Final Outcomes

         

To me photographing my masks was just as important as making them, when creating an effective image. My posture and outfit in addition to the back drop were all factors that I had to consider. I chose a cityscape backdrop as my mask was all about the emotion that come with moving to a big city and I chose to wear all black. This was because I was photographing in black and white and I thought it would work well with the bold black lines on the masks. Of the two masks I think that the first mask portrays feelings of confusion, curiosity and loneliness better. However, when you look at the photograph as a whole the second image is more effective. I love the way in which the image is composed, with the isolated lonely figure in the centre and the tension of the buildings against the heavy sky behind. I was worried that I might have over edited my images but I personally quite like the drama that the heavy black and white gives the cityscape. I also asked a couple of my peers and they agreed. 

Testing and Development

                 

Once I had designed my mask, constructing it was quick and easy and I really enjoyed doing a project that was craft orientated. However, due to my masks simplicity I completed it early and still had some time on my hands. I still wasn’t sure how my mask would work in the context of a busy City, so I thought it would be a good idea to make another backup mask. I also wanted to go back and continue to develop my hypnotised eyes idea, which I chose not to take forward in my last mask. I wanted to communicate a sense of being overwhelmed and entranced by all the action in Leeds. Everyone I have spoken to prefers the design of the second mask but I think that in the final photo the first mask might look better in the context of a buzzing city. 

Initial Ideas

                   

  

It was tempting to dive in and make a very detailed, complex mask. However, after seeing Frederick Steinberg’s work I saw that retaining a simplicity within the mask actually works better (allowing the complexity to be brought in in the posture and outfit of the person wearing the mask in addition to the setting). I wanted to make my mask about me and my experience of moving away from home and into a big City. I felt that this was a very relevant theme. I wanted to communicate feelings of fear, confusion, loneliness and perhaps curiosity in an immediate way. I initially toyed with different ways of communicating this. I considered conventionally using my mask as a disguise to conceal these emotions. I was going to become a terrifying monster. However, I decided to actually do the opposite and to reflect these emotions within the mask, with a pair of wide, beady almost alien like cut out eyes. I also gave the face a dramatic elongated nose and a confused toothy grin to give it a foreign tiki feel.