The location for this project was my room. I took this photo around 3 in the afternoon because my room doesn't ever have direct sunlight, and I wanted to expose the subject (myself). I waited till about seven at night to take the longer exposures. I took many long exposures experimenting with different lights, but I have six different exposures of light trails for this composition. The settings I had for the light trails were an iso 100, a shutter speed of 4 seconds, f / 4, and a focal length of 24 mm. The process was quite comical, for the light trails were very experimental; as for the still shot of myself, I wanted to have more of a sad mood. For compositing it in Photoshop, I used multiple layer blending modes and adjustments to get to the final composition. For the concept, I decided to do a self-portrait expressing what my spring break was like trying to take a break from school work to relax, but my mind wouldn't turn off no matter what I did, especially with the BFA Exhibition coming next month. I wanted the light trails to resemble the weight and the thoughts in my mind running a million miles per hour. While I sit in my bed, contemplating on trying to relax, and not able to relax, or to get work done and get burned out.
This piece, entitled Night Prowler, is a photo composite by the artist Dominique Rodriquez. The subject of this piece, a central frontal-sitting figure leaning on their arm, looks down and outward in a direct profile gazing past the span of the picture plain. The figure sits on plush blankets and is surrounded by distorted and chaotic streams of light and darkness flashing in colors. Throughout the composition, colors run wild. The streams cut into each other, zig-zag, envelop, and paint their surroundings, but the figure remains a grounding presence in the piece. Overall, the work is set in and is a portrait.
ReplyDeleteThis piece is immediately met with the feeling of overwhelm, encompassing and radiating a sense of anxiety from the central figure. The spirling streams chaotically frame the figure’s turned head, and almost loom overhead. The lack of open space in the composition is effective in the way that a lot of movement is created by the darting of the eye. With eyes closed, the figure is in a state of exhaustion. Deeper meanings of this work may touch on isolation, anxiety, and overthinking.
Compositionally, the work is very well crafted. The soft space for the eyes to rest at the bottom balances out the chaos in the upper two thirds. The figure appearing so dark is grounding and a strong juxtaposition when the darker values of the sweatshirt come into play. The image resolution makes the finer details of the piece a little more difficult to distinguish, with higher resolution the piece may have a stronger general effect on the viewer. The portrait is extremely transformative, painting a scene and emotion with several long exposure light shots.
This piece screams burn out, something that many college students and industry professionals struggle with often in their day-to-day lives. With burnout, one feels uninspired and unable to absorb passing creativity, much like the drained subject in the composition. Think of each stream of light in the composition as a thought, a long exposure of thoughts racing out and around and behind and through— all around. The concept is thoughtful and beautifully considered.
In Night Prowler, Dominique Rodriquez's photo composite skillfully captures the theme of burnout. The central figure, surrounded by chaotic streams of light and darkness, conveys a palpable sense of overwhelm and exhaustion. The well-crafted composition, with its balanced distribution of space and strong contrasts, effectively communicates the challenges of anxiety, isolation, and mental exhaustion. The piece serves as a poignant reflection on the universal struggles of burnout, resonating particularly with college students and industry professionals.