alter ego

Self Portrait Artist Statement

 

My name is Holly Hamlin and photography is one of my passions in life. I really enjoy it and it is a way for me to express myself and a form of escape. I use photography as my outlet for emotion, because I tend to be very stoic and generally do not like to talk about how I’m feeling. Probably unlike most peers in my photography class, I actually have fun with the projects and look forward to taking the pictures for them.

I try and take pictures of objects in a different light than how people would think to look at something. I am constantly seeing things and thinking to myself of how that item would make an interesting photo. I definitely put thought into every picture I capture. Part of my philosophy is really putting the time and effort into my work, rather than just pointing the camera and snapping a picture.

For my traditional self portrait I wanted to emphasize the personality most people see me as, which is quiet and shy. I demonstrated this by not showing my eyes in the photo, since eyes are the window to one’s soul. I usually am always wearing the necklace I have on in that picture so I wanted to highlight it. Also, I wanted to add little details to get my personality across. To do this I made it look like I was about to bite my nails, because many times that is associated with anxiousness, and a lot of the time I am on edge or stressing about something.

For my alter ego I wanted to make it look like I am obsessed with myself. I did this by taking the picture of me looking in the mirror, to make it look like I can’t look at myself enough. Once again I wanted little details to match this idea of my alter ego. I am wearing a white lace dress, which I do not typically wear. I also put beads on my wrist because I would not usually wear those either. I wanted everything from the clothes to me\y theme to be out of character for me. Overall, I really wanted someone to be able to look at my pictures and be able to recognize the themes mentioned above.

 

Done