3 Strangers

     While taking pictures of my strangers, I did not want to have a series that was not necessarily cohesive with each other. I also did not want to take too much of their time by having them do outrageous or interesting poses. Instead, I took pictures of employees at the mall and had them pose with an object related to their work. The Cash for Gold girl is posing with her fake money. The Wetzel's Pretzels girl is posing with her tongs. And the Verizon Wireless salesman is posing with his phone.

     I think these are successful because they are simplistic. Also, there was only one requirement to take pictures of strangers, allowing me to be as minimalistic or open as much as I'd like.

Symbolism

     In this piece, Darrian Major is on the ground, bleeding water from her suicidal wounds. Her hair is also drenched in water. There is an emphasis on the cuts, its red draws attention to itself. I did these things in order to symbolize rebirth and renewal. In literature, water is used to symbolize rebirth and renewal. However, in this photo, there first is an end. This end is the decision to cut herself and end her own life. While her body has met its end, her being or soul is reborn, possibly being the afterlife.

     I think this piece is 75% successful because of the use of symbolism of water and rebirth as well as the after life. However, I feel that my choice of background could have been better as well as the quality of the cuts.