To begin with I researched what Identity really meant, learning that it is our unique characterisations that compile our identity. I therefore began by taking a few self timed photographs digitally of myself. Then using photoshop I whitened the background and joined the series of pictures of myself up. The collage was inspired by the series done by Corinne Day of Kate Moss, which was recently shown in the Face of Fashion exhibit at the National Portrait Gallery.



I then went on to take black and white 400 Ilford photographs on my Canon EOS 300 SLR of people on the streets. Many were street performers who I thought were really portraying or making an identity for themselves.
(Pictures to come)

I then moved back to digital as well as black and white film to capture people wearing a white non identifiable mask, purchased from a costume shop. I really loved these series of photographs as the mask really hid the persons identity and made quite an eerie effect of people with no unique characteritics.

The first few images are take at night by a blank wall with a spotlight and my digital fujifilm camera. I love the shadows created which add to the eerie effect but they also are the one thing that gives the girl a small amount of identity. I also love the contrast between her dark hair and the white mask. The final images are created using photoshop and playing around with the contrast and brightness of the photograph as well as making the majority of them black and white.



Both of these photographs, especially the first one, are my favourites of the four. I love how clear the mask stands out and the dark colours of the top one. But the shadow in the second ones seems to overpower the figure as if there are two figures in the photograph.



The bottom photograph is my least favourite as I find the mask is too obvious and her neck is too bright. The contrast with dark and light is not as obvious. Yet the shadow created is the best of all four, as it looks like another figure is joined to her and the contrast between it and the background is great.

I also looked at photographing someone wearing the mask in an everday situation in a crowd of people. In the photograph below, taken using my Fujifilm fine pix S 5600 digital camera, i blurred the surrounding crowd and changed it to black and white using photoshop.






Then, using the photograph by Paolo Roversi, from face of fashion, as inspiration i created a series of black and white film images of different headshots, but moved the paper whilst the image was being exposed to create a blurred silhoutte of the person. Thus giving them no identity.