Help:Reveal Self Identity through Photos...ideas?!

Hey all!

 

I'm not sure if this is the place to ask for ideas but I hope this is okay!

 

I'm in a photography class. I have an assignment where I have to reveal, construct or demonstrate my self-identity or a characteristic

of it. I have to turn in at least 6 photographs.

 

Issue: I'm stuck. I have no idea which direction I want to go with this. I want to go deeper and more metaphorical than just

photographing things/places/hobbies that I like. I was thinking about having the theme of adventure, my journey, the next chapter in

my life, opportunities, etc. But I don't really know how to capture this. I'm allowed to use Photoshop to add to my photos so I was

thinking about adding words from a cool quote somewhere in each photo so that when they're lined up its the complete quote...just an

idea. I really need help so any inspiration or ideas would be greatly appreciated! Or great quotes about life, the open road, journey,

free spirit, free soul, gypsy, freedom, experiencing the world, soul on the run, etc. Something similar in theme to "I am the master of

my fate; I am the captain of my soul" (Invictus by William Ernest Henley).

 

About me (to help you figure out ideas!! Haha): I am a 21 year old female. College student in Colorado. I love snowboarding. Surfing.

Photography. Traveling. Vintage style & antiques. The ocean. Adventurous. Spontaneous. Light-hearted. Free spirit.

 

Anything helps- links, examples, quotes/lyrics, ideas, themes, self-identity characteristic, etc.

 

 

Thank you, I really appreciate it!

<p>Try this: sit down in front of a mirror and just try to look into own eyes for anywhere from two to five minutes. No distractions, no music, nothing. Just you and the mirror.</p>

<p><br /> there is nothing wrong and everything right with using photos to describe where you live, how you live and what you do. Everyday details seen clearly reveal more than any artificial construction. Photographs are all about surface. What you see in a photograph is what you get. Let the viewer bring in their load of metaphors and symbolic interpretations for what is in the photo.</p>

<p>We cannot do your assignment for you.</p>

<p>One possibility among many would be to read <em><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Road">On The Road</a></em> by Jack Kerouac (adventure, journey, and autobiography), one of the seminal books of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beat_Generation">Beat Generation</a>.</p>

<p>While reading, close your eyes periodically and picture things. Then go out and create photographs that incorporate elements of what you see and feel while reading it.</p>

<p>Your "about me" may be useful as a starting point, but you are really describing a lot of us at your age, or even below or beyond that point. Your self-identity is something you know, but not us. Phone a brother, sister, or parent, and ask them what they feel best characterizes you (I know that my own brother would have lots to say, ...some of which might be useful). What quirks, known fetishes or individual preferences do you have? How might those be photographed? For instance, some are crazy about hats, others love scarves, or tall glasses of cool drink, or pictures of Ché Guevara, Leonard Cohen, Lady Gaga or Brad Pitt. What decorates your room walls at home? What is your favourite expression? Do you wear unique or unusual items of clothing (photograph them)? Usually we can find some metaphor or analogy or pictorial example of these physical or human characteristics of our life or your opinions. With Photoshop you can create image collages or overlays where you, or something symbolic of you, or other image subjects, can co-exist.</p>

<p>On a humorous bent, photograph yourself togerther with a Man Ray like african mask, like his Kiki of Montmarte" </p>

<p>Good luck! Let us know how it turned out, maybe with examples. You can inspire us, too.</p>

<p>Take pictures of things you can "really" identify with, but leave yourself out of the picture.</p>

<p><strong>About me (to help you figure out ideas! Haha): I am a 21 year old female. College student in Colorado. I love snowboarding. Surfing. Photography. Traveling. Vintage style & antiques. The ocean. Adventurous. Spontaneous. Light-hearted. Free spirit.</strong></p>

<p>I count 13 photos here. You have answered your own question twice over.</p>

<p>Turn in photos that are all about someone else's self-identity and see if your professor notices.</p>

<p>I like Arthur Plumpton suggestions, rather than using overlay of words or poems. Thinking that the assignment is to get you to do visual statements. I bet you could stage a series of self portraits, showing something about yourself. Be as revealing of your personality as you choose, no need to put on a clown nose but that is OK too.... I think we all have a few faces to show the world. If you have a sports hobby, there is one shot of yourself lacing up the ice skates for instance. Or wearing something in your treasure chest from high school days that tell you come from Alabama with a banjo on your knee....have fun with this one is what I am thinking. I tend to go for staging the thing- I like props I guess- but that is just one approach. Up to you as you say the possibilities are limitless. No, I myself personally would not ask the friends, and go with just be who <em>you want to be </em>(wow, latter sounds a slogan like from an Army recruiting poster:-).<br /> I wish you well, only 6 photos, says your classmates are just starting out, we all here could do no less than a dozen or so variations, mood colors etc and lighting to match. Once we got in the mood. And you will ... (some 21 ers would pose in middle of a pyramid of empty beer cans, but please <em>don't</em>. You are too serious and want a good grade, I am sure..)</p>

Bueh B. - did I ask you to do my assignment for me? I was simply looking for inspiration, other people often can give

you perspective that you might not have seen yourself. This website is a forum, to ask questions, give advice and

share. So I'm AWFULLY sorry if you misunderstood me..

 

Everyone else - Thank you so much for all your ideas everyone! Those are all really great inspiration! I'll post photos

of the final result! Thanks for taking the time to help me out I really appreciate it!

<p>I don't know if a person really knows him/herself until he/she has been battered and tested by challenges in life. This is a great assignment, but it's going to be more difficult for you, I believe, than it would be for someone who is approaching the last decade of a long life.</p>

<p> At last I know and can articulate why photographs of solitary trees resonate with me. I had the experiences that led to this long before I was your age, but at age 21, when life knew no limits, I could not have done this assignment without great difficulty.</p>

<p>I like the suggestion of Ellis Vener; I might recommend more than 5 minutes though; try 15, 30, or even 60 minutes. You need to go deep, and that's really quite difficult. The book "The Zen of Creativity" by John Daido Loori (a photographer) might help you.</p>

<p>A suggestion: When you complete your assignment, keep it, put it away, and then bring it out once each decade to examine and reflect. Then do the assignment again. Complete as many of these assignments as your life will allow, and you will have something incredibly precious.</p>

<p>First shoot alot. Do several self portraits. Shoot your bedroom, living room, bathroom, kitchen. Shoot the pile of mail you haven't opened. Shoot your bank balance. Get all of your sports wear and opther physical objects form activities that you particiapte in , put on all the gear, hold the rest and do another self portrait. Shoot your toilet. Shoot your shadow. Shoot the music cd's you like and or own. Shoot the books you like. Shoot your computer, your cell phone and all other digital crap in one shot. Just keep shooting. Pick the best set of the required number LOL</p>

<p>A bit straight forward and literally, but right now, part of your self identity is in context with photography. Part of your identity is also very basically your name and a few other descriptions like the ones you gave : communication through words. Photograph seperate letters from all kinds of places and sources that you find in your daily environment, from posters, adds, trafficsigns, tv, etc... the whole alphabet if you must. Then, arrange each photograph of a letter(s)/number into a collage of one - so that they spell out your name, date of birth, etc.. and perhaps also a short description or quote about yourself. Make the arangement of seperate photographs so that together they form a vertical portrait orientation.<br /> Maybe also make a self portrait ( 'mimicking' and id pic ), blow it up large enough so that you can paste a part of your self image into each of the photographs with letters, as a double exposure, and when viewed from a distance the photographs together( which spell out your name and description too ) showing your portrait. Something like that...all kinds of combinations and angles are possible from there on.</p>

<p>Ellis Vener's suggestion (looking in the mirror) is the best of the lot, but all the suggestions so far seem to miss the point, which is introspection. Steven Penland has a point in suggesting that young adults will have a more difficult time getting past superficialities than more mature adults; and the fact that you describe yourself as a lighthearted free spirit suggests that you haven't yet encountered the kinds of circumstances that reveal you to yourself as you really are.<br>

The kinds of texts you would do well to incorporate are right there, resonating inside you, and this business about pestering us for cool quotes is probably an attempt to evade them. It's been said that all dream images are in some sense self-images, so it might be a good idea to keep a dream book in which you record images and events, and the feelings they gave you within your dream. What you actually are may exist as a creature or object quite unlike you, what aboriginals call a totem and witches a familiar. As these relate to you as a metaphor, so your picture might explore the relationship as metamorphosis, your apparent self becoming your spiritual self in some way you'll have to struggle to achieve.<br>

Stop thinking, stop talking, empty your mind, look inward. When you really do it, the creature in the mirror is surpassing strange.</p>

<p>Another angle is that you can take 24 photographs of yourself during one single day. One for each hour, documenting your "change" throughout the day, photograph yourself also while asleep, with a timer.<br>

Or you can be done with it quickly and photograph a closed book...and give that one a good metaphorical spin as an explanation of your *self identity* to your teacher...</p>

<p>Picking up on Charles' dream book idea, you could photograph yourself when you're asleep instead of photographing your dreams ( literally or figuratively ), let the camera automatically take a picture every other hour or so during the night. Camera placed right above you pointing straight down towards your bed.<br /> Hopefully you'll change sleeping positions a bit, or, the one sleeping positon you are mostly in will reveal something about yourself.<br /> The idea / quote to go with that concept would be something like Jung's <em>those who look outside dream, those who look inside awaken.</em><br /> I would avoid broken mirrors and masks but dwarfs behind red curtains speaking backwards in tongues are good.</p>

<p>The classic zen master/student game involves a question that can't be answered until the master says it's answered, and that answer is more or less inconsequential. The point may be to exhaust various possibilities, to allow the student to see things many new ways, to realize that her/his assumptions don't work. </p>

<p>One of Minor White's standard assignments was to photograph "the essence" of something-or-other, perhaps a place (photograph, process, and print same day). The print would be reviewed next day by a teacher who would always say no, that's not the essence. After x amount of time and y numbers of failures, and total surrender to the simplest possible image, an unaffected snapshot of the way some "average" non-photographer would see, the teacher would say "yes, that's probably it." Google for Minor White, I'm not aware of any individual website that depicts him in a way that I fully accept.</p>

<p>Many of us see photography as a way of creating ourselves rather than digging into ourselves.</p>

 

<p>Why not photography you dorm room or your apartment? A person's domicile says a lot about them. Or you could photograph yourself while doing your hobbies. Maybe something funny like you dressed in your snowboard gear with the board beside your while you look in a mirror and put on make-up or sit at a table eating breakfast.</p>

<p>John, that's interesting. I don't think I see photography as creating myself, and I'm not sure that "digging into myself" is a good way to put it. I see it as a way for my inner self, especially that very large part that is below the level of consciousness, to express itself, and when it does that and I look at the photographs that were created, it's an avenue for me to understand that largely hidden self. All of that is over and above the sheer fun of photography and the experiences it brings.</p>

<p>Actually anything you will point your camera at and create an image with will be descriptive of your self's identity. They do not need to be direct 'self-portraits'.<br>

You might find that some of the images work better than others for you; but all of them will be, and are descriptive of you, your vision, and how you identify yourself in the world by what you include, and what you leave out. It is probably harder to see how that might be at this time, and that's the question you will someday need to answer, even if you can't now for this assignment.</p>

<p>Kiki, thanks for posting the question! It's an intrigueing assignment and I may steal the idea for my next self-assignment.<br>

It seems to me that there are generally two interpretations to be found in the answers so far. The first involves shots that describe you from an external view - self portraits and the things around you. The second is, in my opinion, vastly more difficult - saying something about how you think and feel through the photos. How do you view the world? As a big, friendly playground? An intimidating, scary place? A treasure box of new experiences to be unwrapped? Do you tend to see the best in people or the worst?</p>