I used to feel a bit guilty…
when choosing to spend time on personal projects over marketing or blogging-something that is more easily defined as work. But when I realized the benefits of personal work, the guilt dissipated. Personal work is a way to try new ideas without using clients as guinea pigs. Personal work has led to paid work more times than I can count. And the more you use your camera, the better you’ll become at using your camera. I can’t think of one reason not to pursue personal projects.
Catherine
I’ve photographed two people with projections. Catherine was my first subject. The process was a lot of trial and error. We photographed at night to achieve a dark room. My projector isn’t very nice nor an expensive machine so it has its limitations. For one, it wasn’t very bright.
A dark environment was needed. Light is necessary to create a photograph. It was a puzzle worth solving.
I had to add to LED panels, one on either side of Catherine. I added colored gel sheets to them, which added even more interest. This was the extra light I needed. I still found myself choosing a very high ISO and slow shutter speed. Good thing there wasn’t any movement in these shots!
Catherine was very expressive at times, but also somber when the moment called for it.
This is probably my favorite image from my shoot with Catherine. The image lined up so perfectly with her facial features. I couldn’t have asked for more.
Vivian
The next person I photographed with projections was Vivian. Since I found success during the first projections shoot, I decided to return to the same location. Having dialed in the details of lighting, time of day, positioning in the room, etc., it made things much easier the second time.
This first image of Vivian is one of my favorites for sure. I love the warmth of the lights out the window in contrast with the blue projection. Vivian has large, beautiful eyes. The fact that they’re half open in this shot really adds to the dreamlike quality of the image in my opinion. I positioned her head in the center of the radial pattern.
Knowing some aspects of color theory
is helpful in creating
visually stimulating images.
Bold color is my companion. When looking for images to project, I focused on fun graphics, either multi-colored or black-and-white. I’m a fan of both, but my work is probably more known for its richness in color.
I tried to visualize the placement of images when choosing what to use. Where on my subject’s face and/or body would certain details lay when projected?
Showing the borders
of the projection was a
way of pulling back the curtain,
so-to-speak.
This concept is just one of many in my personal work. I think it’s really important to keep the love of one’s craft alive by actually exploring it and enjoying it without financial compensation. Creating for the love of it reminds us why we were so inspired to begin with. I am very lucky to still feel passionate about what I do! What I create doesn’t speak to everyone, and that’s expected; but I find these mesmerizing portraits through projections some of my favorite personal work.
