MY RESPONSE

To respond to Isabella Madrid’s photography work, I will take inspiration from some of her images and try to recreate them in my own style. I chose this photographer since she conveys ‘loss of identity’ through many of her edited images. She does this by concealing a part of her face through photo manipulation or using paint/textures to hide herself away from the frame. I will take several self portraits of myself using a tripod to replicate her style of photography which is very personal and aimed for self discovery. I will be taking these self portraits in my room and bathroom, a place which is intimate and personal. After selecting the best images from the photo shoot, I will edit them all in different ways to create an effect which will further express the theme ‘loss of identity’. Just like the photographer, I will experiment with textures, colours, light and the black and white filter on photoshop.

FINAL OUTCOMES

To capture this image, I ran the shower with hot water to steam up the glass pane of the shower and to create a raindrop effect. The water drops created a nice effect to the image because water is a very compelling element. Once in the shower, I placed the palm of my hand onto the glass pane. The palm is the main aspect in this image since it’s in the foreground and is much brighter than anything else in the frame. This aspect helps to create an eerie and dark atmosphere to my image since it looks like the subject is calling out for help. The black and white filter also helped to convey the theme ‘loss of identity’ since it generates a mysterious effect. The subject has been darkened by increasing the contrast on photoshop and experimenting with the curve image adjustment. The subject is slightly blurred on the left side because the water drops and steam conceal a part of her face. This helps to further emphasise ‘loss of identity’ since part of the subjects face is hidden.

I have joined two images for this outcome since they are both similar but the subject is in a different position. Like the previous image, I have used a glass mirror that has been steamed up to capture images for my theme ‘loss of identity’. To create texture, I ran my fingers across the mirror to create streaks. These streaks will reveal a part of my face. The two images are blurry which shows ‘loss of identity’ since the subject’s facial features have been hidden. In the first image I am positioned further away from the mirror, whereas in the second image I am a lot closer and my eyes are looking towards the floor to convey an emotion of sadness. When taking these images, I made sure that it was the time of day where sunlight would be streaming in through the bathroom window. I wanted there to be highlights and shadows on the subject since Isabella Madrid is always experimented with light in her photography work. I placed these two images side by side to show the different hand marks I created on the mirror and to make it more visually interesting. I have replicated her style in this outcome by capturing simple images that convey a sense of being lost and confused with ones own identity.

Before capturing images, I used red face paint to draw a cross over my lips. I did this to replicate one of Isabella Madrid’s image because It relates to ‘gender identity’ since most women in the past were silenced to keep their opinions to themselves. This also relates to ‘loss of identity’ since opinions make up a part of our identity and if one is made to be silenced, one is loosing a part of it. I took images by placing my camera on a tripod and using the flash settings to illuminate myself through the mirror. I took this image through the mirror to show the subject looking into it and conveying an emotion of sadness as they feel that they cannot express their identity. Since the photographer conveys ‘loss of identity’ through her edited images I decided to edit on photoshop. I opened up the same image twice and made the front image black and white while keeping the background image the same colour. With the eraser tool I erased the areas of paint so the colour red would be revealed. Afterwards I adjusted the saturation so the colour red would pop in the image and capture the viewers attention.

I took this image in my bedroom and used flash to illuminate the subject. I kept the red x over my lips and was looking towards the ground when capturing the image. On photoshop I opened up a page and inserted 3 of the same image on top of one another. Since there was a lot of empty space because of the blank white wall, I opened up a solid black image and placed it the left side. I was inspired to do this edit by an error that occurred in my photo album. Afterwards, I adjusted the saturation by increasing it so the subject would be vibrant and bold