Kristen Simmons's Digital Imaging Blog

I initially had no idea where I was going with this project. I looked at the assignment details and saw that a self-portrait was an option, so I decided to go with that. I took a photo of myself, warped it, and added the cutout filter. For the background I used an image of a painting that I did in Painting 1 earlier this semester and content-aware filled the empty space to make it a landscape image (rather than portrait). The left side seemed a bit empty, so I used a picture of my cat with the same effects as myself. Both images have the vivid light blending mode. I'm not sure where else I'll take this. After class 4/27/2022: I applied some of the feedback I received and I made my cat appear more normal as to not make her get lost in the background. I'm not sure if I'll keep this idea or take it in a different direction...

  For this image I wanted to tell my story: how anxiety feels to me. More specifically, when I go out in public. I always feel that everyone is watching me and judging me for how I act, or how I look. I wanted to try and express how this felt.

I tried to create more contrast by making the figure a brighter blue and changing the filter on myself. I replaced the eyes in the background. I'm torn between two options: making the figure seem transparent or not. In the one that seems transparent (left), the eyes are a very low opacity; I tried to make them not interfere with the figure's own eyes. I also added a blur to the figure to make it seem a bit more ghastly.

During and after class on Wednesday (4/6/22), I made some changes to my image with advice from Ed. The suggestion was to add a main figure staring back at me. I felt that on it's own, it was a bit plain, so I kept the initial eyes behind the figure and blended a duplicate layer on top of it to make the figure seem transparent.

I was struggling to come up with ideas with this project, but one of the first to come to mind was creating a few images demonstrating how anxiety feels to me. Here is an attempt at an image: I wanted to convey the feeling of always being stared at and judged by everyone around you. I need to make this image have a sense of time or motion but I'm not sure how. It's quite dark, and I wasn't sure how to change that and still keep an unsettling feeling... So I added a gradient to add more contrast between the figure and background. 

I couldn't decide on one final image because these ideas were so different from each other. Therefore, I decided to include both. I made changes to this one, moving my cat Margo to the empty negative space that the nightstand was creating. I feel that the composition is more balanced this way. I wanted to include multiple perspectives in one image to represent the often chaotic, tiring aspects of a daily routine. Imposing my cat over these perspectives is hinting at small moments that bring serenity while dealing with chaos. As for this second image, I decided to create a duality of spaces. I wanted to keep the idea of a liminal space, but I wanted to contrast it with something a bit happier. My idea behind this, regarding my concept of "routine," is similar to a crossroads; which path will you take? This hallway is one I go down every day, and their endings suggest how the day might end. The path on the left is one of negative emotions: unsafe and insecure. The path to t