Portfolio

Artist Statement

My final idea took time to brainstorm many aspects and research in order to define my ‘Sense of Place’. Firstly, I wanted to photograph the area in which I live because its both familiar and where I grew up. However, I wasn’t very passionate about capturing my home environment as I didn’t feel it was authentic enough and decided to take a different route. Researching various artists influenced my portfolio as I had a deep appreciation for specific photographers’ style and tone of their images. I was inspired most by Tina Barney, Zachary Roberts and Sally Mann who all produced creative, natural, ‘in the moment’ images. Their work hugely sparked my final outcome. My final  decision was to photograph my family in our home. My home is a very relaxed environment; it is my comfort, base, and  family and is where I feel I belong the most. However, as people can appreciate , no one family is perfect therefore, I wanted to capture my family in everyday life, within a non-staged setting.

In my portfolio, I have presented  a variety of photographs which I think perfectly portray my family members in a normal, home environment. For example, the photo in which my brother is on his computer, I was initially reluctant to take this image due to the untidiness of his bedroom however, I believe this perfectly depicts a typical teenage boy’s setting. In my images, I have also captured individual family members’ true personalities. The photo  of my dad cooking in the kitchen wearing his headphones genuinely  conveys his character as he is a passionate cook and loves listening to music. Also, the photo of my cat curled up on the sofa shying away from the camera is very realistic as she is both timid and fearful.

In a post I have previously written, I had to choose a topic to photograph and link two photos that have relevance to one another. I applied this technique to the photographs in my portfolio below as I like the way it illustrates a story. Another element on which I focused was the colour of the images. For example, in the first two photographs I have coordinated the blue and purple tones from both the painting and the blinds. I have also linked the brown shades from the beams to the furniture in my house. As a result, I believe that these images have become more aesthetically pleasing.

To conclude initially, I had very little understanding of the definition of my particular ‘sense of place’. However, through inspiration from other artists and my own practical photographic exploration, I now have a deeper comphrehension of where I belong.