I consider myself to be a nude photographer as I admire the human body and love capturing it. I mainly focus on the body in my photographs to depict the purity, fragility, curves and shapes. In my earlier work the faces of my subjects (or myself) were hidden away as I did not want any distraction from the facial expressions. So my subjects were rather anonymous bodies within the environment. However, besides this body of work I would also like to create photographs where I would pay more attention to the identity of my subjects. To create different atmosphere and emotion through the photographs. The human face tells a different story than a faceless body and its surroundings. Therefore I would like to start involving portrait photography in my practice more. And of course I chose myself as a test subject (convenience and self-documentary)! As lighting, I used my two Ikea LED lamps, which I played around with a lot while shooting, by changing angles and a distance from the subject (me). My prop was a twig from a rowan tree as I thought it could create great shadows. Here is the result in colour and black and white.
I prefer the black and white edits of my photos. The elements that I focus on mainly such as curves, shapes, light and shadows are more emphasized and prominent when black and white. However, I would like to improve my ability to work with colours (by observing what elements make coloured photo look good). In this case the black and white suites the image more as the shadow crossing my face is the focal point. However, in the coloured version you can admire the rich red of the rowan tree. What have I learned and appreciated? I learned how difficult it is to set up the right light when shooting a portraiture (especially when being limited by the lack of space at home). I have to say that setting up the right lighting is a lot easier when the face is not the main focus in the photograph. Correct lighting really matters (not only) in portrait photography and I could not disguise my mistakes by being extra creative. And what have I appreciated? Considering the conditions at home, in my opinion, the result photographs are quite good. Not great, but not bad either. There is a room for an improvement but unfortunately I will not be able to make it any better unless I buy more photographic equipment. What is next? I focus on capturing myself throughout my life, to document the evolution of myself and a physical journey of my body. This is what I would like to involve in my Final Major Project. But I need to find out how to make my work ‚deeper‘ than just a simple ‚photographic diary of myself‘.
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