A piece of me...

“Lay me on the table, put flowers in my mouth, And we can say we invented a summer lovin’ torture party”

-Lemonworld, The National

At the moment this statement pierced my life I had a flash of the actual image. It was horridly clear and vivid so desperate and sad, and yet delicately beautiful, moving and all in all visually pleasing. The image seemed, like the statement just perfectly balanced, and image so visually satisfying delicate and yet almost torture like. A stunning woman of grace and elegance, slender, frail and yet bold, placed upon a typical home dinning table, that of the 1950’s maybe. A table and setting of proper and polite with a dark secret publicly exposed.

So, what to do other than expedite a real image of my imagination? Luckily for me I have a home that just happened to seem slightly Victorian, if the house were not of a nuclear family home than it at least would fit to be rustic or urban. I loved the trees and foliage through my window and happened to have a kitchen table that would be perfect for the situation.

My main goal, if I remember accurately was to capture the delicacy of an intermingling of strange and public appropriate. I wanted to portray the idea of making abnormal visually acceptable to the eye, while also enticing interest and curiosity. I would want people to view the image and then need to take a second glance.

Furthermore, it was quite important that the eyes and face of the figure be cut off and abrupt as a means of creating coldness, while the mouth was important to express fragility. This coldness, or neutral vibe was also exaggerated through the covering of the picture in the frames, for I wanted the space to appear lived in, but not lived in…almost pseudo-robot, a mechanical hypnotized aura like in George Orwell’s 1984, where there is an immense lack of individual and independent emotion.

I love this image and this woman/artist! Why you ask? Well, for a multitude of varying reasons I view woman all of arenas as amazing creatures of beauty and strength. The works done by Sam Taylor-Wood completely encapsulate these two very empowering characteristics.

Though I do not technically identify as a feminist, I connect with the term and strive to be-as stated by the Army- all that I can be as a female. I do things in a manner that is a presentation of independence and an example of self-value. In this particular image by Taylor-Wood, and this series in general she uses varying floating as a means to express fragility and lack of control. Yet, the space of the image, blank, bare, white, plane, open, simple, yet with the character of the building exaggerates the value and power of this female figure. Furthermore, the location of the room itself speaks to something, state, being, whatever it may be of a "higher" moment literally and figuratively. Her images are very Renaissance in the since that they display the body, shape and figure of the woman as art.

On the other hand, Taylor-Wood exemplifies the strength of women through the lack there of drapery upon the window or her body. The feeling of the image, due to the floating, is quite magical similar to being engulfed in a sea of liquid, however the drab dress of the figure-underware and tank top- expresses freedom, a lack of self-awareness, and no desire to appear as a strong or beautiful woman or being in general. She appears to just be, which is hard for many persons, not just women to do in their daily lives.

Me :D

Hello Cyber-class!

I come from a the land of multiple islands known as Hawaii, as most people assume I am Hawaiian however, I was born in Colorado and lived there until my high school years where I happily dwelled upon the islands. There I discovered that my heart craved photo, and so I pursed an education in just that. I am a senior this year and my major is Art with a focus in photography.

I have been in school for many many years, or at least it seems this way so I am trying to finish up this year and get my bachelors. I do desire a B.F. A. most of all, however I really think it necessary to focus on one thing at a time, with that said I desire more knowledge in my future field from this course. Though I have made some progression with my technical skills there is always time to improve and I hope to advance my vocabulary and understanding of photography in general and with my own camera!