Megan RagonesePhoto Essay 12/11/2014Rough Draft

Introduction of Images

When trying to develop and express a message to an audience, writers have a formula in

mind. While creating my photo essay, I created a formula that consists of time sequence,

theme, ideas, and location/background. I used these individually, but making sure they

interlink together. My overall theme displayed through my photos is domestic violence.

Themes are really important when trying to express an idea, validate a point, or get a

message across. Along with showing images of variations of domestic violence raw, I

showed images of the aftermath. Not exactly images of the physical aftermath, for example,

bruises and black eyes, but more of the mental and emotional effects it causes. I also showed

symbolic images of the power someone has over you, and showed metaphors of power and

outlets/escapes as well. Since I wanted to show domestic violence raw, and then the

aftermath, time sequence for my images was a key to developing my photo essay.

The time sequence starts off right away with screaming and yelling, which doesn’t

exactly scream abusive relationship, but that’s why it was important for my images to

progress. The following image is a standing male over a woman shouting at her. The woman

is sitting and covering her face seeming scared of him. Following that image, there is the

same woman sitting sunken in with a males hand over her mouth, representing power and

dominance. The next image is the same thing, but this time the woman is sitting more straight

up, and is trying to pull the hand away. The last few images are of the woman sitting there

distraught, tired, scared, confused, angry, and plain miserable.

You can clearly see the struggle that she is going through, but more importantly you feel

for her. I wanted my audience to connect with my images, not just by me pulling on their

heart strings, and not necessarily connecting directly. I don’t expect them to know what the

pain from an abusive relationship is like, but that’s not my main point. My main point is for

them to be able to draw connections and know it’s a daily struggle. Domestic violence is

something that was happening yesterday, today, and will continue happening in the future

unless the silence is broken.

Analysis of Photos

I used my formula while taking my photos to create a purpose. Each photo was purposely

taken individually to provide meaning. I wanted each photo to hold its own meaning, without the

viewer having to see the other photos. Each photo can be individually analyzed alone, but it does

help to see how they all correlate together.

The first image is a woman in the house doing the dishes while a male is pointing close to her

face. This is a simple photo representing the dominance.

The second image is another male yelling at the female who is sitting down in a corner in the

kitchen cradling her head. This is a physical representation of domestic violence.

The third image is a male holding staring at his dinner plate, wondering where dinner is. The

flowers on the table represent the romantic side of him that occurs sometimes for you to keep

trusting him. Although, you can see that the roses are dying, representing that he doesn’t deserve

your trust and the relationship died a long time ago.

Image four is an image of the male’s hand over the woman. The image is lighter adding to

the effect that the woman is just comfortable with it now. She’s sitting down and her shoulders

are relaxed and pressed down making it look like she’s tired of it and now she’s just letting it

continue.

The fifth image is the female grabbing the males hand back. She’s showing force and you

can see the veins in her hand representing the struggle that still remains, but now she is fighting

him off. This image is darker than the previous one because now she’s confident and asserting

herself.

Image six is the female grabbing back, this time harder. She’s much more forceful than

before because she’s tired of it. She knows in her heart this isn’t right, and she’s over all of it.

The seventh image is the female sitting there on the floor with her eyes closed. When you

close your eyes, you forget. You sleep with your eye closed, and when you are sleeping nothing

is a bother to you. This image represents that metaphor. Sometimes, she just wants to forget.

The eighth image is a blurry black and white image of the female grabbing her head. This

image represents the mental and emotional effects of an abusive relationship. She looks like she

could use some help, and probably wants it. The black and white represents the confusion. She

doesn’t know where to go, or where to turn. The blurriness shows her anxiety, and makes you

feel for her. The outlet is there to represent a realistic house setting. This happens in many

people’s homes but you just don’t know what happens behind closed doors.

The ninth image is a black and white image of the female grabbing her head. This is

when you start to see the effects of domestic violence. This female is grabbing her head thinking

am I really going through this right now? The black and white represents the fuzziness that is

still there.

Image ten is the female grabbing her face in a colored image. Things may be lightening

by now, but are they really? The expression on her face doesn’t tell you that, but now the world

around her is colored, because she got away from her abuser.

Image eleven is a really powerful blurry image. It’s a black and white blurry image of the

female who is clearly still distressed. Things seemed to be getting better at first, but now

everything has changed. She doesn’t know how to fight anymore, or how to live. It’s almost like

she can’t live with, or without him.

Image twelve is the female looking up in a black and white image. The female looking up

represents exactly that. She’s no longer in so much pain. She’s able to keep her head up now, but

the black and white is her past. It’s still with her, but she’ll come up on top.

The last image, image thirteen, is the female looking up in color. She has a dead stare,

yes, but she’s looking up. The reason I didn’t make this female smiling is because right after an

abusive relationship you are not healed right away. She’s looking up though and the colored

image represents it will be ok.

All the images correspond with each other and you can see the built timeline.

Representations, metaphors, symbols, actualizations, color, depth of field, patterns and

composition rules are all important pieces when taking images for specified purposes.

Analysis of One Image

“Always a way out” is the title of my photo I picked to analyze. I chose this image

because my entire theme is domestic violence and the effects of an abusive relationship, but

in this photo the woman is fighting back. If I wanted my viewers to receive any message

from my photo essay, the message is this photo.

This woman’s hair is dark, her clothing is dark, and her eyes are closing, but that doesn’t

mean it’s over yet. In this photo, the woman starts to fight back. In her hand, you can see her

veins popping out showing force while she grabs his hand back trying to pry him off. You

can tell she is struggling by the fact that his hand is still fully covering her mouth and

pressing in her cheek. You can also tell that the prying is working a little, as you can see his

fingers slowly coming off her lips. The subject’s expression does so much for a photo.

“The eyes shout what the lips fear to say” – William Henry. Her eyes are giving off a

daggering look. Although to a viewer they can appear to be closing and giving up, to me,

they are confident. The stare she is giving off represents she has had enough and now she’s

slowly fighting back. She’s now trying. The representation of struggle for her is still in this

photo though, and that’s what I admire about it. The violence is still there, and happening.

Her hair is still messy and everything besides her face and the wall behind her is very dark

and black. His hand is still over her mouth, representing the power he has over her, but now

her hand is there too, and over his.

The power outlet next to this woman’s face was purposely there. To a viewer, it could

represent the dominance and power this man has from his abusive ways. To me, it’s the exact

opposite. It represents an outlet. There’s always a way out. There’s an escape, and even

though it’s very difficult and challenging to escape from, the possibility still exists.

Not only is what is in the image important, but also how the image was taken is

important. My female model in this photo is centered in this image for a purpose. One rule of

composition that is present in this photo is depth of field. The first thing a viewers’ eyes are

drawn is the hands. The hands are located in the center of the image and are “closest” to the

viewer. In the background, you can see the power outlet and the white walls. Besides

representing she’s home, the power outlet represents a way out which is why it’s placed in

the background of the photo.

Another rule of composition is symmetry and patterns. This photo is pretty symmetrical

on both sides, besides the power outlet. Photography Mad website says, “Another great way

to use them is to break the symmetry or pattern in some way, introducing tension and a focal

point to the scene.” Her hair is pretty symmetrical along with her eyes, eye brows, and nose.

I think that symmetry is necessary, but then I like where it is broken. You see their hands

over her mouth, and you see the outlet which are not symmetrical to anything at all. I like

that about this image because that is where the eyes fall, which to me, are the most important

parts of the image.

Cropping is another rule of composition that I used for this photo to really capture of

what was happening. Photography Mad says, “By cropping tight around the subject you

eliminate the background “noise”, ensuring the subject gets the viewer’s undivided

attention”. The other images I used showed the female’s entire body and even her feet on the

floor. This image only captured her face and the hands. I wanted the viewer to get a good

look on her face, and what her eyes are saying. I feel if I didn’t crop this photo, the viewer

could’ve have gotten lost in other background areas that were not important to this photo’s

message.

This image overall represents the struggle of domestic violence relationships, rules of

composition, and photography. All of my images were specifically taken at certain angles

with certain lightning to do this project. I never realized all of the groundwork that went into

photography and taking pictures. Overall, it was really fun to take and display my images.

This is a topic that hits home for me, and it was neat to express my feelings towards this topic

through imagery and analysis.