Shoot #1: Click Here.
Over all Context/Concept:
Like Francesca Woodman, I took all my images as self-portraits. This was partly out of convenience, but also to give my images a more personal feel to them. Mental illness is a very individual thing in the sense that everyone experiences it slightly differently. I felt that self- portraits would be a good way to show this. I wanted my images to show a certain ‘madness,’ while also showing the severity of a mental illness such as depression. I want people to see how unpredictable mental illness can make you, which is why the images show a clear darkness, but some also show me having ‘fun.’
Similarly to Woodman, I wanted to show the lack of identity that is often felt by those who suffer from depression, myself included. I remember feeling like I just blended in with everyone else and while people heard me they never really listened. This led to my decision to imitate Woodman by using long exposure times to blur any movements I made whilst in front of the camera. This often gave me a ghostly look that frequently blurred my features, such as my face, resulting in the somewhat removal of my true identity.
Technical:
To capture the images I used a long exposure time of 2 seconds. I set my camera to capture 9 images with 2 seconds between each one.
During editing, I wanted to give my images a ghost-like look. To do this I adjusted to exposure to as high as I could and adjusted the blacks and shadows to make them stand out more and look more harsh. Finally, I made the images black and white. This was again to mimic Woodman’s work, but to also add to the darker tone of the images.
Image One:
Before 
After
Context/Concept:
The key feature of this image is the belt wrapped around my wrists. This is to symbolise feeling trapped or imprisoned. More personally it relates to the phrase, ‘my hands are tied.’ This means that a person is unable to act freely due to being restricted by a rule or law. While I was not restricted in this way, I felt that I couldn’t do certain things because my anxiety told me that I couldn’t. I felt that I couldn’t get better because I didn’t know how or felt that I didn’t deserve to. Similarly, I was also exhausted all of time due to lack of sleep which often prevented me from focusing on my school work. This was something that I felt I had no control over.
Visual:
This image is a self portrait in which my face is obscured by my raised hands. This reflects a behaviour often displayed when a person is experiencing an intense emotion. Socially, this behaviour could be to try and cover up the emotion as it can make other people uncomfortable. This is what I wanted to show here. Mental illness is still a somewhat taboo subject and it is undesirable to express the negative emotions that come with it. I remember feeling like I couldn’t talk about it and I had always tried to hind when I’d been upset.
Image Two:
Before 
After
Context/Concept:
This image was about escaping. It represents both trying to escape from my negative feelings and making it out the other side the whole thing.
Visual:
In this image I can be seen trying to climb out of a large picture frame. The frame represents a cage that I felt I was trapped in. Overall, the images shows that I am finally escaping that cage. My face is also blurred in this image. Rather than suggesting a lack of identity, this shows a change in identity suggesting that came out the other side as a different person.