APD2 Assignment 2 - Conceptual Image

Still Life 

f/4, ISO 800, 1/15 sec

I wanted to further animate the toy solders and give them a sense of personality. I chose to match the toy army soldiers with the green cutting board because the colour of the cutting board matched the army men, which helped to convey a sense of camouflage, which is very important aspect for actual military officers.  This idea of camouflage helped me to portray a mundane expression as if the toy solders actually belonged on this cutting board, when in fact they would normally be found in a child’s toy box or in a bucket sitting on a shelf. I also paired the soldiers with the location because the grid and geometric lines helped me to reinforce the idea of structure, intense planning and discipline associated with the military. With the diagonal line, it reminds the viewer that it is a cutting board and potentially at any moment, the blade could strike and attack the soldiers.

Narrative Image

f/11, ISO 200, 1/50 sec

I am trying to tell the story of a depressed mother making an after school snack for her child. The mother has become antisocial and has resulted in a strained relationship with her husband and child. She has been quite unhappy for sometime now and had become jealous of the close relationship between her daughter and husband. After this moment, will she continue to stay unhappy? Is she simply adding more salt to the already salty, processed macaroni? Or has she mistakenly or purposefully adding rat poison to the food to end the misery?

I chose a friend’s kitchen with a large window on the side and shot in the late afternoon to light the subject and general environment. I used a tungsten light source on the side to mix with the daylight and flash to obtain more cinematic-like lighting. I wanted the subject’s pose to show that she had just reached for an ingredient and is putting it away in the cupboard. I also used the daylight and my flash to light the cupboard and the ingredient in her hand to clue the viewer into the idea that she could be adding poison to the plate.  I also added a child’s drawing to provide context of the family situation.