Self Portrait | Contained

Artist Statement

I am someone that feels a lot. Sometimes I feel like I’m drowning. Not the struggling kind, but the the calm and subtle type. It is something that I’ve come to terms with. I acknowledge this side of me. It’s not wrong to feel a certain way, what matters more are the actions I choose to do.

No one can truly understand another person completely. Everyone in this world has got their inner demons. It’s a constant struggle, and really a battle that only I can fight alone.

I didn’t want to get wet because these emotions are contained, even though I feel overwhelmed by them, I am not actually drowning. I just feel like I am. I’m also carrying them to show that I’m trying to hold these bags of emotions inside me, and to not let them spill into the world around me.

before
before
after

 

Technical Decisions

The original image was overall very dark due to the sky being very overblown.

I had to first increase the contrast and brightness of the image. I wanted a more fantasy looking atmosphere like David Uzochukwu’s work. Masks for the grass, sky, human and skin were made for me to have more control. The human in particular was too bright and in the wrong colour tone compared to the background. An orange mask was applied in overlay mode as an attempt to blend the subject and the background together. Colour balance was applied to both the sky and the grass. I was going for a more orangey and magenta tone.

Artist Reference

  • David Uzochukwu

I love how David Uzochukwu uses natural body positions and gestures to convey the emotions. It’s not overly dramatic and very raw. The backgrounds of his work are also very simple and clean. His work leaves me with an impression of the loneliness we feel within ourselves in this big world that we live in. This feeling was something that I want to include in my self portrait.

  • Laura Zalenga

The look and tone of Laura Zalenga’s work was something that I want to include in my self portrait. The use of body gestures and minimal props was very similar to David Uzochukwu, but again, this really brings the focus to that of the model, which was something that I want to achieve

 

LINK TO PSD & TIFF

Published by

Lung Nok Wan

7.1 me with music

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