RIZWANA
ALI
Phobias
An extreme or irrational fear of, or towards something
Agoraphobia
Agoraphobia is a type of anxiety disorder which causes you to avoid places and situations that may cause you to panic due to feeling trapped, helpless or embarrassed.
To show agoraphobia I decided to get one person, who is the person with the phobia, to sit on the floor scared while there are people surrounding her. This is a way to show how she is feeling in public places. Her body language is showing that she is feeling helpless and trapped between people and has fears them. When editing, I made the image black and white as a better way to portray the persons feelings and to show the anxiety that is taking over the persons mind.
Claustrophobia
Claustrophobia is the fear of being enclosed in a small space. This is when there is no actual danger but the person with claustrophobia feels this way and has an extreme fear of the situation.
When showing claustrophobia, I got my model to sit in between two beds as it is a very tight space and it looks as if the person is struggling and is stuck. The model had her head facing down and curled up her body while grabbing onto her head to show that she is suffering and can’t deal with the tight space. The way the model is holding onto her head is to show that she is going insane form the feelings she is getting when in this tight space. It is causing her to believe that she can’t get out when in fact it is simple. When taking the image, I didn’t show the end of the beds as a way to show that the tight space just continues and is never ending as that it the way a person with claustrophobia may feel. I also made this image black and white to just take away all the colour of the image and show a more darker and better way of representing the feelings of claustrophobia.
Heliophobia
Heliophobia is the fear of the sun, sunlight or any bright light. The reason for this tends to be because people are afraid that if they are out in the sun they will be diagnosed with skin cancer and many other reasons which cause it them to have an abnormal fear of the sun. Most people have anxiety from even thinking about the sun and being out in the sun. Anyone with this fear covers their windows, wears protective clothing if they have to go outside or they refuse to go out at all and isolate themselves in their house all day long.
Here are the symptoms of Heliophobia which I can use as a way to express the way people with this phobia are feeling in a photograph.
A way that heliophobia can be shown through photography is through the symptoms and a way of doing this could be by showing a person close up, only of them and a big of sunlight on a part of their body and them having these symptoms.
For example, for excessive sweating I could use water to help portray the model as being sweaty and have their facial expressions showing the fear in their eyes from the sun being able to shine on them.
Another example is of shaking. The sun can be shown to be lighting onto the hands of the model and because of this they are experiencing shaking and when editing the shaking can be shown to be much more severe than it is shown through the camera because heliophobia is an exaggerated and irrational fear of the sun.
This image can relate to Heliophobia as it shows that the sun is out, but this person seems to be behind a building in the shadows and seems like they are hiding away from the sunlight.
Here is an image of a person in an empty room where it is dark and the only way of light coming through is by a small window in this room. The light is shining onto the person and they seem to be frightened and creating weird body movements suggesting that they are in a panicked situation due to the light being able to come through to them.
Here are pictures that show the more basic concept of heliophobia and is usually the way people see the phobia as but the next few images that I am going to show are more images that are my inspiration and is the way that I see heliophobia to be.
When looking at the first image below I see it more as a way that a person with heliophobia is able to enjoy their day only at night, when the sun has set and it gives me ideas of showing a persons daily life but only throughout the night as they are too afraid to do anything during the day because of the sunlight.
The next picture gives me ideas of wanting to show heliophobia in my photography not by showing what it is exactly, but showing the way a person feels and what happens to them if they are in any contact with the sun. it also gives me ideas to do as much as I can in a photograph that I am taking but then using photoshop to edit and manipulate the pictures to represent the feelings of a person with this phobia better.
This next picture can be a way of showing Heliophobia as it is a person looking at the city at night which may show that they get time to appreciate their surroundings when the sun is down as they are too afraid to be out during the day.
This last image is showing a person doing their day to day chores however light is coming through the window. I like this picture the most as a way of representing Heliophobia as it shows how they are feeling through the manipulation when editing rather than having a person act out the way they are feeling because of the light. This photograph shows that this person may be starting to feel dizzy because of the sunlight.
A dark room with no light except a small source of lighting shining through a gap of the blinds. The light will go onto the person or next to the person. The model will be on the ground in the corner of the room, hiding away from the sunlight and crouched in the corner, afraid.
On a sunny day, have someone on the ground in the corner of a building looking scared and hiding away from the light. Have different angles of the person and position the person in different places. Some pictures of the model standing, some sitting, some crouched and so on.
Heliophobia Photography Ideas
The model should look happy and excited to be outside because they are out when it is a gloomy day and the sun isn’t out at all.
A room where everything that can possible allow light to enter is covered. The windows are covered, doors closed. The room could have tape all over windows. To do this I could buy tape that won’t damage the wall or the windows and cover up one window and position the model next to it. Or I could use other materials to cover up the light from entering the room.
A person could be doing their daily activities but only when it is at night. For example, going outside to do shopping, putting laundry outside to dry.
A person outside in the sun but they are completely clothed as it is winter and is freezing outside just so they are full protected from the sunlight. Wearing hats, gloves, a big coat, scarf and other clothing.
Heliophobia Photoshoot Plan
For the photoshoot I will be taking a few different shots that will include different locations, people, ideas, equipment, angles and positions.
Here are a few of the different experiments that I will be doing for heliophobia:
I will have my little sister as the model. The location will be in my bedroom and the actual photoshoot will be me taking a picture of her as she is sitting on the ground crouched up. Within the shot I will make sure that I can see her and the window and door. I will either have a bit of light being able to come through the door or through the window. I will try to take the pictures on a sunny day and if that doesn’t work out I will use an LED light and place it behind the curtains and make it shine onto the model or make sure that it is shining next to her legs. In the bedroom I will make sure that everything is out of the way so that when I am taking the picture it seems as if the model is in an empty room.
For the next experiment of heliophobia I will only take pictures of a room. I will also set this in my bedroom and there won’t be any models for this, but I will have close ups of the room instead. This photoshoot will be close ups of windows and the windows will be covered with red tape to show that the person is trying to cover up anything that can possibly let light come in. I would also like to take pictures of the windows with the LED light shining on it and a red gel on top and the room will be pitch black.
For this photoshoot I will do it on a Thursday as the sun will be out, and I can use it to my advantage since the phobia is a fear of the sun. I will have my friend as the model and I will have the location close to the college. It will be near a small park and I will find a building which is in the corner and the sun will be shining onto it but behind the corner of that building there should be shade so that will be where my model will be standing, frightened and hiding from the sunlight. I will use my digital camera for this and it is a Nikon D3300 and the lens is an 18 to 55mm. I will be using this as I can zoom in and get close to the model if needed.
Heliophobia Photoshoot
The pictures that I have taken for this shoot have different ideas and locations and are showing my different views of what heliophobia is. I have experimented with the sun itself, the darkness, props and LED. The first two shoots that I have done are the more basic ideas of heliophobia and aren’t really an original idea to me as once I came up with these ideas I saw that other people have done the same or something similar. However, the shoots after that are my own ideas that nobody else has done.
Here I have the model sitting on the ground and she is crouched up. The model has her coat on and has put the hood on as a way to show that no matter how hot it is outside she will protect herself from the sun. The model is hiding behind a building, away from the sun as she has an extreme fear of it and because of this fear she is starting to get anxious and is feeling dizzy. When editing I duplicated the layer in order to portray the feelings of the character with heliophobia.
Here is an image of the person feeling scared and being hunched up due to the sunlight.
For this photograph I have captured the picture at an angle that is closer to the model so that I am able to show more of the surroundings and show the light more. Here we can see that this person is hiding under her hood of the jacket and is afraid of the sunlight touching her. We can see that the light is on the end of her hood, where she seems to be moving away from the most.
My favourite image is where the sun is directly above the person and you are only really able to see the sunlight and the face of the person isn’t showing because of that. I like the fact that everything else is shown clear, just not the face because that is where the light is and that makes it harder for the viewers to be able to understand and see how this person is feeling through her facial expressions.
The main purpose of this photograph is to show the symptoms that a person with heliophobia is experiencing.
This is the second shoot I have done for heliophobia and it is located in my house, in the living room. I did this when it was completely dark outside and I could close all the curtains and turn the light off in the room. For this I have got a different model to act as if they have this phobia.
The main focus of this shoot with this model was to show fear through her facial expressions. But I mainly got the model to cover up most of her face and only show her eyes, that way the fear is only shown through the eyes and viewers are to interpret her emotions that way only.
For this image I got the model to try and get some tears out which I captured but it isn’t well shown in the picture. I got the LED light to be shone on the models face and that is why I tried to show the tears coming out because of how nervous and petrified she is.
Here I have used a second model for the same shoot. I wanted to experiment with different people as there is a different level of skills in terms of acting out and showing facial and body expressions. For this shot I got the model to face away from the light but as you can see her cheeks are very red. This is showing a symptom of muscle tension slowly starting up because of the light that is directly on her face. The model is slightly looking towards the light in a concerned manner.
This is my favourite photograph because of the models facial and body expressions shown. The model is grabbing her face as if she is clawing it because of the distraught of the sunlight that is shining onto her. The model’s facial expression is extremely good as you can clearly tell the pain she is in and how scared she is.
For this image the model is hiding away from the sunlight but is peeping through a small gap with her hands and only looking with one eye staring right at the sunlight. When editing these images, I tried to make the room itself look much darker and the light to be very bright but not to be shown on the model too much. I used an LED throughout this entire shoot as a way to represent the sunlight. I first tried to but the LED on the windowsill and someone held it in place and moved the curtains slightly which made a small bit of light appear onto or close to the model. When that didn’t work I got the person who wasn’t modelling to hold the LED where I wanted it to be and we moved it around a lot trying to get the perfect shots.
One problem that I got throughout the entire shoot was that the camera was struggling to focus because of the lack of light in the room so every time I tried to focus I had to be close to the LED or first try and focus on the light I could find and then move the camera onto the model. I tried to change the angles that I took the picture in every shot we did. Another problem was that there was quite a lot a noise in the images because of the lack of light.
The images I have taken for this shoot don’t exactly go according to the plan I made because of the change in location and the change of models but the idea is generally the same for this particular shoot.
For this experimental shoot I decided to play around with the exposure and let as much light in as possible so that the sun would be covering the persons face and most of the features will be gone.
In order to achieve this, I first played around with the settings in a room with a window. I first turned the auto ISO sensitivity off, I then changed the ISO sensitivity to the highest possible which was 3200 and lastly, I went onto manual mode and started to play with the aperture and shutter speed a little.
This was my first attempt of the shoot which I wasn’t too happy about, so I took the pictures again when the sun was out more and I had a more detailed background.
In terms of hiding the face of the model away because of the sunlight, this shoot worked out well.
This was the second attempt I had of the shoot and it was at a time where the sun was out more so there was more sunlight on the model and it was at a different location.
When taking the images the sun had already taken a lot of the features of the models face away due to the settings of the camera but I had edited more to make sure that the background is showing that the sun is out more and the models face is the main part that is hidden away because of the sun.
For the second attempt I made sure that the model looked like they were actually reacting to the sun and they were scared and in pain because of it. I took the images at a low angle and got down all the way as the camera was pointed up at the model and they were standing as high as they could and were modelling to be afraid of the sun. I made sure that the sun was pointing right towards the model rather than having the sun show up behind them.
For my final idea I have put black heavy duty tape all over the windows of my living room. My original plan was to have red tape but unfortunately, I couldn’t find it and the reason for wanting red tape was as a way to represent the colour of the sun itself but using the colour black wasn’t too bad as it shows darkness and how the person with heliophobia is trying to get away from light and anything got to do with the sun.
The way I did this was by first taping on newspaper all over the windows that when I actually put the tape on, the windows aren’t damaged but of course to the viewers they would only see the black tape on the window and it will show exactly how afraid the person is of the sun reaching them even a little.
This is how the view of the window is from outside and I have edited the picture to make it look more dingy and dark from the outside as a way to show that the person has abandoned themselves from the outside world.
My purpose for this shoot is to have a more abstract shoot and make people wonder why there are images of a window that is covered with tape and have them question why someone would do this.
The aim is to have close up images of the window and I have also used LED with a red gel to create a better effect.
Here are some of the pictures I have taken of the window close up and when editing I have given a different style for each. For the first image the tape looks very glossy and neat, the second is black and white and you can see all the details of the tape and the last one shows the red gel projected by the LED.
For these shots I have tried to get as close as possible to the window and have some parts of the tape to be in focus while the other parts are out of focus and quite blurred out so have a better look at the detail of the tape, showing exactly how thick and strong it is which shows that a person with heliophobia will do the best they can to stop light from entering their homes.
Here are a few shots of my sister as the model and she is acting as the person with heliophobia. In these shots she is placing the last bit of tape onto the window. I have taken this as a way to show what lengths a person with heliophobia may go to so that they are in no contact with the sunlight.
For these shots I have used an LED and a red gel on top as a way to create a more dark and dingy effect and as a way to show that the person may be using light within the house that is dark and not bright yellow as they are so afraid of bright lights.
Second Attempt of Heliophobia Photoshoot
From the first photoshoot I had done of heliophobia I received feedback that it was hard to tell what the image was meant to be at the beginning as people couldn’t tell that it was a window with duct tape on it, so I decided for the second attempt I would include images of the window covered with tape at the start to clarify what it is exactly. I also received feedback saying that the images weren’t very abstract apart from the last idea which was with the window, so I should stick to that and expand on it more. With this idea I was advised to take close up images of the tape itself and get the details of it captured more and also get a few images of some gaps through the window and light coming through and also getting an angle of the light that is coming through on the wall and showing the shadow of it shown.
Here is an image of the window itself to show the viewers what is going on before moving onto abstract images in order for them to understand what exactly the photographs are.
The following sets of images I will be showing are close ups that I have taken of the tape that I put over the windows. In some of these images the tape isn’t exactly on the window as I have taken it of but I have positioned myself in a way so that people don’t realise that it is no longer on a window as it is still on a flat surface.
When taking these images I went onto the ground and took low angle photographs of the tape.
Due to the lack of resources at the time of the shoot I was unable to do exactly what I wanted but I found alternatives to the equipment I was unable to get. I needed an LED light and a red gel but I was unable to get them so instead I used the torch from my iPhone and I found a orangey-red folder at home which I used as a replacement of a red gel. This worked quite well in my opinion and at some moments when I was just standing above the tape I was able to use the room light as the replacement of an LED.
For this particular image I tried to show the dimension by making a lot bumps when placing the tape on top of one another. I also tried showing a few gaps between the tape so that shadows are created and I used a light and the red folder to create a red effect which seems to appear more on the more larger parts of the tape before there starts to be bumps shown.
For this photograph I decided to show more of the pattern and texture by being focused on one section of the tape whereas the part closest to me, is blurry. By doing this I was able to capture the detail of the tape that was in focus and I was also able to show the texture of the more blurry part as with the torch the camera was able to capture the little bits of the tape and it created a sort of bokeh effect.
Here I have images of the tape and a bit of a gap where light is coming through. The aim of these photographs was to try and capture the detail of the tape and show the graininess and the marks that are placed on the tape.
This first image is mainly focused on the detail of the tape itself whereas the second image is focused on the light that is being let through.
With this photograph I got an A4 piece of paper and I cut it out in different places to make it seem like it is the cuts of the tape that is placed on the window. In order to achieve this outcome I got an LED light and placed it behind the piece of paper so the light goes through the cuts of the paper. I placed this sheet of paper in front of a plain wall so that the shadow and light of the LED is shown onto the wall, making it seem as if light is still being able to enter the home of a person with Heliophobia.
This photograph is of the tape that is on the window but I have taken this picture of a cut that is on the tape and have shown how the world outside looks through this tape as a way of showing the real life against complete darkness.
In my opinion, this image did not work too well as it would have made more sense to take the photograph during the day and it is hard to understand what is happening.
Mental Health Photoshoot
Research:
For this photoshoot I have chosen depression as the mental health problem to take abstract photographs of.
Depression is a mental disorder which causes people to feel down for a long period of time and it makes them lose interest, have feelings of guilt and low self-worth and they also might struggle to sleep or to wake up in the mornings and get out of bed to do their daily routine as they start to have low energy and poor concentration.
According to NHS choices, depression is more than feeling unhappy or fed up for a few days. Depression is when a person is persistently feeling sad for weeks or months and that is the way to know whether you have depression as it isn’t just having a few bad days.
Depression can be caused genetically as some families have a history of depression and because of that a person may just have depression by genetics rather than there being a specific reason. Depression can also be caused if a person experiences something that is life changing and this makes the depression get triggered.
Depression can be very severe as it may cause people to feel suicidal and they might start self-harming because of it as they feel they aren’t worth living anymore and don’t see any reason to be alive.
When researching on depression I looked at a photographer named Edward Honaker. I looked at his photography on depression to find inspiration when taking my own photographs. I felt that this was the best way to have ideas as Edward Honaker captures his own depression and it shows his real intake and emotions through each image.
Plan:
What I like about Edward Honaker’s photography on depression is that when looking at each image it can be interpreted in many ways and each person that looks at it may have a different view and way of feeling about the image. I feel as though when a person is or has experienced depression too they understand the picture better and know the feeling better rather than someone who is just trying to understand the meaning behind a picture.
When I look at this image I can interpret that the photographer is trying to show that a person with depression may be feeling very lost and not knowing who they are as a person anymore. It may also mean that this person is feeling very self-conscious about themselves and has low self-esteem because that is what depression does to a person and that is the reason for why their face and the way they are to be recognised as a person is all over the place and is all in pieces as if they aren’t able to be one and be themselves.
After doing research on depression I have decided to take the approach of showing how a person with severe depression may be. I will set all of this in my house as it is more of a domestic setting and shows that a person that has depression may do all of this in their own home as they don’t want to leave their house or do anything.
One idea I have come up with is to take photographs of a blade and have close ups of the blade in order to make it more abstract. By taking images of blades it shows that there is a link with self-harm.
I will also have fake blood included make it clearer as to what is happening and have this shown beside a sink, preferably a toilet sink as it may show that when a person is alone in the bathroom they do this to hurt themselves as no one else is around.
Another idea is to take photographs of tablets and show lots of them as this insinuates that a person with depression will be trying to overdose as a way to take their own life and this is just one of the ways that they may think because of the suicidal thoughts they get.
Photoshoot:
The first four images I will be showing you is a series that I have decided on as a way to show the journey that a person with depression may go through and this journey is of their mind taking over and causing them to be so lost that they decide on self harming. Each image represents the stages that might happen before a person with depression decides that they should hurt themselves. I feel as if this is an accurate representation of depression as it shows how a person loses control and how their everyday life activities becomes too much to bare.
Here are books that are laid out on the table along side with a pen, which is introducing the domestic setting. This first photograph shows the first step of a person who is about to go through with harming himself or herself because of the gloomy mood that their depression is putting them through. I have set this image up so that it shows a person, lets say a student, who is studying but beside all their work they have a razor blade. The books that I set up are very colourful and I have made it this way because it shows how inviting the colours are against the dark side, which has a blade.
I have put books in the background because it introduces what is going on more and shows how people with depression are fighting against themselves at home and are trying their hardest to get on with their life.
The next step to getting closer to self-harm is the thought of a person hurting himself or herself. In this image I have placed the torch from my iPhone behind the razor blade and got the torch to be pretty close so that the shadow that is created is very big. I reflected this shadow onto a table and I have done this as a way to represent the blade being able to overpower this person that has this mental health problem. It shows how a person with depression experiences extreme hopelessness and negativity and all these thoughts cause them to want to hurt or take their own life.
I made this image black and white as this is the stage where the extreme points of the person feeling low is met and they are no longer able to cope.
At this stage the person’s mind has convinced them that hurting themselves is the right thing and the only thing to do in order to take their pain away and this is where they take the physical step and the severe depression is shown. Here I have held the blade and placed it close to a wall and had the torch placed below on the right so that a shadow is being shown of the blade, as well as the blade itself. With this image I have decided to include a hand as a way of showing human element and showing a way of the person now taking control of their actions. When deciding on the framing of the photograph I decided to show more of the background in the image and the blade and hand to be taking up less of the image, as my intention was to show that at this stage there is still a possibility of depression not being able to take over a person and them being able to make the choice of not hurting their own body.
Here is the last stage where the person loses all control and ends up self-harming. Here I have decided to have a paper and pen as the background once again as it shows that they are unable to do anything without their mood and feelings taking over. To achieve this I held the blade with one hand, I placed fake blood onto my hand and on the side of the blade so that it looks as if a person has just cut into their hand very deep. My intention was to show that this person is struggling to cope with things that any other person may be fine with but because of the depression everything gets much harder and it is very difficult to control their feelings and emotions.
One problem I had with this image was that I felt it was way too literal and the photographs are meant to be abstract.
This is a photograph that I took which is a close up of a blade. I managed to get a section of the blade to be in focus while the rest is out of focus. I used a NIKON D3300 with a focal length of 55, F number of 5.6 and I had the exposure time as 1/60. When receiving feedback I was told that if I want to get such a close up like that I should attempt this again but with a phone and I was also advised to try and change the aperture so that the entire blade would be in focus.
With this image I placed a black paper onto the wall and I had a torch facing the wall. When taking the image I held the blade close to the camera and made sure that it was completely in focus but I didn’t want a lot of it to be shown as my main purpose was to show the shadow. I wanted the shadow to be showing as a huge size in comparison to the blade so I positioned the blade in a way so that this takes place.
The meaning behind this photograph is to show that the shadow is overtaking and overpowering the person and though the blade might be small it has a big meaning behind it and when a person is depressed their mind allows them to think low of themselves and that is when the blade may take over.
Here I have gone more literal in the sense that I am showing exactly what is happening and it is easier for the audience to understand what this mental health problem will be. I have located this in an abandoned kitchen sink as I feel it links well with the mental health problem. I have placed a blade above with fake blood dripping down, leading there to be drips of blood all over the sink. I have shown lots of drips as a way of showing how severe this is and how much a person can cause themselves to be in pain because of the mental pain they are enduring.
Here I have used depth of field to have the blade to be in focus where the kitchen sink and the blood is completely out of focus and only the bright colours of red are mainly being identified.
With this image I have made it black and white to relate to the feelings of a depressed person more and I have expressed the colour red more by darkening it much more than it originally was.
Here I have found a set of pills in a pot which are very colourful and small so I have used these as the colour contrasts drastically with what action this person is about to take.
However, this picture is also seen as too bright and looks more like sweets than pills. i feel as though the bright colours take away the dark side and the sadness and hardships that people experience because of their mental health.
The next set of pictures is of pills to show how a person with depression might overdose due to the suicidal thoughts they are getting. Extreme depression can cause people to self-harm and become suicidal so this is what I am trying to capture in the images rather than how a person will feel.
With this image I am showing pills that are coming out of a pot. I didn’t have a lot of these pills so in order to avoid capturing the fact that it isn’t from this pot I have taken the picture at an angle where it seems as if it is. In the editing process I have brightened up the red much more as it represents blood and how this person is about to take their own life.
When editing this image I have changed the colour to be more blue as this colour represents sadness and it shows a contract between this dark blue with these light pink tablets.
This is a close up that I have taken of tablets falling out of the pot and when taking this image I got the camera to be very low so that it is at the same position as where the tablets are put and from this angle you are able to see all of the tablets that are still inside the pot. I didn’t want any of the writing to be shown so I made the tablets take up most of the image and the pot is only shown enough to be known for what it is.
When receiving feedback for this picture I was told that the things that were working well was depth of field, lighting and creating harsh shadows, I was told that the picture makes you feel uneasy and understand how a person with depression feels, the
composition and focus worked well, the black and white effect and the fact that it is abstract but you are still able to tell what the mental health problem is and what the image is trying to portray. However, I was also told that to improve I could make everything black and white but pick out the pills to have colour as a way to show the contrast and expressing the bright colours could work well and I was also advised to have more pills to be in focus. One advice I also received was that I could add a hand to show more human element but people also disagreed with that as it may make the picture too literal by adding in anything else.
Here I have taken a close up of a set of tablets that are falling out of a pot. When taking this image I didn’t want a lot of the background to be shown and only wanted the tablets to be the main focus so when thinking about the composition I made sure that the tablets and the pot, which are out of focus, will take up most of the image whereas the one tablet that is in focus will be away from everything else and take up a small section of the image. My intention for this photograph was to have the one tablet, which is in focus to be a representation of a person with the mental health problem, depression. This tablet shows how a person that has depression may feel as though they are not a part of society and they feel as if they have no one and no one to go to. Although this tablet is and looks the same as all the others the mental health problem makes them believe they should be left out and don’t belong.