Reflective Self Portrait

The first image pictured above is the digitalized original version of the photo. The second is a scan of the film print. The subject of this image is a beauty mirror reflecting my own face. While sitting in the bathroom, getting ready for school, I noticed how the morning golden rays were hitting the mirror. I quickly grabbed my camera and placed the mirror on the windowsill so that the light would be hitting my face, therefore then reflect in the mirror. Holding and resting the camera on my shoulder, I took this photo without looking through the lens. I used elements of design such as line, shape, color, value, and space, in order to create this photo. I also used the principals of balance, contrast, and emphasis. I increased the contrast while editing in order to better emphasize the sides of my faces on the sides of the shadow running down my face. Composition rules and techniques used in this image include rule of thirds, informal balance, silhouette lighting, sharp focus, leading lines, selective focus, framing, and low key lighting. Because I took this photo digitally, I printed it inverted on transparency paper twice and overlay the two pieces of paper in order to increase the contrast between the grays in the developing process. I exposed the paper in the darkroom at an f8 setting for 5 seconds.

I like this image because it relates to my concentration from last quarter of societal issues. This image emphasizes upon the fact of how our perception of beauty can be so easily distorted by others and social media, that we begin the change ourselves to fit the expectations and standards of others. If I could do something to make this image stronger, I would be sure to not use tape on the edges. Because I had two pieces of transparency paper, I wanted to make sure they lined up so that the print would be in sharp focus. While they were lined up in the final print, the tape blocked out light and made it very noticeable that it was present.