blog 10

The medium I am most comfortable in, is photography. For my final project I decided to photograph optic illusions using mirrors. The majority of my work is usually colorful tending to focus more on portraiture or the human form. There is always some form of balance in my images, whether it is the picture itself or in post production. I enjoy a sort of rhythm within my images. I did a project similar to this a couple weeks before but, focused on using one mirror, by trying to confuse the audience as to where and what they were looking at.

For this project I decided to work with multiple mirrors and use a different perspective while shooting these images. The idea behind my final project was to create photographs that formed a natural optical illusion by using mirrors. I added color by use of location and clothing that my model wore. The process behind the work varied throughout my time photographing this project. In one image you may notice that the model herself was holding the mirror. For this image I wanted to create more than one frame and reflect something different by using two small mirrors at once. For the other three images I used the same method which was laying down three large mirrors to create a “mirrored” effect of the model. This illusion makes it seem as if there are two people at once. I used my cropping technique to crop out the actual model from the image, only to leave in either a hand and foot. I wanted to leave the reflection itself to finish the images by, making it seem like that is an actual person but, really just the reflection of one. The use in color adds to this effect because it adds a vibrant contrast making these images seem fun, playful, and gives off a feeling as if you are in another world.

Artists that I used for inspiration behind my piece was James Welling who is a film photographer. Welling combines both colors and layers within an image to create his visually stunning photographs. My use of vibrant colors was drawn from Welling’s contrasting colors that he uses. I also looked into the album cover of an artist, Kelis. In this album cover she does the same technique with the mirrors. This album was shot by Michele Lauroita. I was intrigued by the mirrored effect that was created when someone stood on top of them which is what motivated me to do this project.  

The ultimate goal for this project was to try to confuse the audience as to what they were looking at, is this an actual person or just a reflection of one. I also wanted to created some sort of confuse as to wear my model exactly is. There is this sort of illusion in each photograph that plays with your mind, in thinking what is real and what is merely just a reflection. As humans we tend to like answers as to what is going on, but with these photographs you tend to lose touch with the physical world in a sense.