This is my reshoot of my previous control, dominance, and physical contact shoot. I decided to reshoot this as I wanted to include myself in the work and have Rowan and Jack hold my face, one, to see how it would feel, and two, to see what effect it would have visually having all three of us.
I decided to change the location of the shoot to Rowans old bedroom which has been converted into a spare room. I wanted all of us to appear topless (mentioned by Jim in a tutorial) so as to add a sense of raw and honesty to the images, almost as if we are children or babies. I think this has created some very warm tones, as the light is natural light from the sunrise, the tones in the images are prink and fleshy, even our hair looks of a similar tone. I am not as happy with these images, I feel as though the boys had become fed up by this point and no longer interested in the work at all.
My favourite of the series is the portrait of Rowan (last image) as his hair has created a great texture that contrasts with his skin. Jacks hands appear feminine which gives the image an interesting effect, as if he could be being held by a woman which would give the image a different effect, and involve themes such as romantic relationships. I do however think there is accidentally something biblical about the image, the shadow on his face looks like a cross which would imply that is what he is looking at. This was not my intention as when making the image I didn’t notice this detail, however upon reviewing the images I realise this is not the atmosphere I was going for. Potentially if the project involved religion, this would be a perfect image, but is not what I would like to currently pursue. In the images of Jack with Rowans hand holding his face I feel that the way in which Rowans hands squished Jacks hair makes the images look funny. I do however like Jacks facial expression, as well as how much Rowans tattoo stands out in these images.
In regard to the images of myself and my own experience of the shoot, I feel that they are not as strong as the portraits of Rowan and Jack. I think that because I am not used to being photographed I made strange faces and the images feel unnatural. It was Rowan that was holding my face, and while in the images the grip on my head does not seam that strong, I remember feeling that his hand on my forehead was very tight, I thought it might be because he was annoyed at me for waking him up early for the shoot. This must have been how tightly he was holding Jack in all of the work I have made in this way, which is interesting. I felt very under his control and I didn’t direct him to hold my face tightly. I also did this face holding with my sister Flo, and her hold felt completely different, it is interesting that Rowan naturally holds our faces very firmly.
When having my portfolio review with Maja Daniels she asked me how I was when I shoot with my brothers, and I told her honestly that I put a lot of effort in to make sure it is not awkward and that they are as comfortable and happy as they can be. She suggested me not doing this, being myself completely and not putting any special effort in. This is what I did for this shoot, and I feel that you can see this in the work. Both of the boys look angry, bored and fed up in the portraits, which was very much the atmosphere of the shoot. This revealed to me how much the images were dependant on the mood and atmosphere at the time of the shoot. I feel as though despite wanting the images to feel uncomfortable, the results were much better when the environment was controlled more by me. This was an equally important experience, it taught me about the process and the resulting imagery.
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