Night Prowler: Feminine Power
So for this project, I decided to do the parking lot near East Deck because at night, I would consider that space to be very threatening and uneasy even though it's so close to campus. Even though it's a very public space, I think that the area should be something to play with when it comes to the rest of my composition. As far as my take on the project, I wanted to create a narrative by playing around with the idea of Woman's History Month by visually showcasing the comparison of the stereotypes of calling women weak and powerless to where we are now which are empowering, motivational, independent, and inspiring. There consists of two figures, one that sits on the ground and the one that's standing closer to the foreground to emphasize the idea that we as women can still have this empowering idea of self-respect and strength within the aspects of the stereotypes we still sometimes face today.
ReplyDeleteThe work Feminine Power by Jazmine Chance is composed of two women in a parking lot surrounded by light trails. One of the women is standing in the foreground while the other is sitting and curled in on herself. The light trailers wrap around the two subjects in varying intensity. The image itself is quite grainy aside from the light trails and the sat woman, although that may be due to her being more in the background so the grain is less noticeable. The background is also blurred a lot. The aspect ratio seems to be a landscape 16:9, or something similar.
The woman in the foreground is in a powerful, confident stance looking out of the frame. In contrast, we have the second woman in the background who is curled in on herself, trying to be smaller than she is. She has an expression of, perhaps, pain or sadness, and is looking down and at our woman in the foreground. The light trails going from both subjects adds a stronger connection by literally connecting the two through light. Before reading the description of this work, the image read to me as someone becoming more powerful than someone else, or as two women connected by one’s desire to emulate the other. However, reading the description of women being able to maintain confidence despite misogynistic stereotypes does make sense. The location of being in a parking lot, a place where women are often threatened, adds to this meaning.
This work is both a hit and a miss for me. I think the concept is strong and could be implemented in future projects with much success, however, the overall image falls a little flat for me. In line with that, a lot of the compositional and technical elements have conceptual promise, but the execution needs a little more work. The light trails are the most successful part of the image, but I do wish that the bottom red and pink swirls were handled differently. The bottom left corner definitely needed something to balance the composition, but I find that the swirls being so large and leading to the edge of the frame draws the viewer out of the image instead of back into the composition. A lens flare might have been a better choice for the bottom. The elements added on top of the background, including the grassy median and both figures need to be masked better along the edges. A really feathered mask or a low opacity brush would help tremendously here. I enjoy the yellowish glow on the main figure, however the harsh line draws me out of it. There also seems to be a streak of that light at the edge of the original image for this figure that wasn’t completely erased. The shadow of this figure also needs more work as the texture of the asphalt is not in line with the blur of the surrounding ground. Going to the sitting figure, I think the yellow light actually doesn’t work as well here, so the mask should’ve extended all the way up to the edge of the figure. Also, desaturating and adding a bit of a blur to her would’ve really lent itself to the theme. I also would have liked to see the blue green light trail wrap around her legs more convincingly.
The subject matter and theme are very relevant to our larger culture, and I would love to see Jazmine explore this topic in more depth and in a manner that she is perhaps more in tune with. Reminding women of the power we hold, especially within the patriarchal structures so deeply ingrained in society, and how far we have come is important work. Using light trails to help signify this importance and bring vibrancy to the message is an excellent idea for the concept.
Ultimately, I believe that this work by Jazmine is strong in concept and potential, but lacking a bit in execution. I noticed a lot of things that need to be cleaned up in Photoshop to make the execution stronger. With more time and work, this image has a lot of potential and the possibilities for this topic are endless.