School project | Visual Communication
The assignment was to depicture a theme chosen for us. We were free to use any means as to visually communicate our ideas such as drawings/paintings, photography, computer graphics or sculpting.
In this case I chose to photograph myself in, what I would describe as, being my inside versus my outside. My idea came clear to me pretty quickly. As I have been working within the service industry for the most part of my grown life I am used to put on a "work face". While doing so a lot of people may not actually perceive my true self which might not always be the smiling bartender serving up your favorite classic cocktail or acting as a hobby therapist while you spill your drunken feelings all over my bar. On the inside I am no better than anyone else. I don't always wear a shirt and tie. I smoke, drink and sometimes feel like shit just as much as anyone else. I to have bad days!
The idea of taking the "outside picture" through a mirror was to really promote the feeling of what others might see me as. Not necessarily wearing my work clothes but even more formal/proper clothes was also to further enhance this feeling. Also the picture had to be much brighter than the "inside picture". It was lit with a small softbox to my right to add a bit more contrast than what the ceiling lamp would have provided.
I wanted the "inside picture" to be much darker and contain elements from my own average day such as nicotine, alcohol and papers that I was going to, but hadn't taken the time, to sort out.
My small apartment in Stockholm provide a quite good setting as it's quite dark in general. The portrait was lit with a single speedlight in a snoot to the camera right. This was to get a high contrast image with a harsh fall off from the light.
The wings were added in post to emphasize the fact that even though things around me might be messy from time to times, I still want to do the right things and make my family proud of me even if it is not always that easy. Sort of a diamond in the rough.