Muted is a new Film Club Member and is featured in our University Student Show! He is also the first place winner of our Student Award which gifted him $500 to PhotoLounge. The photos that are included in the show truly stood out to us and the community so we thought it would be nice to get to know him a bit more and see some photos from a recent project.
Q: What got you interested in photography?
A: During quarantine I found myself scrolling through Youtube to find what I can do in my free time. Through that I was introduced to street photography. The idea of walking around capturing daily life was so intriguing. The pictures were the reward given to your hard day’s work of shooting and I just felt like I had to try it out.
Q: What type of camera do you use? What type of film have you shot with even though you are new to film photography?
A: Currently I shoot with a Sony a7iii for my main shoots and I also carry a Canon AE-1 for “memory shooting”. For film, I shoot with a Kodak Portra 400.
Q: Tell us more about this series of photos and your inspiration for creating them.
A: The series is called Self-Perception and it is a photo exploration of myself. Basically a self-portrait with a twist. There are six images in this series and each one explores a different question about me. These questions range from who am I physically to who am I emotionally. This series is open-ended as any of the images photographed can only last in that moment. When taking these photographs, I was more interested in having my subjects answer the questions for me and capture its rawness. I did not want to solely focus on documenting the literal. Self-Perception was made in a class taken in the fall of 2021 and the inspiration behind it was from me trying to answer a question that my professor asked me. The question was about finding my why.
Q: All of these images feature the same photo within a photo. What do you hope to convey by placing this photo in all of these scenes? Also, what made you choose these scenes specifically?
A: I wanted to include myself somewhere in each photo. To make it easier on my end, I took a photo of myself beforehand and printed it out to include in each image. This allowed me to interact with my subjects and help explore the answers to my questions. Each photo has a subject and these subjects are of my mother, my brothers, my partner, myself, my home, and my environment. I surrounded my subjects with their environment to make it as comfortable as possible.
Q: The color quality of this series has a gray and even tone to it. What made you want to edit these photos in this way? What is your goal for the color to evoke a sense of?
A: I wanted to create a memory-like feel to my images, almost nostalgic. These images all have a subtle warm green tone to them to help capture a sense of nostalgia.
Q: The composition of these images is very strong. When photographing, what are you thinking about before you click the shutter?
A: My main concern is if the image is in focus or not. Having a sharp image with minor issues is something that I can deal with but having a blurry image with perfect elements will drive me crazy.
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