Today Is A Wig Day!

For all of you that don't know me, I recently broke up from a long-term relationship and this sparked off an idea for one of my university modules. My brief was to create a portfolio of 6 images choosing from these chosen themes:

• Agreed Portrait (i.e. Muse)
• Self Image
• Body Work (including nude, dance, or movement involving the body)

Originally, I was hoping to do agreed portrait, however, due to certain circumstances, I ended up choosing Self Image.

So today I decided to do my self-portrait shoots. I got all my equipment ready (Nikon D750, Tripod and not forgetting the Wig) and I was all ready to go.

Evaluation:

For all of you that know me, I am quite a reserved and self-conscious person however, due to certain circumstances I thought it was time to change that fact and start a new chapter of my life. This collaboration of work I am about to present to you, is called ‘Reborn’, as I have grown as an individual and a photographer.

At the beginning of this task, I was rather overwhelmed with the volume of pictures presented to us and I wasn’t really sure how to approach it. Although I found several images which interested me, they were all very diverse, which hindered rather than helped my decision. In the end, it was something that my lecturer said that influenced me ‘Behind every picture is a story waiting to be unveiled’. I thought about this in great depth and this helped me see the photographs in a new light; there is more to an image than first meets the eye. I wanted to convey the journey I have been on this year and this particular project enabled me to express my development as an individual and a photographer.

I decided to go with the ‘Self Image’ theme and base my work on me and my boyfriend’s break up, because at the time it had a big impact on me. My initial idea was to show the journey I have made since the break up, going from feeling lost, empty and alone to feeling almost reborn. Within my photos I want to show me growing in self-confidence, as well as an individual; understanding that life is too short worrying about every little thing all the time. Therefore, I tried to convey the message that learning to love yourself is the first step forward and once you learn to love yourself, other will learn to love you too.

So firstly, I looked at photographers such as Francesa Woodman, Arno Minikknen and Elinor Carucci because I have found their self-portraits inspirational during previous modules so far. I then went back to our handouts and discovered Harry Callahan’s photographs of Eleanor and Edward Westons of Charis. What I particularly liked about their work, even though they were lovers their photographs were reserved and tasteful, seeing a different side to the women that you would expect. Also, I love how the body language and use of shapes created convey a new meaning to the photographs.

Summary:

The idea I wanted to convey throughout my work was to suggest that you don't need to rely on someone to make you feel beautiful, we are our own muse; independence can be our muse. Therefore, throughout my images I chose I wanted to try and show a journey - going from feeling empty, looney, lost, to accepting the fact and realising that life is too short to worry and to love who I am.

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With that all in mind, here are my final images that I am rather pleased with. I hope these photographs demonstrate the idea that I was aiming to create.