Claustrophobia and Agoraphobia
Research
Experiment
Shooting Plan
There isn't much to plan here, given that it will be a quick experiment and most of my focus for this shoot will be on the editing. I will be using my own phone to shoot, and an LED light.
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The aim for this shoot is to create the feelings that each phobia inflict on the person who suffers it.
Evaluation
Claustrophobia
Overall, I'm very dissatisfied with this shoot. It was clearly rushed and doesn't really have any redeeming qualities. It's too literal and because of that, it doesn't meet my aim of evoking the feeling that those who suffer claustrophobia and agoraphobia suffer. Another issue, is that it's not easy to distinguish the two phobias, they both look quite similar. I will most certainly attempt to re-do this shoot, to improve on all the issues that I have with this one.
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My biggest issue with the image above is with the model's facial expression; she doesn't seem extremely worried or scared about being in a closed space. To fix this in future shoots, I think I need to distance myself from using model's expressions to evoke the feeling that I'm trying to convey.
One of the few things I like from the image above is the use of vignette, to create the claustrophobic feeling. I also like the overlay I added of veins over the original image, since it relates to my research of claustrophobia, in which those who suffer it, feel rapid heartbeats.
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If I were to re-do this image, I would attempt to make it a lot more abstract and not reliable on my model's expressions. I would like to try and experiment with capturing the feeling of being claustrophobic, rather than an image of someone who feels claustrophobic, leaning more towards fine art photography.
Agoraphobia
This image, just like the one for claustrophobia, suffers from being too literal. My biggest issue with the image is the location, it sort of worked in my mind at first, having the subject being surrounded by people, but after I had taken the picture and edited, I realised how weird it looked. If I were to re-do this image, I would primarily change the background.
Shoot
Claustrophobia
The image above was achieved by shooting a long exposure, and having an assistant flash the hands around my model; the other image for claustrophobia was done using the same process. It was my first time experimenting with this technique, and overall, I am quite satisfied with the results since it perfectly fits for the phobia. My biggest struggle with using this technique was the fact that my model is very blurry. I could fix this by removing my model after the first flash, that way there’s a very sharp image of her, and the hands around her are all blurry.
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During the editing process, I didn’t really know what to do to the image to emphasise the claustrophobia in the image, so all I did was add a slight blue filter to make the image feel colder.
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With this shoot, I felt that I successfully recreated the feeling of claustrophobia. The concept is much better than the experiments I did before this shoot, and I think that I have improved on it. My biggest issue with the overall shoot is that it is still not abstract enough; this is something I would like to improve upon, if I were to re-do this shoot.
In the image to the left, is one of the images that didn’t make the cut for me. I felt that my model was way too blurry for it to work. Whilst I could justify why it is blurry, by saying that people who suffer from claustrophobia feel faint and dizzy, I didn’t like it because it wasn’t part of my original vision. It also didn't make the cut because of how much noise there is in the image.
Un-edited Image
Claustrophobia
The image to the right is for agoraphobia and it is my favourite so far from this project. Originally, this image was going to be very similar to the claustrophobia pictures, but I decided to try and experiment with layering multiple images together and playing with the blending tools.
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The original images can be seen below the edited one. I felt quite disappointed after seeing they turned out like that, but trialing different blending tools and filters, I was able to create the final product. I feel like I've discovered a lot of new techniques I can use in future shoots for this phobias project.
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I am very happy about how this one in particular ended up being, so for my next shoots, I will definitely try and experiment a lot more with Photoshop to create these effects. What I like the most about this image is how unsettling it is to look at. Furthermore, I feel that it shows very well the feelings that someone has if they have agoraphobia.
Agoraphobia
Un-edited Images
Bipolar Disorder
Research + Shooting Plan
Bipolar disorder is a condition of extremes; so for my shoot, I would like to experiment with something where I can showcase two sides of feelings. Another symptom of bipolarity are hallucinations, so I would like my images to have a dream-like feeling. I want to steer away from doing an image that looks like it could be used in a stock photo, but rather something more abstract and leaning towards fine art photography. This is one of the images I found during my research that I am inspired by:
For this shoot, I will be using my DSLR, with an LED light. Since I will be shooting a long exposure, I need to make sure my camera is still, so I will use a tripod to do this. I want this to be more of an experiment rather than a full shoot; that way, I can focus on just one concept.
Shoot
I’m quite satisfied with the result from this experiment, but I still have a few issues with how I am shooting these phobias. I am still being too literal, and whilst I am experimenting and trying out new things and expanding my skills, I feel that I’m not improving how abstract I can be. This is something I would like to improve on my next shoot. The two big issues with this image are the lighting and the long exposure.
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With the lighting, I messed up in since both images when they merged have completely different exposures: on the left, the model’s eyes are completely hidden and on the right, she is over-exposed. This was caused by not keeping my aperture the same in between both shots, but also, due to not practicing enough beforehand to understand how to create an image like this.
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Using the long-exposure to create a blurry/dreamlike image on the right side, failed quite badly, since one cannot see the model’s face being blurred and impossible to read. I could have fixed this by leaving the shutter open for longer.
Haemophobia
Research + Shooting Plan
During my research, I found out that people who are afraid of blood (haemophobia) is one of the most common phobias. People who suffer it tend to feel lightheaded whenever they see blood anywhere. This could be quite interesting to play with, since it’s such a common phobia, my aim for this shoot is to create images that represent this fear and the feeling that comes along with it, whilst not being gruesome – which would be the literal way of doing it. Another interesting thing I found during my research is that people who fear blood in extreme cases avoid doing day to day activities, in fear of being hurt. This has given me the idea to create the feeling of being restrained to doing just a few things every day.
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My aim is to be extremely abstract in this shoot, and truly veer away from anything I have done before in past shoots. The biggest change is that I will not be using a model for this shoot, and secondly, I will edit the images using different techniques to the ones I normally use.
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Most of the images I found during my research were very complex and didn't reflect the fear of blood, at least not to me, so I want to create something very abstract where there's no blood, but rather, it's implied. During my research, I encountered the paintings of Mark Rothko, and I would like to shoot images that are similar to these.
Shoot
Overall, I am quite happy with this shoot, I believe it very well creates the feeling of being afraid of blood, but also, how people feel cornered when they suffer from this fear. It's probably the most challenging shoot I've had to do when it comes to editing. For the image above, I just shot a corner of a white wall. Then, I added a red filter over the image on Photoshop. Then I saturated the colour to the point of it being overtly red. I later on added grain and increased the contrast, that way the corner was still visible. This created a very satisfactory image, in which I was able to re-create the feeling of being afraid of blood, whilst also being experimental and different. Most of the images in this shoot were created in a very similar fashion, apart from one below.
The image above was made using the same process as the one above, but instead, I didn't increase the saturation and lowered the brightness to create a sense of horror and enigma. I personally don't think this effect was created very well, and the image above does a much better job at it due to it's over-saturation.
This image had the most complex editing, I did all the previous steps, but then I began playing with levels, and the image became this. Then I used a filter on Photoshop that made the image look like an oil painting, adding texture to this weird, electric red mess. The original image is just a white wall with a light grainy texture.
This final image made the cut because of how simple it is, yet how effective it is at showcasing the fear of blood. I made the image be over-saturated so the "blood" felt heightened. I believe if this was displayed at a gallery, lots of people would look at it from the moment they walk in, wondering what the image implies, but also, given how brightly coloured it is. That is similar to what happens with Rothko paintings, hence why I used his paintings as the main inspiration for this shoot.
Schizophrenia
Research + Shooting Plan
People who suffer schizophrenia tend to have hallucinations and delusions, and whilst being a schizophrenic doesn't mean one suffers from split personality, to people on the outside it might seem like so.
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For this shoot, I want to create a series, similar to what the singer Halsey did on her recent tour's visuals. She had contrasting images, one simple, and one a bit more complex.
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My idea is to create a series of contrasting patterns that are meant to be looked at together, one that is calm, and one that is violent.
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They will focus on textures, and will be shot and edited on my iPhone, so I can shoot in different angles more freely. It also gives me more flexibility when it comes to shooting.
Shoot
Overall, I am extremely satisfied with how this shoot turned out. I feel that I met my objective at making a series of contrasting patterns and textures that evoke a similar feeling to what schizophrenics feel. My idea was to make ordinary things look abstract and dangerous, creating hallucinatory images, making the viewer question what these were before editing or even before I shot them.
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The two images above are both images of walls, the one on the left is of a concrete wall and the right is a painted wall. The concrete wall was shot from a low angle, and when editing, I noticed how the image looked like it had a splatter on it, so I played with the curves tool, until the image came out the way it did. The painted wall is minimally edited, to make it look more calm and friendly to the viewer.
Here, the image on the left is a carpet and the one on the right is just a wooden plank. The reason the entire shoot is in black and white is because it makes these very common objects seem more alien than what they actually are. Editing in black and white for this shoot was much easier than usual, given that I didn't have to make sure that it looked realistic or made my model look the right tone. I really enjoyed it since it allowed me to experiment with new Photoshop tools, which I hope to use in the next project.
The image on the left is of a faux fur coat, and on the right is simply of a whiteboard. I edited these two very lightly. For the coat, I added a tilt-shift blur, that way it gave the feeling that the fur was in motion; which contrasts very well with the calm, stillness of the whiteboard.