As a kid I truly despised school picture day, and because of this I look unenthused and awkwardly dressed in all my grade-school yearbook photos. I took this assignment as an opportunity to recreate my lackluster portraits, of course in the essence of a wet collodion and an older me. I transcended time with the image treatment as well as my physical position and added dress. I used two items from the Library of Congress. One of a vintage print, which I blurred and manipulated to create an aged backdrop somewhat resembling that of the ones I remember staring blankly at while standing in line waiting for my turn, and another of a wet collodion that I scavenged the best of its imperfections from and included them in my portrait.
For this digital, wet collodion project critique, I considered the black and white, 4:5 ratio image called “Picture Day” by Savannah DeMao. In this image, there is a central female figure in front of a textured, abstract background. The figure is wearing a vintage style white top with puffy sleeves and a deep v-cut neckline lined with a black border. She also is wearing a simple, thin necklace close to her collarbone. The figure has two-toned hair color, which could indicate a more modern hairstyle in contrast to her vintage attire and image styling. In this black and white image, the light is shining directly on the front of the figure, while the light gets drastically darker behind the figure, allowing the figure's face to be the focal point. There are also many wet collodion marks around the frame of the image: scratches, blotches, blurring, water marks, etc., which gives the appearance of age and the overall 19th century chemical, photo process.
ReplyDeleteThis particular image reminds me of a vintage portrait that might have been taken in the 19th century, given the black and white tone, clothing, sideways pose, wet collodion markings, and styling of light. It also has aspects of a modern school portrait, with the abstract, out of focus background that many school photographers use in the 21st century. One of the aspects that seems to be a bit different from traditional portraiture is that the figure is not gazing into the lens of the camera but rather off to the side. This brings a sense of contemplation to the figure and a sense of wondering what she is thinking about or looking at in the distance. This sense of mystery increases interest in this straightforward image.
As I reviewed the Gif of the techniques used to create this digital wet collodion image, the artist was highly intentional about the styling of this portrait. The use of the wet collodion markings throughout look very natural and integrated well into the digital image. The styling and juxtaposition of the vintage clothing compared to the more modern hairstyle also brings about an interesting tension for the viewer who is trying to guess when this image was taken - 19th century or 21st century? While the artist could have used more images in the background, I appreciate her use of abstraction and a shallow depth of field to capture the main character in focus for us to clearly see. I especially am drawn to the lighting of the figure in that her face and body are well lit while her surroundings are more abstract, allowing her to be the central character of her own portrait.
I consider this image to be a very good representation of a digital wet collodion. From the lighting, to the dress of the figure, to the styling, and integrating of markings, everything is working together in harmony to construct this very realistically vintage image. I also think that the gaze of the figure was a smart decision in that she is contemplative and not concerned with who is looking directly at her. Additionally the staging of this image’s location and choice of Library of Congress images were well utilized to create the final look. Overall, this appears to be a very successful interpretation of a digital wet collodion image.