My concept began with the following Elie Wiesel quote, “Night is purer than day; it is better for thinking and loving and dreaming. At night everything is more intense, more true. The echo of words that have been spoken during the day takes on a new and deeper meaning. The tragedy of man is that he doesn't know how to distinguish between day and night. He says things at night that should only be said by day.”  For me, this involves the clarity and excitement of night, a time when I personally feel most alive and creative yet simultaneously the most lonely and isolated. Night can exist as a sort of alternate reality due to our altered state of mind and perception. In this environment, we can live through our dreams pursuing desire, intimacy, and connection. Somehow, daylight leaves us once again in a stark reality where intimacy is difficult and the night before is left as fragments and memories. I wanted to create a visual narrative for this concept that would be laden with the emotionality that Wiesel captured in his writing.

I strive to create a surreal visceral atmosphere in my work using experimental techniques with a focus on portraiture. I felt that this concept would provide a good opportunity to explore portraits that convey emotion and mood through utilizing lighting, long-exposures, and aesthetic techniques. Using a Canon T2i DSLR, I employed a Canon Speedlite 430EX II external flash with colored gels to freeze motion trails, creating ghost-like images with the added effect of the colored gels on the mood. I used the flash & gels in tandem with a handmade lens kit made from the lens components of an antique Kodak Duaflex camera. The handmade lens kit adds a soft blur & grittiness with an antique, nostalgic feel that is fitting for my concept.  I also chose to combine multiple portrait images taken with my handmade lens kit in Photoshop using a layering technique to create collages that have the same visual feel and emotional atmosphere as my other images, while combining elements from the dynamically colorized photographs to create a sense of coherency throughout the project. I directed my model to harness a sense of tension and feeling that could visually convey my literary inspiration. These techniques layered together produced images that are dramatic, emotive, and surreal.