For this photoshoot, I was inspired by Jose Ortiz’s image called ‘The Perfect Present’ and Pictorialism. I didn’t want to copy his image exactly but the premise surrounding it: a person at different points in time. I felt this linked to theme of union quite well as I could reinvent his image by photographing my friends by themselves and then have other images of them at a different points in time around them. Additionally, I will create a black and white filter over my images as seen in his work as I feel this will convey the sadness and emptiness they feel without each other.

I began my editing process by first narrowing down the images I had previously taken in Gorey of my friends to the ones that only consisted of one of my friends by themselves and then images where they were interacting with each other. I then opened up the singular person image on photoshop and another image of my friends together. Next, I used the quick selection tool to cut out the image where my friends were together and dragged that cut out onto the other image. I then adjusted the size of the cut out to make its size relevant to the other image and to create a sense of depth. I repeated these steps two more times so that I had three different cut outs in one image. I wanted to emphasise the idea of my friend being lonely without her friend and so I made the cut outs lower in opacity and kept the image of her by herself in full clarity. I think this was successful in highlighting that these cut outs are from a different moment in time and how right now she’s by herself, surrounded by ghost like figures representing her past self. To finish this concept, I experimented with making my images black and white, creating a colour splash effect and adding a sepia tone in order to replicate the style of pictorial images.

Final images:

Overall, I think this photoshoot was successful in closely replicating the image by Jose Ortiz but still making it slightly unique and different. The concept behind my photoshoot was inspired by the idea of capturing multiple moments in time within a single frame as seen in Ortiz’s work. I recreated his image by changed the concept slightly as I chose to depict my friend standing by herself and being surrounded by the ghosts of her past self and friends. This evokes a sense of nostalgia and reflection as she appreciates the fond memories created with her friends.

During the editing process, I experimented with several different techniques. For example, in some of the images, added a colour filter over my image which was sepia. This added a warm and vintage feel to my images and aligned with my previous research on pictorialism. The sepia tone also created a sense of distance between the present and the past, reinforcing the concept of memories fading over time. Additionally, I decided to create a softer, dreamlike effect to my cut outs by adding a drop shadows to them. This made my edges less shape and made the image like more dreamlike. I decided to do this as pictorial images often use blurred, soften lines to make the photograph look ethereal. Additionally, I also experimented the use of colour by making some versions of my images where the cut outs were in colour and others where they were in black and white. However, I think the images where the cut outs are in black and white portray my idea more as they appear more ghostlike. This photoshoot allowed me to further develop my original images and create a narrative surrounding the idea of my friend being by herself and surrounded by ghosts of her in the past with her friends and her recalling these happy memories they shared in the past.