the form, we live in a digital age and our bodies can easily be changed with technology and I wanted to capture that distributive effect in my images. I feel theses shots are successful due to the sharp contrast of the subject and the white background as well as clarity of form.
I am happy with these silhouettes, The striking contrast creates a defining shape to the subjects form, however i want to show a diverse forms of bodies. so i took more photos featuring two people to show differences.
Much like the previous silhouette shot, the bold figure stands out from the clear white background to emphasis the physical form. To complete this section on silhouettes i turned the images above into acetates and then took them into the darkroom. I experimented with the developer, splashing or dripping it on to see how the form would look with more expression behind it. I also experimented with layering two acetates together as well as photograms to further extend the shape of the body. This section could of been further improved with additional colour, to break away from the black and white colour scheme.
Drawing Form
Below are a few experiments with emphasising physical form through mixed media. I chose to range from coloured highlights to monochrome black and white. I think a photo with higher tonal contrast would have worked better for this approach but this experiment has allowed me to explore more beyond just taking a photo.
Portrait Identity
After looking at the shape of the body i have moved onto the detail of the human form. First i looked into the basic detail of the face by taking studio portraits of various people. I chose to deepen the colours and detail of the images by increasing the contrast and vibrancy, to differentiate them from my street portraits. I am no longer trying to catch the unique nature of a strangers identity, rather explore their physical beauty. I used a black background for sophistication and to bring the focus just to the face of the subjects. To improve these images i could mix the features of the subjects to form a individual with aspects from a collection of people.
Distorted faces
To improve on my collection of studio portraits i experimented with joiner images. This is important for my project as it showed how physical identity can be merged. Although these pieces depict the meaning of merging and combining identities, the images could have been neater, possible attempted in Photoshop for a cleaner cut. After completing these joiner images, i became inspired to distort the physical body in different ways, below i have series were the subject's appearance has be alter by reflections or glass. The meaning behind these was to show that identity can be distorted by the way you look at a person, assumptions can be made and when you can not see the whole personality your own mind fill in the blank with its own judgement. The reflection collection features images in black and white with the only source of colour comes from the reflection itself. I feel these images could have been stronger if more of the body was explored. The glass distortion collections offers the same meaning as the reflections, stating that you cannot fully understand a individual from their appearance. For that collection, i feel it would of been stronger if there had been more photos, possible of more than one subject.
Emphasising the form
Next i have looked into emphasising the form of the upper body, using strands of strings. I chose to use primary colours for the string to compliment the colour of the subjects skin.
I am happy with the outcome of these images and i feel that string is an interesting way to highlight detail and form and shall consider using it further along in my journey. I also think the use of primary colours was effective, the colours complimented each other as well as making the tone of skin brighter and vivid. The purpose of this collection was to bring attention to the body and its feature, highlighting the complicity of physical identity. I think a way in the future to make this shoot stronger would be to include more body parts, and possible show a range of body types to show the variety.
Close ups of the body
Next i have looked into more detail of the body, and used a soft flash to capture body parts. I have used a young male and a middle aged woman for contrast in features. I think the close up shots capture the perfect amount of detail, the positioning also brings the focal point directly to just one feature of the body. To improve these shots i could experiment with merging the features.
Meltem Isik
To further develop my close up images i have taken inspiration from Meltem Isik. Isik is a Turkish photographer who focuses on the details of the human body. She first explores what the camera can capture and then presents the images in a joiner photo to change the meaning of the images; turning body parts into faces. I really like the crisp quality of her images and have recreated that by using softened flash to capture detail but not creating harsh shadows. The images she creates are a play on the psychological phenomenon called pareidolia, where people create faces out of miscellaneous objects. I want to depict this in my own work to express the fact that what you see is not always the thing you think it is, commonly associated with the identity of a person.
Faces without Faces
To finish this section off i have improved my body part shoot by merging the two subjects' features. Inspired by the artist, Meltem Isik, i have created faces without faces. Each body part has been left in its naturally coloured state, capturing all of the different tones found in skin and hairs. The photos are arranged to form three separate faces. This section is important to my work as it shows the human need to find recognition in anything. Humans always look for faces in life, essentially finding identity. When identity is found, curiosity sets in, humans want to find out more about each other, thus leading in the next part of journey: The Intimate identity.