I chose to base my photo project off of Mary Ellen Mark. I liked the way she took homelessness, loneliness, drug addiction, and prostitution into a new context of a beautiful picture. I loved that she was trying to reach out to others through the photo’s she took, and that is why I chose my topic as beauty and what the society thinks we should look like. The truth behind beauty is not what is plastered on a women’s face, but how she is naturally. The photos I took are inspiring to women who feel that the society has taken over what appearance should look like. It should allow women to feel powerful in their natural beauty. My photo is different because I not only took pictures of my friends, but I also took pictures of make up and face cleaner. I did that because those are two huge pressures of why girls think they are not as good looking without make up, or that having clear skin is prettier than having a few blemishes. I also took photos of women from the internet from magazines and what it looks like to have your face altered. This could be a direct relationship to the advertising photos that she takes, except I chose to put mine together in a collage. As one picture, it said one thing, but as a whole, it shouted ten things. And that is what I had intended. The true beauty lies within and who the person is, and I believe that is sort of what Mary Ellen Mark does with her photos of people from off the streets.
(Hopefully it is okay that I combined them into one large photo...)
Mackenzie Lee
ReplyDeleteI think that the idea of how society alters how we view ourselves as women is a very creative topic. The idea that particular things like clear faces, or going around without make up is effecting how we see ourselves, and our self confidence as women. It is interesting in how the composition was put together showing not only images that are perceived to be beautiful but some unusual images as well. However, while this may be true I think it might be a good idea to show the gradual effects of society depicting how women looked in magazines and ads. I think that maybe a series of six photographs with the gradual changes that society has made on how we view each other as women would have made more of an impact to the viewer.
I enjoyed how you explored the idea of the society changing the concept of beauty and how people are more concerned about their appearance, when the true beauty lies on their personality. I liked how the photographs were combined in to one big image. It helped the viewers to see the issue at a glance. The collage is in fact more affective than a single photograph of the make-up or the cleanser. However, if I were to change anything, I would add a photograph of the makeup free face at the end (separately) to emphasize the true beauty lies on who we really are.
ReplyDelete-Kate Ko