These are a selection of images, that will be included in a photo-book for my A level coursework. My initial aim for this project was to portray the life of a teenage girl living in a suburban area. I was inspired by photo-books such as Bill Owens ‘suburbia’ to portray life in a familiar setting yet with a different atmosphere to the friendly, average surroundings we presume a suburb would have. In this book I will portray my subject in various settings, some in the heart of a suburb and some in the surrounding areas. I chose my locations to portray how my subject isn’t really living in one area or another, but is living in a mixture of countryside, village, city etc. It was important to me that the overall atmosphere of the images weren’t plain or typical and so the colours in my images were considered carefully. I took inspiration from photographers such as Petra Collins and Eleanor Hardwick who had a certain character in their images because of the co-ordinating or contrasting colours they used. The overall tone of the images was also important to create the certain atmosphere I wanted to convey. In many of my images I have not directly focused on the face of my subject. This is because I have tried to keep the character in my images anonymous to an extent in order for the viewer to make their own assumptions about her personality. I like to think I have left clues throughout my images of what type of person my character is, through aspects such as her belongings. I also wanted to convey the fact that there may be many other characters like her living in similar areas.
Throughout
my images I have also tried to convey a feeling of melancholy or dissatisfaction
about the area in which my subject lives. Throughout the images she is not
doing any particular activity, merely observing her surroundings. Many of my
images also have a dream-like quality to them, as if we cannot tell if my
subject is really in these situations or is dreaming them. I also took
inspiration from film stills to create my images, such as coming of age films
that portray young people in an environment that they want to escape. However I do not want to give away too much
of what character I was trying to convey, because I want the viewer to make
their own assumptions and interpret the images as they will . I will arrange the images so that they flow continuously however they don’t
necessarily follow a certain narrative or storyline, I would like the viewer to
see them more as snapshots from the life of the character in my images, maybe
some viewers can relate to them also.
