Contact Sheet:
For these two image, my concept was to present this in a diptych format when I began sequencing my photobook, being that this young girl is covering up the documentation of her abuse with makeup. I wanted to photograph this as I think it’s a direct reference to domestic abuse rates which is something that I wanted to cover in my study, however I think hat these two images work very well to provide a storyline like a comic strip, instead of being overly expressive.
I used the flash on the camera to shoot these images because I wanted them to give off the aesthetic as if she was getting her friend to document and take images of what had happened to her which I think has worked very well as it is more relevant, being that victims of abuse try to conceal it so it would most likely be covered up around others unless it wanted to be revealed. This is also why I used a low angle to my subject’s face when shooting because it means that I can conceal her eyes, as if I was hiding her identity from this abuser, so that she can come forward and speak out against what has happened to her.
I also put the image of my subject crying in black and white to see what it looked like as the image had a high contrast beforehand, so I wanted to experiment with a monochrome tone to see if this looked better, however the second image didn’t look as good in black and white.
I like this version too as it has a large tonal range which adds greater depth to the image, however it makes it more difficult for the viewer to distinguish the concept or what it actually is that I am photographing as there is no colour on her face.
- Spiking:
These three images were shot to represent the dangers of spiking, where many young women are victimised and taken advantage of due to drugs being put into their drink without their awareness. This results in these women being out of control of their faculties, possibly not being able to walk or speak coherently, which is why I wanted to photograph this as it is such an important issue that doesn’t necessarily get acknowledged as much as others.
I wanted to create a staged scene with various types of alcohol in the background to create an environment that looked similar to a party. Then, I used a wine glass and broke up a vitamin C tablet and put it into the drink as these tablets dissolve and produce a large amount of fizz, enough for me to photograph it before it stopped. I put this into the bottom of the glass and kept it there as an exaggeration of spiking, as whatever would be put into the drink would not be visible in order to minimise the chance of being caught in the act, so that the viewer would be more aware of what my intentions were.
I initially began with shooting from various angles of the glass itself as I wanted to make it appear as if this drink had been left unattended, and this act had occurred whilst they were gone:
As I was shooting this, I could see my idea coming together to be successful however I felt that something was missing. As I shot from various angles, this allowed me to experiment with which direction would produce the best perspective of the tablet fizzing as this was crucial to the concept behind the images themselves. I would say that My favourite image out of this selection here would be the one on the right as the other two have natural lighting in the background which minimises the ‘party’ impression that I was trying to suggest to the viewer.
I used natural lighting for these images, facing away from the window, as this would create diagonal shadows across not just only the the wine glass itself, but create direction in the composition through the background as the objects behind are placed in alternating sequences.
This was my best image out of that selection of images. I decided to ask my mum to place her hand over the top of the wine glass and pretend that she was guarding it from other people and protecting herself from getting spiked. Although this image is explicitly highlighting this issue in comparison to the other images, I think that this is a great way to ensure that the viewer doesn’t become confused about what the intent was behind the image, for example if they don’t initially see the tablet inside then this could lead to the meaning of my image becoming distorted. I asked my mum to do this so that I could use a feminine hand as my study is honing in on the themes inside the Feminism movement, for example her gold ring adds to the composition as it draws the viewers eye from being contrasted to the rest of the foreground.
I used a short depth of field for this image in order to blur the other types of alcohol in the background, however the viewer can still make out what it is and understand that this would be occurring in a social context rather than a personal one. I also think that this is relevant because it can resonate with the way vision may become blurry when alcohol is consumed, or how the eyes of someone who has been spiked may zone out due to having a lack of control over their autonomy. I once again used natural lighting however I moved my positioning to be able to crop the window out so that it wouldn’t be in the background.
I decided to try and experiment with this image to enhance the fizzing on the tablet and exaggerate it a little bit more. It is still visible in the image however I wanted to try and use the Generative Ai tool in Photoshop. However, these images were not that successful as it was quite difficult to find the correct word to generate to get the desired results. This also meant that the fizzing would be as subtle and realistic, but I still wanted to include them here regardless. If I were to shoot this again, I think that I would have put a bit more of the tablet in to create a greater volume of bubbles as I only used half because I didn’t want it to be too obvious or visible.
My experiments:
2. Pregnancy:
For this image, I tried to use a pregnancy test to highlight how the increase in restrictions against abortive care leaves many women and young girls at great risk. I placed the test on the side of the sink as if someone had just taken it and was waiting for the results, however I added a vignette to this image as I feel that this connotes ideas of fear and waiting on edge, being that in many countries if the test came back positive then that woman would have no choice but to become a mother even if she was not ready.
I took many images with the test, trying to arrange it at different angles in my bathroom but I couldn’t execute it well enough as there wasn’t many locations that I could stage it that would look realistic and also allow me to get a good angle or use of depth. If I were to shoot this again, I would have liked to go to a public toilet for example and stage images there because I feel that this would suggest a greater amount of fear, being that the woman isn’t even doing it in her own home out of worry that others will find out.
However, I do still want to use this image as I think that it is good for applying context into my study of Feminism. Additionally, I feel that the taps, specifically the left, have a high contrast between the glow of the reflection against the black circle on the bottom. This is really eye-catching and I think that I just need to sequence this image correctly with another that has a similar concept or message behind it.