| Familiar Individual Portrait |

This monochrome triptych of my friend James against a black backdrop instantly communicates his personality to us through the use of clothing and props in the form of his smoke trails. The triptych details the different stages of a smoke exhale from the initial escape to the happiness immediately after, which I think it nice as the shadow cast over his face in the final image draws the attention to his face and his smile – juxtaposing with the almost noir-feel to the rest of the image.

| Self – Portrait |

My self-portrait was heavily inspired by the theatrical work on Jean-Baptiste Mondino who often used props or set dressings to craft a story within his portraits. With this in mind I wanted to create a psychotic story, which is why I used splattered fake blood to represent danger whilst the clean studio backdrop and plain clothing signified a clinical element – almost bringing across the idea of intelligence within the psychotic feel which is amplified by the striking vibrant colour of the blood and the piercing blue of the left eye.

| Unfamiliar Individual Portrait |

For this photograph of a stranger I wanted to capture the awkward and self-conscious feel of Rineke Dijkstra’s beach portraits. I made the man hold pieces of rubbish within the photo and allowed him to attempt to cover up himself with them, as he was obviously uncomfortable in front of a camera. I like how he is framed within the image, and the suburban backdrop blends into his actions and props. Although I wasn’t able to control every element of this image as much as with the others, I’m still pleased with how it turned out, though next time I would try and make the pose of the person more uncomfortable to evoke a stronger reaction when looking at the image.