1. Finding a topic for this photo was the most difficult part of the whole process. Initially I wanted to do something sea themed, perhaps a person with tentacle fingers, or coral hair. However these ideas relied heavily on the pictures I could find online and often I couldn’t find anything that lent itself to what I wanted. One of the ideas I considered was having a person with a light bulb for a head. This eventually transformed into the sun as a light bulb, and then someone turning it on. While trying to decide on what I wanted to create I went through lists and lists of possible ideas, going through mythology and figures of speech that could be represented visually in abstract ways.
2. Coming up with the idea was the hard part, the actual shoot was easy. Though I was editing on Photoshop to create the final product, I felt that taking a picture with the correct lighting to begin with would result in a far more cohesive piece. To achieve this I placed my model right beside my key light, actually showing in the original photos. I did this so that I would know where to place the sun within the picture, and to ensure that the light fell on my model accurately. By the time I did the shoot I was set in what I wanted to do so I didn’t have to change any plans while working.
3. Since the eyes of the model are closed this photo takes me to a dreamscape, as if perhaps she has just turned off her real light, and in doing so turned on this light within her mind. The fact that she’s among the stars and planets also helps reinforce the idea of a dream. The face of the model is so calm and peaceful that I find this photo also very peaceful, and I hope that this sleepy, serene dreamscape is what others see in this.
