Lauren Brochhagen

How can photographs be manipulated to exaggerate the energy in subjects?

Many aspects of a scene become dulled when taken a picture of and I wanted to enhance the energy of the scene for viewers to experience. For my sustained investigation, I made artwork attempting to recapture the feelings of the original scene. I researched and experimented with techniques such as film soaking and photoshop manipulations. In all of my pieces I used a multitude of photoshop manipulations to exaggerate the energy and life of the scenes, such as in one piece where the original was dull, dead leaves and dirty water, so I brought the autumn energy out using manipulations. J. M. Whistler created The Doorway which inspired one piece where I turned the image into an etch to be able to add lights. I revised the photos I took of the etch with lights shining through by altering the hue/saturation to change the colors to better capture the feeling of the scene. As the etch was of a grave, changing the lights from warmer to cooler colors better reflects the darker connotation and essence of spirits. I experimented with film soaking by soaking rolls for different amounts of time.