Self-surveillance as discussed by Philip Agre has not only changed our behavior, it has also changed the way we perceive ourselves. We start seeing ourselves through the eyes of others. Richard Woodward accurately describes “the competition for eyeballs in the digital market place.”
This world, in which beauty is measured by the number of “likes” on facebook, as well as the skewed representation of beauty in the media, has created a generation of people lacking self confidence and some even despising their natural look. The lack of a positive representation of self worth motivated me to embark on my project “Fearfully and Wonderfully made,” which was inspired by a verse in Psalms 139.
For the project, I captured intimate moments of girls staring at themselves in the mirror or applying make-up to one side of their face. Having half a face covered in thick make-up and the other completely natural was my way of portraying an individual’s beauty with or without make-up. Capturing moments of the girls writing “fearfully and wonderfully made” on the mirror highlights the need for us to be content with the way we have been created. My heart was filled with joy when one of my models said “Wow… I actually look better without make-up, thank you for making me realize that!”
Despite the challenges faced during the project, such as hiding my camera and myself in a room full of mirrors and obtaining the correct lighting to prevent a glare, I am very happy with the outcome.
Make up is a tool we can use it to be more confident and even become another person. I found out an amazing thing that some girls are nice and gentle before they apply make up and after it they are more confident and even cocky. It is a tool to change our attitude and what type of personality we would like to show people. I like the photo which a girl with half face of make up and naturally on another half and still very confident while facing the camera.
ReplyDeleteYour title is working but it becomes tedious repeated over and over again throughout the photos. We suggest shooting different text on the mirror or only including the most powerful shots with the title text. We also suggest shooting more mirror shots but watching the focus. Be more conscious of where the camera is focusing. Be sure the image in the mirror is in focus rather than only the hand. You could either set the camera on "portrait" and take care where the camera is focusing or go into the menu and set the camera on manual focus, then adjust the focus ring until just the mirror image is in focus.
ReplyDeleteI really love your series. It's beautifully shot, and it actually reminds me of commercial photography (the lighting, the angles, the ideas). I think you did a really good job of bringing out your theme of Beauty, but it's kind of hard to tell that all the models have make up on only half of their face. I think if you took a couple more photos where that was really obvious, then it would be easier to tell in the photos you already have.
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