my senior project.

[Dezereelynn]

i am attending art school in new hampshire, as a senior photo student i have to come up with a theme for my final project. I have pretty much till next april to complete it. My project is going to be based on control. I recently broke up with my bf of 4 1/2 years. This made me realize how much control certain people have had over my life(mainly men). Before the age of 5 my 2 older bros and i were sexually and physically abused my biological father. after that i was in about 4 foster homes in 2 years finally ending up with my current parents and my 2 biological sisters and 1 of my bros. my adopted father has been so over protective of me since i was little that it has become obsessive to the point of controlling many aspects of my life. most of my relationships with guys have been controlling, not in obvious ways, more of in the way that i would do anything for them just to keep them happy and so i wasnt alone. Im glad im able to realize this at this point in my life and i am able to use it as inspiration for my final project.

i want my project to get a message across to people that i can control my own life and that i can handle things without always getting approval because i didnt trust myself when everyone was telling me what was acceptable.

with all this, i am just asking people to give me some ideas for certain symbols and gestures that they would associate control with.

also if anyone can recommend differnt artists that i should research that would be a big help

thanks alot

[livin4lax09]

not much here other than to say welcome to the forums, and I'm currently at UNH. I'd love to see your shots you get. It sounds like a very interesting concept, and I'd love to see what you do with it.

[natatbeach]

I have a feeling that your final project is going to be amazing---welcome to the boards and thanks for sharing your story--- look forward to helping in any way....
here's a photo for inspiration... I posted this about a year and some ago ---just being creative with light and textures and one particular response was very interesting---
the viewer(in my gallery input) saw it as a imprisonment sort of shot...which was not at all my intent but it was very interesting to see how differently people's path perceive the same image....so here's the pic...it shows a form of control in that viewers eyes and I thought of it as soon as you mentioned your theme...good luck and welcome http://forums.photographyreview.com/...6959#post36959

[megan]

Wow - sounds like an ambitious but great project. It could be everything from self portraits to still lives of objects of control and everything in between and beyond.

I'm not sure what type of photography you do... Man Ray could give you ideas as to how to fetishize objects of control. (Handcuffs? Guns? Those are traditionally associated with control.) Fists... Hands wrapped around arms... Corsets control women's movements... straightjackets to control raging people... Money...

Nan Goldin photographed domestic violence, you could look at her work. I can't think of anyone else at the moment, but I'll keep my brain mulling it all over.

Good luck!

[walterick]

Wow what a story!

First of all, let me commend you for coming to that realization about your life at such a young age. Many, many people reach old age without ever realizing that dependency has racked their relationships their whole lives...

CONGRATULATIONS!!

I do hope your project comes out in such a way that mirrors your new discovery, and control!

Now, on to photography...

If I were in your shoes, I would incorporate freedom and independence into your control theme. But, that's just me

A camera itself can be a great tool for control. A simple picture of you manipulating the manual controls of your (or another) camera might be a start. Pictures of yourself doing things that you were previously not "allowed" to might be another idea. The ideas that Natalie and Megan put out are great ones. If I had the chance, I would ask you to describe what comes to mind when you think of "control." And then go there photographically.

You've come to this place at a great time, just before stepping into adulthood. Good luck with your project!

Rick

[jbf]

Everyone has their own opinion about what makes a good image. For me, I've never liked images that look contrived. For example, a straightjacket is an obvious symbol of control in an image, but I have a hard time getting past the fact that the subject was put in the straightjacket for the sole purpose of making a photo. Many people like staged images and sometimes they are so beautifully composed that I can overlook the fake aspect of it.

Another option is to take unposed pictures of people subtly exerting control over others while doing normal things. When someone looks at the first image, maybe they notice the artistry of it but don't see much meaning in it. But when they look carefully at the entire collection they begin to notice a stance or expression in one image, the placement of a hand in another image, ... methods of manipulation that you are much more sensitive to than people who haven't had the experiences you have. In the end, the viewer will go back and look at all the images and realize that they see these actions everyday but they've never seen them the way you see them.

In your post you said that people control you "not in obvious ways". Why not try to capture that? You mentioned being controlled, people who do the controlling, and aspects of control that happened at different periods of time in your life. You could try to convey all of those concepts in your images.

I don't know if any of that follows the guidelines of your assignment or would get you a good grade. Photography is just a hobby for me so don't go quoting anything I wrote to a professor. I like Diane Arbus as an example of an artist who is able to see things in her subjects that most people don't notice.

I hope you do well on your project,
jbf

[Dezereelynn]

wow thanks everyone for the replies. natalie the first thing i did see when i looked at you're photo was a sense of control. im not trying to make it seem like its been set up for the shot. i want it to make the viewer see what im trying to say or at least realize that there is some kind of message in my images. I am able to do anything i want, there are no guildlines for this. This is the project that pretty much will get me going in life or set me back. I dont want the people in my life to think that i hate them in any way, instead i want them to realize that they need to let me go and that im ready to be the person i am. I also dont want these to be images that do not portray what has happened in my life, i want them to show what ive had to deal with personally with other things that would get the message accross..... im pretty much ready to WOW everyone with what i have to say !!