Into the light

Elyse -101010

Elyse - 101010

I photographed a new model last week.  Elyse is a daughter of a friend and offered to help on my color assignment for my class.  We had to create three photographs with a person, object, and place while  keeping an eye on three different types of color palettes (9 total photos).  The color palettes were monochromatic (different shades of the same color), analogous (neighbors on the color wheel), and complimentary (opposites on the color wheel).

She was fun to work with.  We experimented with what emotions and feelings color elicits from us.  I then projected the colors on her.  Feeling and sharing an emotion can be a challenge, especially for new aquaintences.  Elyse opened up and shared. 

We then had a challenge when we had two or three colors and tried blending emotions.   To prepare this, I photographed her in one color, then the other, so she could get into the individual moods.  At the end, I put both colors on her and had her blend the feelings.  My favorite blend was purple (arrogance) and green (envy). 
It is fun to play with color and emotions.  Good painters and photographers know how important color is.  So do advertisers.  Each color has a purpose for being there, whether it is accuracy in depiction of the scene or to elicit emotions, the creator put it there for a reason.

Joe Crachiola is a brilliant photographer who is a master at finding the perfect colors in a photo to accentuate the content, context, and theme.  I highly recommend going to his blog to see his work and read his posts.  He is a true artist in both photography and sharing his written observations of life. 

I've been de-saturating photos lately so only a kiss of the color is there or the photo goes to pure black and white.  One exception is my work with Valya and Moon where I projected a red spray painted wall photo on them and then had them get into their own mind space for each photo.  The visual punch of red streaking around their naked bodies is a harsh violence that makes their expressive poses that much harder to look at.

Working with rich saturated colors was a treat.  I am not sure if this will become a part of my style, but I am slowly mastering a new tool.  Thank you Elyse.  I hope we work together again.  You were fantastic!