Identity

Location: New College Telford, Shropshire, England
Taken with: Canon EOS 550D

This image was inspired by artist Dale Grimshaws paintings expressing a series of emotionally representations by the use of movement. I chose to create a fiery atmosphere throughout the photo, this photo uses the intense red on the body to mix with the facial expressions shown the my model. I used a shutter speed of around 1 second to capture the movement of the models face moving from an upset expression, to a screaming emotion, slightly masked by the hand. 

Taken with: Canon EOS 550D
Suppression

This image was inspired by the artist Dale |Grimshaw, who uses movement as a way to express emotions. This style heavily interested me, and made my passion of movement photography grow hugely. First I took a still shot of model, this was so that i could capture her still and blank face, this photo was then merged into another photo of which I used a long exposure so i could capture the movement of models head turn from one side to another expressing a feeling of anger. For this photo I tried to capture the hidden emotion of the model, my enphasiing it and making it more noticeable than the emotionless face in the center. As this photo was made to capture the hidden emotion rather that the blank stare that we see in the center, I believe by making the anger more noticeable, I was able to caputre the real emotion of the model. By dressing the model in black, it created a lack of interest towards the lower half of the image, which in turn then keeps the eyes fixed on the emotions of the models face. I believe using black and white in the this picture goes well with the underlying tone of anger that is being suppressed. Also the lack of colours reflects her personality, as all we see is calm, and then anger, there is no in-between, much like the black and white tones throughout this image. 

Location: Birmingham, England
Taken with: Canon EOS 550D

This image was taken in order to capture the national and social identity of people in this country, as people, mainly people of youthful ages are constantly made to feel as though they are having to mask who that are and what they are doing from society through wearing clothing that can hide, and suppress their true identity, this social rejection is felt widely across the nation for many teenagers, and drives them to feel even more separate from most of society by the day. I feel this image captures those emotions, as i have used a close up shot that would normally capture the models facial features, but due to the shadow caused by the hood, most of the face is covered away, making it hard to distinguish the identity of the model.

Taken in Telford Town Centre
Taken with Canon EOS 60D

This photo was taken in part to break normal photographic conventions of portraits. I used a lens technique to create a illusionary sense of movement, by using a slow shutter speed and zooming out of the image, which creates the dragged effect on the image, and creates the effect of movement. using an elderly man also breaks conventions of some portrait photography, as normally such a model would not be used in this style of portrait photography. Focusing the elderly mans head and body in the centre of the image, allowed his facial features to remain relatively in focus, and caused a blurred effect on everyone else's face, which draws the attention towards the elderly man even further.

Taken with: IPhone 5
Location: Hill Street Blues Cafe, Amsterdam, Netherlands

This picture resembles my experience in Amsterdam, the famous culture in Amsterdam and the national identity of Holland; specifically the coffeeshops. I chose this photo to show how we can interpret the different attitudes towards coffeeshops, which are mostly illegal around the world. This photo represents the view of people who are against or reluctant to go into one of these buildings. I was able to portray these views by editing the image in Photoshop. By editing the brightness and contrast I was able to darken the light coming from the room itself, and was able to enhance the brightness of the light coming through the window, this created an exaggerated glare through the window, and it also made the shadows more powerful through the removal of light coming directly from the room. There is a gloomy expression hanging on the models face, alongside a powerful mixture of shadows and light, this creates the effect as though he is lost, and alone, the light coming through the window portrays the idea that he is hidden from the rest of the world, tucked up in this legal underworld. Although the reality of the coffeeshops is very different thing to what a lot of people depict in their heads, in reality the coffeeshops are a social center for meeting locals and fellow travellers/tourists. I also believe editing the levels on Photoshop added to the gloomy, unearthly feel towards this, increasing and supporting the view that these places are unwelcoming and completely uninviting, and possibly dangerous.  The faded buildings in the background add a fazed feel to the foreground image, enhancing the setting of the gloomy looking room of which the model is sitting in.