Connecting Essay 3

Internet Photograph

In this photograph, the surrealism of it is extremely captivating and something that you will question as soon as your eyes fall on it. It is evident in this piece that the man being torn in half represents one section of him being taken over by the story he's consuming, whilst the other section is his natural state. The way this photograph has been edited is inspiring, as the left half of the man consists of book pages in replacement of his body, providing the connotation of how the story has officially made its stamp on him. When you read a novel, you will always have that story with you, and this style of imagery physically conveys that. The two hands in the top of the frame are attempting to split the man from his side that's been taken over, as this could represent something negative, perhaps suggesting a certain plot that's engrossing him is having a negative effect on his mind; it could be a negative story. The colours featured in the frame would compliment this theory, as they are lacking in any saturation and also involve a lot of shadow. The use of the formal elements form and colour have contributed to the successful outcome of this picture, as they exaggerate the message behind the creation.

My Photograph

In my photograph, it consists of two separate images that I captured on my iPhone at home by sitting the phone on a shelf and using the self timer. I took the two images from the same angle but with me making different expressions to represent a small pattern. Firstly I start off peacefully reading a story, soon developing into me being startled at the fact my face is being physically absorbed by the book. By using the liquify tool on Photoshop to drag my face out and into the novel, I have presented the connotation of myself slowly being taken over by the action in The Night Circus and becoming wrapped up in the storyline. The bottom image is physical evidence of what it looks like when you're engaged in a book, even if you can't see it in real life such as the top image. I put these two photographs together as they didn't look complete as solo pieces, and I also used the black and white effect to wash out any colour featured in the frames as the combination of colours in the background was a mixture that didn't compliment each other, such as blue and yellow and pink and brown. The contrasts were too unappealing, so by making the image black and white I have allowed for just tones to feature in the composition. 

The Connection

The multiple connections shared between these two photographs are too evident to miss. Firstly, both photographs convey the message of being so engrossed in a story that it becomes a part of you, but illustrated in completely opposites styles. Both photographs feature the movement surrealism, but in the internet photograph, the technique used is the slicing up of a mans body, separating his natural state from his fictional state, whilst the technique used in my photograph is visual evidence of myself being drawn into the story. Both photographs have the connotation of fictional worlds imprinting your conscience, book moments being just as strong as real life ones. The lack of saturation in the internet photograph and the black and white effect in my photograph convey the perception of negative connotations, which could link to the blank facial expressions on both faces in each picture. In the internet image, the use of two halves of one body connects to my use of two different images of one person; both pieces have two different versions of the same person separated as a result of reading fiction.