Analogous Color

Artist Statement

I took this photo just after a livestreamed dance class from my studio—dance was cancelled for the next three weeks early in the weekend, so they scheduled instagram livestreams so teachers could encourage dance students to stay in shape over the break. After attending one of these livestreams, I realized that I had my pointe shoes and a ballet barre out and that could be a cool photo opportunity if I organized the composition correctly. It was in my basement, which is my dance studio for the time being, which was a little frustrating. However, by moving objects out of the way and positioning the camera correctly (quite far away and resting on the floor) I was able to get a low horizon in the photo provided by the floor as well as clearly show the pointe shoes (close to the camera) and myself (farther from the camera). I wanted to keep the window in the background as well as the ballet barre set up to make the photo less plain, and use select focus on the pointe shoes to make the background more complicated but not distracting.

Photo editing had a lot of technical difficulties, but I had a fairly clear vision for what I wanted to do. Before anything else, I used the spot healing tool to take out a power outlet and a box in the background. Then, I wanted warm analogous colors to portray a sense of joy and happiness. I wanted most of the image to have a gradient overlaid on it, but for the pointe shoes to further stand out in one solid color. Therefore, I used shades of red, orange, and pink for the gradient, and a more purple shade of pink for the pointe shoes. I also sharpened the area around myself a bit so that the letters on my sweatshirt were more legible (MSB for Maine State Ballet, fitting into the context of the photo). For the rest of the image, I increased the lens blur effect. The gradient was difficult to create because most of the gradients provided in photoshop only had two of the colors I wanted to cover the image. I attempted to create my own with all three to four colors, but this repeatedly led to endless loading and crashing of my computer, so I tried to use two different gradients on two different layers. I erased some of the gradients on each layer and tried to blend them, but the smudge and blur tools didn’t seem to help the effect very much when I tried to use them to smooth out the transition. I settled on playing around with the opacity of layers to make it as smooth as it could get. I also added a bit of a lighter area around the pointe shoes just to emphasize them more.

The photo does not have a specific connection to my concentration of showing literary devices through photography, but it does still hold personal meaning. Amid the world events happening during this time, still participating in dance means a lot to me and the other dancers at my studio. I’m sure maintaining a sense of community for any art form or sport someone enjoys even through isolation is important to its participants. The dance livestream brightened my day, and therefore the photo is bright and heartfelt. The pointe shoes look almost magical to reflect how dancing with my classmates again felt. To take a break from my personal concentration, I wanted the photo to reflect the very real and relevant events currently happening in the world, at Freeport High School, and in my own life. I hope that the photo serves as that connection between current events, my personal life, and my academic life.