Work Diary - Shoot 12: Drowning

Evaluation 

For this shoot, I decided to continue with the emotional portraiture concept, but experiment with using water in my photographs rather than with the editing. In this shoot, my camera was set to ISO 22, 22F and a shutter speed of 1/125. Therefore, I used a model in the shower, and took photos of them 'drowning' under the water, with smeared makeup and water dripping from their face. This is because the water portrays the 'drowning' feeling of being smothered with so many thoughts and emotions. I enjoyed using editing, as a way to portray the feelings of suffering with mental illnesses, but I also really liked using a practical way to indicate the same sort of concept. I believe these photos came out very well, and I used a mixture of black and white, as well as different colour tones to portray a more dramatic feeling depending on what the model looks like in the image. As some times the model looked quite sad and upset, whereas other times they looked blank and numb. 

I like this photo in particular because the water is literally smothering the models face, and you can also see how it has smudged her makeup. I added a black and white effect to the image to make it look more dramatic and depressing. Due to the models facial expression, this portrays the feelings of frustration and anger, as the model has her eyes shut and is just letting the water fall over her face, which is essentially what people do when they feel like this, they just let it happen. I decided to zoom quite close to the models face so that I could see the water clearly and also to make sure all the attention was focused on the water and their facial expressions. 

This photo is very similar, but instead I added a blue-green tone whilst editing, as it makes the photo look and almost feel colder and harsher. This also links to how the model is feeling, because in the image we can see that she is trying to open her eyes and mouth but the water is stopping her from doing so. Again, becoming very frustrated. I particularly like how the water is dripping off the models nose, and so we can see that there is a lot of water falling from her face. 

Progression 

I want to continue with using water to portray feelings of numbness and frustration, but instead in my next shoot I want the model to be completely underneath the water so that the water is covering their face, distorting the image. By using water I cancreate different and more depressing images as the models reactions are realistic, but by editing the photos to black and white it'll create a more dark and dramatic feel to them.