Narrative
The story told through my photos is of a girl who becomes so immersed through the game she’s playing that she starts to feel as though she a part of it. The images depict the different emotions she has, such as with the mask symbolising how she’s trying to deceive her opponent or the castle photos representing how real the game feels to her.
At the start of the book I used my portrait photos, in order to show that she’s playing a game, before connecting them to my mask images which implies that she is hiding her intent from her opposition. The story continues by moving onto the castle photos as well as the photos of herself dressed up, suggesting that she has become so immersed and involved in the game that she feels as though it a sperate reality with the mirror helping to highlight this through the use of reflection. Nearing the end of the book I decided to use the photographs that include the cracks in the wall, showing how the game is coming to an end and reality is breaking back through. I wanted to leave the ending of her story up to interpretation by using the burning card as my final image, which could symbolise that either she’s lost with the king being in check, hence the flames, or her opponent has lost and they flames represent their defeat.
What I like most about my photobook is that there is more than just one story that can be seen through it, while I have the story that I based the layout on, it could be viewed as a way to link to gambling as for many people who struggle with addiction surrounding games, often do so due to how immersed they feel.
Evaluation
Did you realise your intentions? – My intentions towards my book differed slightly from the beginning of creating it. At the start of this project I wanted to go a more strategic route, showing certain moves in different games. However, as I was producing my photos and creating my photobook I realised that my images had the potential to tell a story if used in the correct way, ultimately leading to my final outcome.
What references did you make to artists references? – I made quite a few links to my artist references with 4 out of 6 of my photoshoots being dedicated to recreating their works in my own style to match the theme of my project. Overall, I think that my artists helped to shape the way my project turned out, both visually and contextually.
How successful was your final outcome? – I think that my final outcome was successful as I managed to convey the story across in a way that’s both interesting and visually appealing to the viewer. If I were to make any changes to it I would most likely include more images as well as some text to maybe describe the story at the end.