Connecting Essay Two

Robert Mapplethorpe

This image is a self-portrait of robert Mapplethorpe. He has used a dark black background and positioned himself in the centre but looking towards one side. When looking at this image you can see the same blurred face behind the face that is in focus. This makes the audience feel that there is someone standing behind. This also shows the blurring formal element movement. Roberts clothing is black and so is the background, this then blends together and makes it seem as if it is just Roberts head floating in the air. This image is also not posed like all of his other portraits.
This next image creates the affect of someone or your shadow being behind you or following you.
A black background has been used and the model is positioned slightly towards the right and looking towards the right. When taking this image the lighting used had to pointing towards the model and not the background. This is to protect the background and insure that the background is dark black not dark grey. The lighting of this image very bright but only one light was used out of the two. This image makes the audience wonder how the model is feeling because she is showing very straight facial expressions.

Overall these two images compare to one another because the same feeling of someone being behind is shown. Also both of the faces behind the main person have a blurred edge. A black background is also used in both images and both are looking towards one corner and not directly at the camera. The facial expressions used in the images are both very straight and simple, they both create a upset/depressed emotion.