Final Project: Depiction of a young girl's emotions



happy



hope

lost

sad

scared

in love

Artist’s Statement

For my final project, I decided to capture 6 different emotions of the same person inspired by one of the Next Top Model challenges in which a similar concept was used.  I have attempted to use natural frames and backgrounds to show the theme of the picture rather than basing the shots solely on the emotions shown by the subject. The emotions chosen are recognized by everyone and are easy to display and this is helpful for the subject of my picture, since everyone is capable of portraying these simple emotions. My six emotions are happy, sad, scared, shy, lost and funny.

For the ‘Happy’ themed picture, I have used the colorful poles to try and frame the picture in some places. I didn’t take a full body shot as it could shift the focus from the face, which is the focus. The poles although worn out, are quite vivid and seem to add color to the picture, furthermore illustrating happiness.

                She is standing behind a wall, partially exposing her face partially to the camera, for the ‘sad’ themed picture. I have attempted to place her in a narrow, dirty and dark place to exaggerate the theme.

The background of the picture with the lost theme is mostly dark green trees which help to create a contrast between the colorful poles and present the subject as being lost and confused as to where she is heading to. I adjusted the brightness and contrast a bit, to make the overall picture more vivid and dark.

                The sad, themed picture was taken from above to create the effect that people are looking down on her and the leaves and dirt embellish the background which illustrates her isolation.

                People usually look up towards the sky if they wish or hope for something and that is exactly what has been done with the ‘hope’ themed picture. The tree branches overlap parts of her face to show that she is looking up towards the sky and the branches represent the height. The face has been blurred to show that everyone hopes for one thing or another and therefore it doesn’t matter who it is, but the fact that they are all hoping to get something.

                When someone is in love, most of the time they have an unstoppable smile floating around their lips and they usually feel shy when trying to talk or even look at the person they look, hence why we can’t really see the persons face as she is looking down. I have used photoshop to add in clouds and mountains and used the layer blending options to blend these objects in with the picture. You can see faint outlines of the building structures but they resemble clouds and not normal buildings. The reason for adding clouds is to show that although you are physically on earth, your thoughts are elsewhere, probably high up near the sky. The plants act as a barrier between the one she likes and her as she feels too shy to approach him and uses the object as an excuse to look at him since she feels like she cannot directly look at him. 

                Overall I am quite satisfied with the picture but there is room for a lot of improvements.