LYDIA BALMFORTH
Photography
Body Image:
Personal Battle.
My intention with this photoshoot was to show the harmful words many face daily. The reason I have used myself as the model for this photoshoot was to firstly experiment with the idea, and to also lay bare my own troubles to show the models I have used in later photoshoots that they are not alone. Along with mainly taking photos of insults on my face, I also took photos of insults on my arm.
This is a sensative topic for many therefore I wanted to adress it. Many people hold onto these insults and let it consume them until they cannot function properly. Many need constant reassurance from friends and family. Body image and body shaming are hot-topics within the media these days and so I thought I would cover the topic with my own twist.
Throughout this photoshoot, a lot of my photos are of the eyes. This is due to the fact that a persons eyes can give away a lot of emotion, or lack thereof. In this photo particularly, you can see that there is no expression, just staring deadly into the distance.
For this photo I increased the brightness and the contrast, focusing especially on the colour of the eye, wanting to make the greens more vibrant and the brown undertones more prominant.
Eventhough this isn't my strongest piece of work, personally I really like it.
I simply changed the brightness and contrast along with changing it from colour to black and white.
In the image itself you can't really see any of the insults that had been written, just the bottom of one of the words on the nose. I like the fact that on the left side, despite the shadows, you can still partcially see part of the eyelid and the light reflecting off of the eyelashes.
Even though this image doesnt fit the pattern, it is good in it's own way.
In this photo there is quite a bit going on, however the main focus is the eye. Again, I changed the brightness and contrast, yet I also reduced the saturation to create a more washed out look within the picture.
In this photo I look unkempt and as though I had been crying.
I also used the dodge tool to brighten my eyes more and make them pop out from the rest of the muted colours of the photo.
This photo is posed in a way that makes the viewer question what it is.
Simply, I am trying to recreate the image of self-harm. The red writing are a list of insults, each word representing a cut.
Many people who do self-harm think of the awful things people have said to them, believing these words so much that they become the truth (in their minds that is).
When I took this photo, I didn't feel as though it looked that good. However, once I had edited it, making it black and white, decreasing the brightness a bit and increasing the contrast, I felt it made quite a strong photo.
I think the fact that this photo focuses more on the insults than anything else makes the person viewing the phot think about the insults they have recieved.
Also the fact you can see the tear mark where it has smuged one of the insults adds to the overall effect the image has on the viewer.
I added this photo mainly for the reason that I thought it came out quite well. The detail in the iris stands out really well.
I simply increased both brightness and contrast, along with using the dodge tool on the iris to make it stand out a little more.
