Photo Critiques -- Part 3

Before I make these, I try to do some thinking to focus my idea a little further. I did some shooting today so I would have kind of a rough draft of sorts to show for Tuesday. Because I want to do portraits, I thought it would be wise to invest in a good portrait lens for my digital so I'm looking forward to getting that on Friday.  I'm also shooting with my Mamiya if only because I love pretty much all of the portraits I've taken with it.

I've also been thinking about how to narrow down my ideas, and there are two things that I keep coming back to. For one, I like the idea of how people interact with their rooms.  For two years I haven't really been able to decorate my room the way I've wanted to, and that, among other things, made me completely miserable. There's something about waking up to a room that isn't just white walls and cluttered floors but is actually decorated and made the way you like it. It's comforting and really has an impact on how the rest of the day is going to go, at least that's how I feel on it.

The other thing I come back to is how people cope with hardships they've had in their lives. I know how I've dealt with mine but I know that's not the only way to do things, or at least it's not the only positive way to solve a difficult situation.  I'd really like to get to know some of the ways that people have come across milestones in their lives because I don't think that when we see people on the street, in a store or restaurant we consider that they are people with lives and stories. They are just passers by, people who cut us off, people who took the last good looking apple in the pile.

Rebecca Rijsdijk from the Stiletto Paradoxes series

http://rebeccarijsdijk.com/

This picture is obviously staged, but there is a tenderness about it that is breathtaking.  The way that the girl in white reaches out to the girl in the tub is so tentative and gentle.  It's as though the girl in the tub is there incubating or healing and the other girl is checking her progress, making sure she is ok in her vulnerable state.  I also like the surrealism of the image, but the emotion evident in the face of the girl in the white dress is so convincing that I almost believe that this actually happened.

Sarah Faust - Lace Dress and Chaise

http://work.colum.edu/~sfaust/

Here is another example of how you don't need a person's face to really feel emotion.  Just looking at the woman's hands, you can tell she is tense or anxious.  She may even be anxious about getting her photo taken.  I love the framing of this image as well. The lines of her limbs as well as those of the chair keep my eye moving all around the image. The woman's anxiety is also contagious. As I look at the image I find my breathing becoming a little labored the longer I look at it and I'm forced to look away for a moment before I can continue to look at it.  It's this kind of transference of emotion that I'm really looking forward to relaying with my images.

Thomas Macker - Girl Lying on the Grass
http://thomasmacker.com/

I find that the framing of this picture is very engaging as well. I like the voyeuristic feel of peering through the window at this girl in the grass, it's a bit like Nabokov's Lolita in this way.  I'm planning on playing with this kind of framing where obstacles are used as a literal frame for the subject.  There is an interesting contrast in this image as the darkness contrasts the light both literally and figuratively. The foreground is literally dark, but there is also the since of something sinister lurking around in it.  Conversely, the brightness outside the window and the girl laying outside have a light and innocence that is highlighted by the roses growing just outside the window. I like these subtle hints that would push a narrative along.