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Awakening: A Junior Design Student Conceptual Project by Kaitlyn Ecklund (2017)

I am exploring the feeling of hopefulness through the experience of accepting others who are different.

For my conceptual photo, I took a picture of a door with the blinds closed and the keys in the lock, slightly opened to visually portray my concept statement. Lighting was also very important to my photo because I wanted the light to shine directly onto the door to represent the feeling of hopefulness. I shot my photo from the ground looking up because since the door opening and the key represents each individual and what opinions and viewpoints they introduce into our lives, it can all be somewhat daunting and slightly overwhelming. I wanted to also add to the mystery of the photo with the angle because with each relationship formed, we are exposed to something new and since it’s a mystery, it can often be full of anticipation and often times that leads to feeling somewhat overwhelmed with what could be or what is going to be. Since behind each relationship (aka the door) there’s a mystery as to what it’ll bring, I made sure the background was dark and added to that sense of mystery.

The door slightly open represents the action of being open to others and their opinions and accepting them. In order for the door to be open, it needs to be unlocked so I had a key in the lock to represent an individual that is opening us up to new perspectives and ideas. I also made sure that I had a lot of other keys on the key ring to show that there are many different people with various lifestyles, views and opinions and each of them allow us to learn something new about the world and different cultures and maybe even about ourselves. Therefore, behind each door is a mystery and there is the unknown because each relationship we have with someone will contribute something new to us, whether it be something good or bad. So I wanted to make sure that it was really dark in the small area where the door was slightly open because I wanted to help contribute more to the mystery of what each “key” (aka person) brings.

In Photoshop, I used what I knew about selections, layers, the blemish tool and vignettes to enhance my conceptual photo. First in Photoshop, I added a vignette to make the edges darker and made sure they were feathered so that they’d seamlessly fade into my photo and enhance the sense of mystery of what was behind the door to the image. I then made a selection of the background of the slight crack where the door was open and used a hue/saturation layer to make it dark so you couldn’t tell what was inside so it’d add to the mystery. Then I used the blemish tool to get rid of some of the marks and scuffs on the door so that it’d look nicer and add to the idea of hopefulness by giving it a nicer appearance.
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