SamanthaFlutist
Void
I first started to take photos to get credit for a class. Sometimes I still do. But majority of the time, I take photos to dig a little deeper into myself, reflect my feelings, show my interpretations of things to the public.
I’ve been in love with art since I was in preschool, first drawing pictures of horizons, cats, and snowmen. I advanced to kindergarten and tried drawing people; the knees and elbows on them were sometimes bigger than the heads. In second grade, I found a flute in my attic, and I attempted to teach myself how to play until fourth grade where I could join the school band. Once I joined and learned to play properly, I dove into music and fell in love, attempting to play music I could get my hands on. And then in an eighth grade art class, I was drawing once again. It was a self portrait, properly proportioned, and everyone told me it looked great. I was almost done with it, I just had to finish some shading and coloring it with oil pastels. And then one morning, brushing my hair, huge clumps of it were coming out in the brush. Four days from then it was completely gone. My long hair, one of my favorite things about me, was stripped from me completely. I felt like my beauty, identity, health, pride, and happiness was gone. And then I went to art class two weeks later. My art teacher and I looked at it, and she asked me what I wanted to do. With no words, I ripped off my forehead, bangs, hair, parts of my shoulders, and drew, colored, and pasted the top of my head and turned it in. And that’s when I started to see the deeper things in life, find the real meaning behind the art I love. Photography has been a great way to capture this love.
When I take a photo, I try to aim to have each subject each have various different meanings behind them, whether it be for just me, certain viewers, or the general public. I want each photo to create some kind of emotions for the viewer to play with in their mind and heart. Emotions do a lot to a person. They can make someone smile, or it can make someone break down in tears. Other things can do this too, such as words. A favorite quote of mine by a very famous artist today, Taylor Swift, says “Words can break someone into a million pieces, but they can also put them back together.” That is a huge part of what I believe in, and I do like to build my photos off of words, whether that be to a song lyric, a quote, or a snarky comment said in the hallway. People have a tendency to say things with absolutely no thought, or choose not to say something because of over thought. But these things can influence so much, and no matter what’s said it’s going to do something, and I want to show viewers that.
For my self portrait project, everything is symbolic. It is very simple. A bed, a mirror, a bird cage, and me. But each of these objects can be interpreted many different ways, and with the symbolism I invite the viewers of the photos to interpret it how they can, and try to relate it. I chose symbolism for my self portrait because I have been through a lot of painful things in the 15 years I've been alive. Neglect, ridicule, sickness, depression, solitude, and not fitting in. Some things I show, and others I hide. But when some significant words or objects remind me of these feelings and experiences, a lot of them show up again, sometimes stronger than before. My alter-ego is based off the words “you’re digging yourself into a hole.” At one point in your life, you’re going to be in a lot of trouble that’s hard to get out of, and you never want to show the fact that you're in trouble. It suggests weakness and fear to the rest of the world, so we bury it away, and have a really hard time getting out after that.
Void
I first started to take photos to get credit for a class. Sometimes I still do. But majority of the time, I take photos to dig a little deeper into myself, reflect my feelings, show my interpretations of things to the public.
I’ve been in love with art since I was in preschool, first drawing pictures of horizons, cats, and snowmen. I advanced to kindergarten and tried drawing people; the knees and elbows on them were sometimes bigger than the heads. In second grade, I found a flute in my attic, and I attempted to teach myself how to play until fourth grade where I could join the school band. Once I joined and learned to play properly, I dove into music and fell in love, attempting to play music I could get my hands on. And then in an eighth grade art class, I was drawing once again. It was a self portrait, properly proportioned, and everyone told me it looked great. I was almost done with it, I just had to finish some shading and coloring it with oil pastels. And then one morning, brushing my hair, huge clumps of it were coming out in the brush. Four days from then it was completely gone. My long hair, one of my favorite things about me, was stripped from me completely. I felt like my beauty, identity, health, pride, and happiness was gone. And then I went to art class two weeks later. My art teacher and I looked at it, and she asked me what I wanted to do. With no words, I ripped off my forehead, bangs, hair, parts of my shoulders, and drew, colored, and pasted the top of my head and turned it in. And that’s when I started to see the deeper things in life, find the real meaning behind the art I love. Photography has been a great way to capture this love.
When I take a photo, I try to aim to have each subject each have various different meanings behind them, whether it be for just me, certain viewers, or the general public. I want each photo to create some kind of emotions for the viewer to play with in their mind and heart. Emotions do a lot to a person. They can make someone smile, or it can make someone break down in tears. Other things can do this too, such as words. A favorite quote of mine by a very famous artist today, Taylor Swift, says “Words can break someone into a million pieces, but they can also put them back together.” That is a huge part of what I believe in, and I do like to build my photos off of words, whether that be to a song lyric, a quote, or a snarky comment said in the hallway. People have a tendency to say things with absolutely no thought, or choose not to say something because of over thought. But these things can influence so much, and no matter what’s said it’s going to do something, and I want to show viewers that.
For my self portrait project, everything is symbolic. It is very simple. A bed, a mirror, a bird cage, and me. But each of these objects can be interpreted many different ways, and with the symbolism I invite the viewers of the photos to interpret it how they can, and try to relate it. I chose symbolism for my self portrait because I have been through a lot of painful things in the 15 years I've been alive. Neglect, ridicule, sickness, depression, solitude, and not fitting in. Some things I show, and others I hide. But when some significant words or objects remind me of these feelings and experiences, a lot of them show up again, sometimes stronger than before. My alter-ego is based off the words “you’re digging yourself into a hole.” At one point in your life, you’re going to be in a lot of trouble that’s hard to get out of, and you never want to show the fact that you're in trouble. It suggests weakness and fear to the rest of the world, so we bury it away, and have a really hard time getting out after that.