This photographic series will work to explore portrait photography and to capture the true essence of an individual person in a photograph. I wanted to explore the idea of social identity and how each person I photographed relates to the world around them. I am particularly interested in portrait photography and social identity because it is something that I myself struggle with, and would like to find out more. I am interested in the many faces of the world, and the expressions of those around me. To find the secret of an individual through a photograph through the interpretations of others has always intrigued me. I also wanted to shoot in black and white since I am particularly interested in black and white photographs. I attempted to capture each of my subjects to bring to light who they are. In looking at photographs by Diane Arbus, I really felt that she brought the people she photographed to life, and used her images to show the world many different faces, who are not necessarily perfect. I used her photographs as inspiration for this project, but also tried to go further by focusing on not only expressions, but also the movements that reveal who these people are. My main goal in this project was to capture the personalities of the people I photographed.

-Kathryn Sweeney

This is a photograph of a man working on painting a house in Phoenix, AZ. I wanted to capture an individual working hard, and to show what he does for a living.

This is an image of a woman relaxing on a couch on a hot day. This image relates to my theme in that it captures her personality even in a state of relaxation.

This is a portrait of the same woman from the picture above, and I really wanted to capture her gaze by looking straight at me. The expression on her face I think leaves the viewer wondering what she is truly thinking. 

For this image I wanted to include some of the things that make this man who he is. With his Nike shirt and Ford Ranger, it gives the viewer a little insight into who he is.

For this image I wanted to explore the expression of this girl without including her face. I think that, without even showing the face, this image reflects the personality of this girl.

This woman is standing outside of her house as painters are working on her house. It shows who she is, and reflects her personality through her facial expression.

Emphasis

I chose to explore the element of Emphasis, and tried to make the viewer's eyes come to the subject of the photograph as opposed to what is going on around the teapot. In the images, there are buildings, nature, and rails to distract the viewer from the subject, however the subject is the object that one sees first and focuses their attention on. This element was somewhat different and more difficult than the others, for I had to consider everything that was going on in the shot to make sure that the subject was most important.

Vantage Point

For the element of Vantage Point, I decided to explore the worm's eye view of an image. For these three frames, I really tried to get an interesting image from this vantage point. I think I was successful, however I would like to try shooting different subjects and images using this element, for example buildings and architecture or maybe people. I think seeing the subject through the table adds for a more interesting view point of the subject and makes the viewer look a little harder at the image.

Rule of Thirds

For the element of Rule of Thirds, I tried to shoot my subject in different locations in the frame and see how and where a subject would be most appealing. I also shot some images in practice where the subject was in the center, and found that most of the time (not always), shooting an image with the principle of rule of thirds makes the photograph more interesting. I think the second image I provided is the more successful, and is the more interesting of these images.

Light

I chose to explore the photographic element of lighting for these pictures. For the first image I tried to incorporate the sun as a major light source in photography, and wanted to see the effect photographing the sun would have on an image. With the second image I used natural lighting as a source, and tried to include the shadows natural lighting has. And finally for the last image I played with my camera a little in longer exposures. This image has a shutter speed of .5 seconds in natural lighting. I also had some shots including a flash, however these pictures were unsuccessful, and I preferred to use different forms of natural lighting.

Photographic Perspectives