My lyrical essay focuses on a youth who has suffered the loss of a parent. The passage I chose displays how immensely difficult it is to process the loss of a loved one at such a young age. My interviewee offered their perspective on issues they faced due to the loss of a parent.
By choosing this photo, I hoped to exemplify the feeling of isolation and discomfort that my subject experienced. This photo I took specifically worked for my subject because of its composition and background. The composition of the photo works well because of the fairly consistent grey/black which frames the subject, giving him an air of seclusion. The background has a similar effect of seclusion, instead being shown through additional subjects in the background, standing far and facing the other way from the subject. This further symbolises the isolation that the subject suffered.
The way I edited my photo for this project was by using Adobe Photoshop. Using this application, I placed 2 clipping masks on my image, one for Black & White, and one for Contrast. This rendered my image completely black and white. I further edited the level of black and white in my image using the contrast layer and adjusting the color sliders. This turned specific colors that appeared in my original image as more black or more white. To colorize, I went into the Black & White layer with the brush tool set to black with low opacity, and brushed over my subject in the image. The result was a subtle effect that emphasised the subject of the image while still keeping a dark look over all. For the second part of the diptych, I used a basic font titled “DIN Condensed.” This font worked effectively with my passage and image due to its readability and bold appearance. To place my text within the silhouette, I used a method which worked very well and was easy enough to understand. I rasterized the text and then used the transforming warp tool to alter its shape and appearance.
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