Here are the second lot of photos for my final piece. I took them of my mum in a woodland area down a quiet lane in the countryside. For these photos I started by using a bottle strapped to my mums back by her dress strap. The bottle had a bendy straw coming out of it which was connected to her ear using an elastic band. After I looked at the photos I noticed the water couldn’t be seen so after trying many things for it to be visible I decided to ditch the water idea. The photos were taken with my Canon 5D but the photos had to be edited after as the colours came out too dull from my camera. In the photos I wanted my mum to look floaty and fairy like so I put her in a long lose dress and put glitter all over her face but sadly none of it showed up in the photos. I got inspirations for these photos from Maria Lough’s photograph of a lady playing in a water fountain as she has a floaty look and she also looks surreal. I also really liked how vibrant her photos were which you can she coming out in my photos.
Meaning of the photos:
The meaning of these photos at first was about how my mum has a lot of information to remember for her job and sometimes she forgets things. I wanted her to look like a fairy because she’s always trying to please everyone but she can’t always remember what it is that people have said to her. The photo is trying to show what she would love to do which is get rid of unneeded information for the more important things. Once the water bottle idea had failed I changed the meaning to be that my mum is a happy go lucky person who can make anything a pleasant experience which is shown by how happy she is kicking water.
Portrait photos:
The photo above is the photo using the water bottle to create water pouring from her ear. I took it on a hill of bluebells (Endymion non-scripta) in the sun for a fairy tale look. She has her arms out so she looks floaty and weightless. I used a reflector on the white side to light up the parts of her body which weren’t being hit by the sun. As you can see the water stream really its visible and it’s like this in all the photos. I like how the photo looks but sadly the water idea didn’t quiet work for me meaning I went on to try something different.
For this photo I sat my mum on a wall that was cover in bluebells and had a small trough under which was slightly clear. I positioned her to be crossed legged and to be admiring a flower and not showing her face. This shows her love of all things beautiful but also her shyness. This was taken in the shade so a reflector was used to make the light equal and brighter. The water represents that she could easily be in danger but she is safe on the wall supporting herself just like things she’s going through in life. I really like this photo and the position that she’s in as its very elegant and it’s very flattering. I still didn’t feel like it showed enough about her and that there wasn’t anything special about it.
Finally, the photo above is the last photo I took of my mum and the one I like the most as I feel it describes my mum well and it’s a very interesting and pretty photo. The colours are very vibrant and combined with the lighting makes the area seem very fairy-like and too good to be true. I let my mum do what she wanted without her knowing I was going to take photos still which meant I captured a true playful picture of her. Here I’ve captured her kicking the water around and smiling about it. I feel this explains my mum well as it shows that she still has dangers but she can make positives of them and overcome them. I want people to see that my mum is a happy go lucky person who can make a positive about anything.
Object:
For the object about my mum I chose to take an un up close photo of a bluebell as this is my mums favourite flower due to when she was a child her granddad used to take her to the wood for walks and it was always this certain bluebell wood. This means that a bluebell has very fond memories for her and they are a happy thing for her.
Diptych:
Here is the diptych I made from these photos. I feel that the photos go really well together due to the blue of the flowers in both of them being so similar. I really like the outcome of the photos together and I feel it describes the happy go lucky life of my mum really well whilst creating a simple but pretty diptych. If I was to change anything about it I would try and make the flower photo less eye catching then the photo of my mum so that all the focus is on her.
Molly Cadman's Photography 