ART155: Photography: Light Writing

This is the photograph that I took of Veronica in a drawing room in Dows. I was inspired by the artworks of Julia Margaret Cameron- who was one of the greatest photographers in the Victorian Era, well known for her alluring and eccentric portraits. I was also inspired by the Pictorialism movement in the 19^th century. I chose to use soft focus and shallow depth of field for this image. The photograph highlights the shapes and contours of the asymmetrical face with the view of three quarter. The lens focused on the foreground, blended the background and made everything behind subordinate to the model in front. I used the directed light to brighten up the whole scene, resulting in the dominant milky white tone.

Veronica beside white flowers represents the female beauty. She is attractive with all the beautiful lines of her face and her wavy and soft-textured hair. It is also the magnificent beauty of her contemplation or the melancholy in her look.

Different from paintings, sculptures and other forms of media, photography does not only capture the subject, but also the content which is the essence or the mood of the characters. Each person looking at an image will have distinctive perception and see different stories. The ambiguity of a photograph is the significant factor that designates the material’s eccentricity. It reflects emotions and arrests the moments. The fact that the photo is in black and white removes the barrier of the past and present since it stops time at the moment when the photo is captured. There would be no distraction or bias from the interpretation of colors. The portrait of Veronica taken in black and white symbolizes the eternity of time and beauty, which also evokes nostalgia.