I really enjoyed this project, but it was just my luck that the photographic self-portrait project was assigned and due right after I had my wisdom teeth taken out. My jaw was four times its usual size! I waited out the swelling for a few days and settled for the slightly swollen jawline. It turned out to be a fun challenge, though.
I used my phone to capture all of these photos. I had a wacky set up in my basement for this project. I fiddled with taping flashlights to poles, putting orange and blue scarves over light sources, clamping a desk lamp onto the side of the backdrop, and stacking my phone on top of a small tripod and a precariously unsteady pile of stacked books.
The results I got:
- My favorite, titled “The Evil Queen.” I played with a mirror in this one. I liked that it showed two different versions of my face, the side profile as well as the straight on face from the mirror. I think both the eye contact from the mirror and the black and white added to the striking effect. I also liked the circle of eye contact between the photo and the viewer; the viewer looks at the profiled image, the profiled image looks at the face in the mirror, and the face in the mirror stares at the viewer.
- I was playing with light in the photo using different colors. I ended up using orange/pink light on just the side of my face, and holding a blue-taped over flashlight up and in front of my face. I liked the contrasting colors.
- The black and white photo with the face toward the ceiling was chosen because I liked the line of the hair going down and the side profile. I thought the light highlighting the hairline looked interesting.
- The black and white photo of me staring at the camera was chosen because it looks slightly troubling in expression and intensity, and that eeriness echoed how I felt when I looked at my swollen jaw at the time, which was starting to look more normal, but still wasn’t my face as I know it. I was trying to feed into that effect.