My lyrical essay is about the struggle that comes with being multicultural. It is an introspective piece that portrays the thoughts of someone with multiple identities. I have chosen the line, “You are the wind rustling through the trees.” I feel like this line is a perfect metaphor for the subject who does not feel grounded in any singular identity.
I chose this picture because it is a clear depiction of a moving/travelling person. The subject photographed is carrying bags and moving down a street. This image of travelling creates ideas of displacement and not being grounded. The composition of the photograph adds to this feeling. The subject is on the right side of the frame while the left side shows the long path that he is travelling down. It shows that the subject is still moving and has no time to rest or get situated. Using a higher aperture, I created a low depth of field and put the subject in focus while his surroundings are blurred. This creates a sense of loneliness and detachment from his surroundings.
Editing this photo was fairly simple. Using Adobe Photoshop, I started by touching up some of the colors on the original so that the subject popped out a little more. Then, I made a selection of the subject and moved it over to the white panel, filling it with black. I then typed out my words and fit them in the black space by manually warping them. Lastly, I inverted the selection that I made and applied a black and white filter to the photo around my subject.
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