My next shoot I did was focussing on my friend, William, and his alternative lifestyle. I wanted to compose these images of William at his home, as he spends most of his time there. My main aim was for the reader to understand how William’s character can be asserted if these images were to be used on an Online Dating profile, such as Tinder. I have composed these images of William wearing his usual wear, smart wear as well as laid back wear, in order for the reader to elaborate upon his well-rounded and significant character.

A Casual Setting

I composed this image of William in his back yard. I felt this was a good location to capture ambiguity as I felt the palm tree really illustrates how William can be seen in a different place to that of reality. For instance, a palm tree is usually accosted with tropical or hotter climates. Being this element the first thing the eye sees, the reader can work their way down to William to show how the ambiguity is shifting, as the reader is unaware of who  this character might be.

I then began to take a range of closer range shots, yet drew the ambiguity in a different way by covering the way in which setting isn’t very clear, as the sky doesn’t give an indication of where the location could be.  I felt if the image below was used to document William on an online dating site such as Tinder, the reader would feel confused as to what he personality is like. Because the image is set in a mundane mise-en-scene, the connotations a reader can draw from this are simply sparse, dictating this as an ambiguous representation of his person. By capturing other images alike this one, I felt the significance of his personality would simply end up becoming more rounded, as the reader is able to relate to him more.

Smarter Wear 

I captured this image in William’s bedroom because I really thought the dominating red colour could be used in order to signify how ‘red‘ is usually associated with ‘love‘. Red is the overshadowing element within this image and I thought I could contextualise with theoretical stereotypes in which people are able to characterise him through his appearance and the setting that’s around him.

I prefer the above shot to the one below as the reader gets more of an insight into what William is really like; his bedroom is quite messy so it could show the ironic juxtaposition between his smart appearance to his messy actions. If William was to upload a realistic image like this one, people might be turned off by the fact he shows his messy lifestyle, which is in fact, his real one. What I tried to pursue the most out of these shoots was definitely the masking of people’s profiles on social media and online dating websites.

William’s Laid Back Approach

I composed these next images to show more of a background into William’s teenage lifestyle. Using his car as an example shows his independent ways could be shown by his freedom to do whatever he desires. This aspect, however, could come across as misleading; The approachable attitude can show he is mature as well as a teenager. This whole concept I feel has helped to capture William in various lights in order for the reader to critique him as no necessarily a ‘type‘, but a well rounded and a multi-visual character.