Ashley Whitt's photos illustrate the duality of human nature. Most of Whitt's photos are taken in the forest. These photos are from the album 'Haunted Mind', which reinforces the inference that the photographs portray the duality within human nature. However, she also explores morality and several psychological states of the human mind.
In the first photo is black and white and has a vignette, which correlates with the expression of disdain and scorn, as black and white create a dark and eerie atmosphere. It is almost as if there are two people, who do not want to look at one another, yet due to the fact they are moulding together in the middle means they are one and the same. This expresses how the human mind tries to block out certain things. There are black spots which are randomly dotted across the photo to create a dabbled image so the texture looks rather rough - almost looks as if the photo is slightly decaying. This causes the image to appear older (so does the vignette), and thus it portrays how the psychological issues human have and have been occurring for years. The texture of the black spots are everywhere apart from the face. This causes you to focus on the face more than the surrounding area. The eyes (composition) sit in the middle of the first line and second row, and the eye of each are on each horizontal lines. This means that the viewers are drawn to the eyes and the scornful appearance of her face, thus her expression is significant to the meaning of the photo. There is a high contrast and this causes the photo to be harder and this causes the overall feeling to the image be both more scornful and eerie. Christian Sampson also has uses dull colours and a vignette. In on of his pieces he does a person who is surrounded by other sides of them (self). This relates slightly to Ashley's idea of "duality of nature" and "divided personalities". |