Paper Serendipity
Serendipity
The photo that sparked my thesis.
Inspired by Gregory Crewdson, I rented a hotel room, and took photos of the living model interacting with paper representations for self-critical analysis.
The model holds a paper representation on top of her in a dominating pose. The gaze of one woman admiring another woman even though the latter is made of paper. From my conversations with the model she believed that she was overweight. This was the moment that self-critical analysis by the depicted women came into my work.
I position the lights to make a dramatic scene. The most prominent element is a bright light on the model, which overpowers the rest of the image. It is important to me that the viewer’s eye moves through the composition, and I use the point of view of the model as a guide for the viewer. Placing objects in the picture’s background as visual clues.
The Ben-Day dot paper representations depict the human figure’s transition from a portrait, defined by chiaroscuro, into an image that is flat and lifeless. The paper representations are artfully placed in the background of the image to direct the viewers eye through the art.
I had been doing a lot of work with partially nude women and my cohort at school asked why I hadn’t shown men or myself. This is the first time turning the camera on myself to show fair play. This is a behind the scene’s shot of how I set the scene for Serendipity. I added the Roy Lichtenstein bust and a photo of David Haxton’s work to show my inspirations.
The behind the scenes look at what models do when not being photographed, and what the artist is doing to get the shot ready.
Behind the scenes shot of myself setting the light to take the Serendipity photo.
One of my first photographed sessions.