Here it is. I know its only Sunday but it gives me a chance to change it depending on your feedback so its all good.
(low qulity, I know)
Ok I'll just go through it.
The Tribal Markings in the corners show the changing between Night and Day. Also the reason I used the Gradient. The Markings I had to modify the colour because the Sun was white and the Moon was black.
The Picture of me on the Left is when I woke up at 8am. The Picture on the right is me going to sleep at 8am. The very Middle is me at 8pm. The exact middle. All the faces inbetween are my progress.
My 'Degradation' if you will.
The title is '24' because thats how long I was awake and working for. This is meant to show my face changing throughout the day and eventually the blankness is my face.
So gimme some feedback...
2 comments:
Hi Earl,
Firstly, it's great to see you pushing your portrait towards completion with time to spare...
However, I've got a bunch of stuff I'd like to say about it, some of which you may not like too much, but rest assured it's constructive, so don't 'have a cow'...
My first impression: ask yourself this; you've seen loads of examples of striking, memorable portraits during the past four weeks - so, does your image 'work' as an integrated piece of work? I'd argue not. Compositionally, the image directs the eye to the very centre of the image; it literally channels the eye into the 'v' - but that is the weakest point of the image - there is nothing to see in the centre of your image; the 2 dominant faces (on the left and right) get sidelined by the composition; the viewer literally falls between them...
Conceptually, I just think you've got too much clutter; the idea of photographing yourself on a 24 hour cycle is very interesting, but the tribal like depictions of the sun and moon? Where's that visual language coming from and what's it got to do with your identity? I'd argue that they have NOTHING to do with your concept, which seems to be about how judgements are made regarding personality on the strength of our appearance alone (so, the point being that a judgement made about your face at 3am will be different to the one made about you at 8pm - put simply, that identity and character are NOT best communicated by our faces... right?).
Aesthetically - and this is a hard bit of criticism to take - your portrait is in 'bits', and it does feel a bit childlike and too simple; you've layered your face, cut them out, divorced them of any context, and now they hang in a non-space... I'm certain there is a more satisfying and sophisticated way of putting your point across. I'd like to suggest that you rethink your visual strategy, and spend some time really thinking about the intention of your portrait.
At a very simple level, I don't think your portrait works as an image; think about all the successful portraits you've seen; often, a memorable portrait is simple, striking and economic in terms of its visual language - again, those symbols of the sun and moon; they have a distinct visual language - they make a 'sound' , they have an impact, they are not neutral... You need to think more carefully about the constituents of your image and I'd suggest too, that less is frequently more...
hmmmm, ok.
I got to admit the portrait didn't come out as I planned. There was a different vision that was out there.
Post a Comment