My Project proposal

My idea for my final major project, is to involve, 3 different mediums of

photographic techniques;

Documentary

Portraiture

Fine Art

In many circumstances in our life, we are confronted by people that intimidate and make us feel insecure. These circumstances can often occur in passing, at an event, rarely are we intimidated in places of comfort and familiarity, like our homes or the homes of friends and family. Intimidation can be: an overpowering, large person in passing, fierce aggression, confrontation. These intimations will generally be in places you already feel unsafe in like, dark streets, alleyways, clubs, unfamiliar towns. People who could intimidate you usually possess similar

characteristics, some typical ones could be: tall, muscular, a different ethnicity, tattooed, shaven head, hooded/masked, gangs of people and loud 'in your face', confronting people. Although the appearance of the person may reflect of their personality, this is not always the case. For Example:

The film and novel; In 'The Green Mile', the character John Coffey is a giant, hugely muscular black man with a deep, booming voice, sentenced to death for the suspected murder and rape of two young girls, everyone in the prison that hes at (including the guards) are extremely unsure and intimidated by him. The guards continue to act weary around John until they begin to learn his true nature,first we learnt he fact that John is afraid of the dark, he's fond of a small mouse, has incredible powers of healing, which he modestly uses for good and has a gentle generous nature but will still stick up for himself. The story concludes with his death by electric chair, everyone (including the guards) are so stricken and in disbelief but grateful for the massive deeds he has done for them. The story, along with many other morals is that we really cannot jump to conclusions and judge a book by its cover, although he seemed fierce and menacing, his deeds that sentenced him to death also seem so but infact he does not mention his crime, only stating that he "tried to take it back, but it was too late." This long with what we learn is that kindness can be found in anything.

It's not just this situation that kindness and innocence can be found in the most unexpected forms another example:

'Of Mice and Men' another novel, theatre production and film, the story of Lennie and George, 2 migrant field workers, during the great depression who move from town to town working to achieve their dreams of a small house, some crops and rabbits (for Lennie to tend to). George, the intelligence of the duo, it is down to George to make sure Lennie doesn't get into (too much) trouble, Lennie Small is Georges ironically named, immensely strong giant and incredibly dim-whitted companion. The story begins with George and Lennie, moving to a new town, fleeing from their previous after Lennie's misunderstandings, leaving the rest of the town hot on pursuit of them for Lennie's suspected attempted rape of a village girl. The same sort of cir cumstances crop up in the new town as John Coffey experiences in the prison, Lennie, being so huge and strong, leaves ever yone wary of his intimidating strength in which he unknowingly demonstrates through out lifting and outworking everyone else on the ranch in which they sought employment. Another situation in which his strength becomes apparent is in which Curly, the boss's son who seeks to enrage Lennie in an unprovoked attack on him, it is in this situation that Lennie breaks Curly's hand. Another much more dominant side of Lennie is his innocent, child like nature which becomes incredibly apparent, Lennie has a love for all things cute, soft and cuddly that he can pet. Throughout the film Lennie talks of how hes going to one day tend the ra bbits, he also finds mice to call his pets and a one point gets a dog to pet, both the mice and dog all fell victim to the innocently heavy hands of Lennie, ultimately e nding in their demise. This is how the film concludes, with Lennie's unknowingly immense strength in which he accidentally breaks the neck and kills Curly's wife, which concludes with the death of Lennie. Another e xample, very similar to that of John Coffey, through a misunderstanding and innocence of their own strength amounted to their demise, yet their hearts were really the true idea of pure.

My last example of which appearance cannot be taken into account when we talk of the heart that is inside; The BFG; Film and novel by Roald Dahl, the story of a little girl named Sophie kidnapped by a giant, the friendliest giant that ever lived, kidnapped in order for him to show her his world, his life and all its wonders. The giant although feared because of his appearance infact is completely crazy and like an innocent child, infact bullied by the other larger and fierce giants. The story concludes with Sophie and the BFG warning the queen of atrocities that are the other giants who eat children, they are then captured and put in a pit, trapped, saving children

everywhere.






















My idea is to portray people in different lights that can be suggestive in both ways of intimidation and a kind of heart/innocence. I wish to portray this in a gym/workout situation, whereas for example: Mother Theressa, a kind hearted lady, who led a life of selfless deeds, dedicated to the lives of others, imagine her appearance, her face, her clothing and characteristics, now imagine her in a vest, gritted teeth, bulging veins, bench pressing twice her body weight. She could not be portrayed more vastly different to what we expect. My aim is to take a select number of subjects that are: muscular built and large and 'fierce' on all scales, i want to do a documentary style shoot of these subjects in a gym environment, a series of 2 portraits of each subject, the first image will be to portray them as themselves, i want to portray their personality, not the muscular, intimidating exterior but them as a person, the next image i want to create a portrait of them 'working out', exerting an extreme amount of voice on their bodies in order for veins to bulge, skin to turn crimson and teeth to grit. The idea of this is to portray what everyone sees whenthey look at these types of people (fierce, strong and intimidating) and then to show the viewer that these people are only human and that they really shouldn't be judged in the manor of their appearance. I got this idea while seeing myself in the mirror while working out, watching my drastic change in appearance and the split personna that i took on. The series will comprise of around 4 subjects with 2 portraits for each subject. Some examples of the images im trying to achieve:

Ronnie Coleman - 8 time Mr. Olympia, a muscular giant, in the first image, you are seeing the real Ronnie, he appears just as any guy, showing a great deal of care and love to that person and in no way is any sign of intimidation present. In the next we see the 'mask' of Ronnie, the hulking, great giant we expect, would you be intimidated by this? I think the answer would be a definite yes! These are the themes in which my 2 images are going to be related. Image A will be a portrait of a very simplistic style (head shot), portraying innocence or an open honesty that can only be embraced. Image B, the image will be shot in the same style although with a bit more revealed, portraying the subject in the intimidating light that we would feel in an uncomfortable circumstance with them. To create Image B i will have my subject performing a strenuous task (weight lifting) but i don't want the focus to be on what they re doing, so i will leave much of the rest of the body and actions out, i just want to portray their new personna while doing so.

Take Home Notes:
1) I plan on creating a series comprising of a minimum of 4 pairs of images comprising of a minimum of 4 (large and intimidating) subjects, 2 portraits of each subject;
1st image of subject; will be a simplistic, easy, open, honest portrait, showing the person for who they are and not portraying them in the intimidating nature that they might usually be viewed in. This will be a simple 'head shot' style portrait.
2nd image of same subject; will comprise of them exerting a force on the body by which of overloading the body by lifting weights. This will in turn give the effect i'm looking for of gritted teeth, red in the face, sweats and aggression, I will again focus on the subject themselves, taking a 2nd similarly framed head shot while they are exerting the force. I will not focus on what they are doing and just the effect that is achieved from it, in order to acquire an intimidating, other personality of theirs.

I will not be using flash! This is because:
1) I want to keep the images 'nitty and gritty' in the most natural environment to the person.
2) In order to maximize safety, i will avoid as many distractions as possible, a flash gun firing may most likely put them off and may lead to injury.
3)Instead of a flashgun i will be using reflectors and as light is naturally abundant in the studio i will be using, i will be able to easily spread and reflect the light.