Project Objective: To produce a collaged portrait that incorporates the skills the class acquired throughout the semester. We were to use at least four images. We were to shoot the base portrait, and modify it with layers, adjustment layers, masks, clipping masks, painting, and more. The project was to also include a GIF. A strong storytelling component was also required.
History: Over spring break, I decided to clean out some of my mom's belongings, and found a neglected box filled with folded newspapers. She passed in July, 2021, and it was a job I had been avoiding. Inside the box was a folded paper from 1988. Unfurling the paper, I pulled out an old photo album/scrapbook that I had never seen. I was floored to realize that it was my mother's childhood photo album, full of black and white as well as sepia vintage photos of her childhood and school days, up through high school graduation. Class photos from the late 1930s-1952, scrapbooks, photos of dances, proms, study groups, football games, summer camp, a hay ride, days at the lake, holidays, and much more! I couldn't believe my eyes, as the photos passed through the Depression, WWII, and post-WWII. The images ran through my head like an old movie. It was like looking through a time machine at a world gone away, and the star of the show was my mom! As I turned the pages, it literally felt like an "out of body" experience. I can't adequately articulate the feelings of finding such a treasure and gift, which has brought me a bounty of joy, peace, and inspiration.
Inspiration: I was taken by the beautiful monochrome tones and style of the film used to produce the images. I decided to go for a mix of these tones as my color palette. The photos themselves are the story, but it's also the experience of the discovery that makes it extraordinary. It was transformative, dreamlike, and surreal to experience her life as a child and youth visually, and rather sequentially as she had placed each image in its proper spot, and carefully glued down the paper corners to affix the photos. I was inspired to have my portrait convey the effects I was feeling: the feeling of a dream happening while awake. My portrait is of my mother, but it is also a portrait of "everywoman" in that I wanted to convey a journey, with joys, softness, pain, hardship, and loss. I hoped to capture the feeling of a dream in the image, with an underwater or ethereal feel, to symbolize the experience I felt at the discovery.
Images: I wanted to use vintage and original images if possible, and I chose a scene of her in a lake to produce the watery effect on the lower portion of the image. I realized I could have gotten a better water image off Pixabay or Pixels, but I really wanted to keep the integrity of my focus by staying with the originals. It was important to me to use the image which captured that particular moment of happiness for her over 75 years ago. The thorns were taken from trees from an area my mom and I used to visit, and I was hoping for a representation of obstacles, trials, and tribulations in life. The lace fabric and florals are from her wedding dress, and serve to counterbalance the thorns (both visually and symbolically) with a lightness and softness to represent hopes and dreams in life.
Inspiration: I was taken by the beautiful monochrome tones and style of the film used to produce the images. I decided to go for a mix of these tones as my color palette. The photos themselves are the story, but it's also the experience of the discovery that makes it extraordinary. It was transformative, dreamlike, and surreal to experience her life as a child and youth visually, and rather sequentially as she had placed each image in its proper spot, and carefully glued down the paper corners to affix the photos. I was inspired to have my portrait convey the effects I was feeling: the feeling of a dream happening while awake. My portrait is of my mother, but it is also a portrait of "everywoman" in that I wanted to convey a journey, with joys, softness, pain, hardship, and loss. I hoped to capture the feeling of a dream in the image, with an underwater or ethereal feel, to symbolize the experience I felt at the discovery.
Images: I wanted to use vintage and original images if possible, and I chose a scene of her in a lake to produce the watery effect on the lower portion of the image. I realized I could have gotten a better water image off Pixabay or Pixels, but I really wanted to keep the integrity of my focus by staying with the originals. It was important to me to use the image which captured that particular moment of happiness for her over 75 years ago. The thorns were taken from trees from an area my mom and I used to visit, and I was hoping for a representation of obstacles, trials, and tribulations in life. The lace fabric and florals are from her wedding dress, and serve to counterbalance the thorns (both visually and symbolically) with a lightness and softness to represent hopes and dreams in life.
All photos were shot by me, even the "photo of the photo" examples. The bokeh background is the only stock image.
