Experimenting further with the black solid masks, the images below are a selection from the shoot with Gareth.
Again shot in monochrome, the images in the main have sinister overtones due to the choice of the mask. The direct stare of the subject is confrontational to the viewer. There is a challenge presented with this gaze. The viewer experiences a feeling of threat and uncomfortableness when looking at the image. They feel like they are being watched or surveilled.
The images are composed carefully to ensure the maximum impact of the narrative presented. The poses themselves are not threatening, this comes from the mask choice. In all the images, a direct flash was used to increase the hardness of the light and the subject.
Whilst the images are, in my opinion, successful in engaging the viewer in a dialogue about who is hidden behind the mask and why they need to wear it in the photographs, I am unconvinced that they express my FMP theme of a fractured identity. Instead, I feel that they are showing a hidden identity which is not what I intended the project to portray.
A selection of the most successful images from the shoot:-
Other images from the shoot:-
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