Statement Of Intent
I want to convey a very heart felt yet important message by creating an image which will evoke how Muslims are portrayed. I intend on having a model and taking pictures of her, with the headscarf on. Later on I will edit this in photo shop and make half the side depressing, whilst the other side slightly happy. Doing this double side in one picture will hopefully allude to everyone how some people have these prejudice thoughts that a Muslim who wears a headscarf, is part of the ISIS were as if they decide not to, they are automatically viewed as an innocent being. However, this is absolutely wrong as you are still the same person just with fabric on or of and anybody can become ISIS; it's not always for Islamic beliefs either.
I have to look at other types of photographers who have portrayed their passion for conflict in their photos. This will allow me to take inspiration and add what I think is good and adjust it to what I think I need in my photos. I'll make a mood board of all the images that relate to my chosen conflict and also a shoot plan and mind map to remind me of what I need and stick to my project.
I think capturing everything I need by a tripod, will definitely help to create a sort of "stillness" and a more crisp shot - I don't want anything blurring out or accidentally moving. I need to manipulate them in photo shop and hopefully, this will enhance the picture by adding text, a helpline and some filter.
I have to look at other types of photographers who have portrayed their passion for conflict in their photos. This will allow me to take inspiration and add what I think is good and adjust it to what I think I need in my photos. I'll make a mood board of all the images that relate to my chosen conflict and also a shoot plan and mind map to remind me of what I need and stick to my project.
I think capturing everything I need by a tripod, will definitely help to create a sort of "stillness" and a more crisp shot - I don't want anything blurring out or accidentally moving. I need to manipulate them in photo shop and hopefully, this will enhance the picture by adding text, a helpline and some filter.
Context;
This photo, shows a huge amount of conflict. It was taken in Syria by "UNISEF" who support children and help them when they are at their vulnerable stage. Pictures and information, was written on a website were it talked about the whole journey of this specific family;their travel, their tiredness, when they received clothes and their survival things.
Content;
The picture, looks like it has been taken from recent times as there are electric cables near the "shed" and, the quality of this photograph looks quite clear and "HD" like.
What catches my eye the most, is the family. I think it's mainly the pattern - it goes from the man, holding the baby to the woman, holding hands with her son. Their faces are full of tired, bleak, loneliness engendered by a war in Syria. Their gesture, implies distraught as they are carrying an abundance amount of bags and essentials.
Composition;
The photo, is taken at a tilted angle - it's looking straight at them but sightly up at them. The focus point is quite obviously, meant to be the family in distress as the campaign, UNISEF, is all about figuring situations, like this, out and getting out a message, for support from those who are more fortunate.
The rule of thirds aspect is also included. The shot of the family is taken from the left hand side of the photo and on the right hand side, you see a brown abrade shed with the morbid grass and mud. This definitely, helps the viewer to see the conditions these types of families go through when war strikes.
Personally, the lighting is a little lurid and amplifies the sky a lot which makes it look less stressful then it is, giving the wrong impressions. I feel, if the white balance was turned onto "shade", then, it would've looked darker, which would've made a point across maybe, that is to not cause war, war causes a lot pain, mentally, physically and emotionally and war it is not bright and fun (as shown in the sky)
On the contrary, their facial expressions, and the reality of the photo, is absolutely something that brings out half the point. You can tell they are suffering from something - the child's hair is messed and not combed, the woman is wearing a lot of warm clothes, and the man is carrying so much things. If this image was prompted, it would've taken out the realism of war and the struggles that families go through.
I assume that the photographer, wouldn't have had time to set up a tripod, the lighting and get a crisp shot because, this was a real life thing and not made up so, the way she has taken it is probably standing in a firm position trying to capture the distressing moment which, in my opinion, she has done very well on.
Connection;
Considering that we are going to be taking photos of our own conflict, this photo, gives a well rounded idea and information on what we need to do and how we need to get the point across. Showing the struggle and the main parts of an extreme conflict, will definitely, portray a more meaningful effect on the viewer as oppose to getting a crisp shot, in my mind. A photo like this that makes you understand that war, is actually not beneficial to ANYONE and could look like something which will stop some type of conflict, is something I want for my photos, when it comes to it.
Comment;
This photo gives a huge amount of remorse about the family. In this photo, the idea of Syria and war is there but, isn't predominant and that's because their journey was mapped out and not meant to be one shot. However, when you look at the implicit information and try to infer more about this photo, you can definitely get the feel of a dreaded war causing so much grief in families.
The most exceptional thing about this photo, and my most favorite, is how it's real - this is an actual family, on an actual war fight, and on an actual hunt for survival which, is more meaningful and effective because, you can see the reality of the side effects of war.
A minor issue but still something that could be improved, is the colour of the sky because, the eye does linger onto the top of the image when the focus point should straight away go on to the family however, the other things such as; composition, floor and most importantly, the family, definitely helps to say "War is pointless, it's a struggle for lots of people". So, at the end of the day, a picture like this with a concise and convincing message, is something I want in my photos.
Conflict Mind map;
1) My conflict
(plan)
The type of conflict I have chosen to do, is "Islam Vs World". It's something that currently, sparks a lot of conversations and everyone has their perspectives on it because, it is such a controversial topic.
People assume that every single Muslim, is part of ISIS - they're not. And that's what I want to portray across. Anyone can be part of ISIS; male, female, teenager, older and even people from other religions.
A thought that continuously, goes though my head, is how women who wear a headscarf, are automatically, capped. Meaning, they are seen as dangerous people - the stereotype, of ISIS bombers, is a long black shirt and a covered face so, when people do see women wearing head scarfs, they avoid them. However, if they don't wear headscarf, they are seen as a "normal" human being, innocent, naive and minding their own business. The truth is, you don't actually know. It's definitely, wrong to judge a book by it's cover because of all the views that have accumulated to form such an opinionated "fact" on what ISIS is, what they do, how they dress and associating it with all Muslims . It's become such a conflicting part of everyone's life but, honestly, everyone is the same and we are all human beings. We should get to know people and understand them, rather than judging it on prejudice thoughts.
My ideal plan, is to get someone to wear a black headscarf and have "We are not ISIS" written on that side. The other side of the face, will not have a headscarf and no wording on the face. Essentially, the message is, is that people with head scarfs, need to give justifications about why they wear the hijab as oppose to when they don't. I also, want to give across a message that, people feel insecure with themselves - their religion! It's not right.
People assume that every single Muslim, is part of ISIS - they're not. And that's what I want to portray across. Anyone can be part of ISIS; male, female, teenager, older and even people from other religions.
A thought that continuously, goes though my head, is how women who wear a headscarf, are automatically, capped. Meaning, they are seen as dangerous people - the stereotype, of ISIS bombers, is a long black shirt and a covered face so, when people do see women wearing head scarfs, they avoid them. However, if they don't wear headscarf, they are seen as a "normal" human being, innocent, naive and minding their own business. The truth is, you don't actually know. It's definitely, wrong to judge a book by it's cover because of all the views that have accumulated to form such an opinionated "fact" on what ISIS is, what they do, how they dress and associating it with all Muslims . It's become such a conflicting part of everyone's life but, honestly, everyone is the same and we are all human beings. We should get to know people and understand them, rather than judging it on prejudice thoughts.
My ideal plan, is to get someone to wear a black headscarf and have "We are not ISIS" written on that side. The other side of the face, will not have a headscarf and no wording on the face. Essentially, the message is, is that people with head scarfs, need to give justifications about why they wear the hijab as oppose to when they don't. I also, want to give across a message that, people feel insecure with themselves - their religion! It's not right.
2) Photos That Have Inspired Me
3) Strategy (Campaign)
Planning for my shoot, I needed a campaign but I came to an immense realization. And that was that there was no campaign for stopping ISIS attacks yet, everyone has a lot to say, when it comes to the enormous and heat breaking attacks. Instead, there's a strategy called "Contest" which is trying to catch potential ISIS attackers/terrorists. Underneath, is the definition of what it is.
First Shoot;
During my first shoot, I needed my model to wear a headscarf. This shoot, was meant to convey a bleak, alienated facial expression and this is why, my model is looking down. Essentially, it was meant to show someone, who wants to wear a headscarf feeling uncomfortable because of the rumors and prejudice thoughts of Muslims.
Best picture;
This was my best picture from the shoot because, it was crisp and close - it was important that I got it close because, later on, I need to photo shop it.
Worst Picture;
This is the worst picture because, quite obviously, it came out blurry and out of focus; the composition, wasn't right either.
Photo shopping My Photo
This was the photo I had chosen to photo shop.
To bring the 2 sides that I wanted together, I had to use the "Rectangular Marquee Tool" and delete one of the sides for the time being
To bring the 2 sides that I wanted together, I had to use the "Rectangular Marquee Tool" and delete one of the sides for the time being
I then used the brightness/contrast to make the picture more lighted. Essentially, it's meant to show that, ISIS shouldn't make you feel alienated or ashamed instead, you should embrace it and spread the good.
I then added in the logo "Prevent Strategy". Deleting the box and outline leaving the background white, left a great place to but the logo.
I then used the other half of the photo and joined it together - changing the contrast I made it so the other half of the face was darker
I then added text to convey more of my message
The final picture;
Handcuffs and Hands
I decided to look at different aspects of being trapped; things I could associate with my ISIS project. So I experimented with light to try and adjust the main focus on the hands and everything else to be blurred.
Manipulation
To my photo I changed the black and white to something bleak and isolated to show the devastation of a stereotype.
I added some text to give more detail as to what the conflict was.
Which I then wanted to change the opacity to highlight the peace and also added the "Prevent Strategy" to the left hand side of the photo
Final Outcome
My Evaluation On Conflict
Being the first project we did, I found a lot of things interesting and fun. For example, learning photographic elements was one thing and taking that into the project and trying to get the correct white balance, aperture, shutter speed etc, was all educational as well as interactive. I thoroughly, enjoyed learning elements of learning how to photo shop, taking into account that I've never used it before.
The techniques that I used, was text, magic wand, brightness, rectangle marque and layers. I found you can portray a more meaningful effect with photo shop, in this project as long as there's no overdoing it because then, the realism of it will be taking out.
There's still a lot I need to learn about photo shop, I'm not that well experienced in it but hopefully, as the projects progress my knowledge for photo shop will to.
The techniques that I used, was text, magic wand, brightness, rectangle marque and layers. I found you can portray a more meaningful effect with photo shop, in this project as long as there's no overdoing it because then, the realism of it will be taking out.
There's still a lot I need to learn about photo shop, I'm not that well experienced in it but hopefully, as the projects progress my knowledge for photo shop will to.
Throughout this conflict project, we observed photographic elements of a conflicting war and it's effects on the people in the picture. The company who portrayed such a bleak outlook, are called "UNISEF" - they support those who are unfortunate in life/experienced something terrible. They formed a documentary through the use of photos establishing how people survive through war and what implications they were stopped by. This was to convey a vital message that war is horrendous but pointless and it's clearly shown through the family's expressions.
The company and photographer itself, gave me the urge to make something that's very touching to the brain but also, when people look at it, they can infer explicit but also implicit ideas to understand the wrongdoings of my theme. Alienated expressions and gestures, definitely, brought out the best of this project because, nobody in this world, would want to put themselves at a place were they feel hurt and isolated and if that's what I feel. I feel, it brought the best in my photo for other people to express the same thing as well as to form their own judgement that, discrimination and prejudice thoughts, should be eliminated from one's thoughts.
The company and photographer itself, gave me the urge to make something that's very touching to the brain but also, when people look at it, they can infer explicit but also implicit ideas to understand the wrongdoings of my theme. Alienated expressions and gestures, definitely, brought out the best of this project because, nobody in this world, would want to put themselves at a place were they feel hurt and isolated and if that's what I feel. I feel, it brought the best in my photo for other people to express the same thing as well as to form their own judgement that, discrimination and prejudice thoughts, should be eliminated from one's thoughts.
My most successful part of the project, was my final picture - even though, I needed more shoots and more editing added on to it, I'm still proud of the final look. Looking at it with fresh eyes, I can see that head scarfs, are what make some people in this world feel uncomfortable as the stereotypical judgement is all who were head scarfs, are ISIS or part of something demonic.
To each fun part of this project, I did come across some downfalls, as mentioned before, I did not take as many photos as I would have wanted to, this gave an overwhelming amount of confusion as, not all the pictures I had taken were right, and that's why, we are supposed to take more than we need - we can always delete but never gain.
Overall, this project was very captivating as it shows the things we think are quite inconsequential, are quite frankly, important and it was shown trough the use of photos - photos can spread many meanings and messages, they're great visuals to look at to understand more things so, I admire it very much.
To each fun part of this project, I did come across some downfalls, as mentioned before, I did not take as many photos as I would have wanted to, this gave an overwhelming amount of confusion as, not all the pictures I had taken were right, and that's why, we are supposed to take more than we need - we can always delete but never gain.
Overall, this project was very captivating as it shows the things we think are quite inconsequential, are quite frankly, important and it was shown trough the use of photos - photos can spread many meanings and messages, they're great visuals to look at to understand more things so, I admire it very much.