For this project, I wanted to focus on my roots. I've always been told that I hold a very uncanny resemblance to my great-great-grandmother (on my maternal side). Unfortunately, due to scarce resources and my mother's family coming from a tiny city, Amatepec, Mexico, my family doesn't have a single picture of her. It gets even more ironic when I think about the fact that I was named after her, my middle name is Liz which is short for Lizette. The resemblance is so uncanny that when my great-grandmother was extremely sick about 4 years ago, we were able to video call her and she thought I was actually my great-great-grandmother, her mother. So, once I read up on the parameters of this project I instantly knew I wanted to recreate a typical hairstyle that she would've worn her hair in and photograph myself to see if the claims were true. They absolutely were, my grandmother was shocked when she saw my final project. I first took a 30-second video of myself in the desired pose to kind of get an idea of where I should add blur, if needed, for my picture due to the long exposure lenses of the Collodion Image times. I noticed that it was really only my eyes blinking that caused any minor movements during the video so I added slight blurring over my eyes. I also added various layers of blotches and stains to get the Collodion plate look. I also knew from the beginning that I wanted it to be placed inside of a frame of sorts, so I could feel like I finally had a picture of my doppelganger, from a different era, of course.
In Liz Garcia’s design for the “Old is New Again” project, Liz is set in the era of a wet plate collodion style photograph. In the photograph the artist is captured in an angled profile pose staring away from the camera, seemingly in an empty environment. Embedded into the image are blemishes and watermarkings, replicating the features of an original wet plate collodion photograph. With these features, barring around the image of the artist is a detailed designed photo frame that closes the environment off, shifting the main focus of the photograph to the artist as the subject.
ReplyDeleteFrom the elements and design aspect of the photograph described earlier, the image gives a sense of reminiscence and longing. This is mainly from the representation of the artist's stance and facial expression within the photo. By staring away from the camera and having a slight tilt with her head, it gives the impression she is having a sort of impactful memory that bothers her. Also with having a slight frown with her facial expression, it adds to the idea that the theme conveys grief.
With seeing the use of detail from wet spots to the use of color gradient, I think the artist captured the style of wet plate collodion fairly well. From looking through a range of photos through the archives, many details of the design replicated key aspects of the photo style that correlated well. I personally found the use of the frame to be my favorite part of the design. I think it added an important detail to the artist's design idea. Though the work is well executed, it was hard for me to fully relate the photo to the artist theme due to not really knowing or seeing any references to the artist’s main idea.
Besides minor issues, I feel the design overall is a great representation of a wet plate collodion style photograph. I feel the added details of watermarks and color gradient help complete the color grade aspect of the photo style. Also the added use of the photo frame to finalize the design helps bring the entire piece together and structures it well.