Portraits without a face, take two

Today I finally started working on an idea that I started playing around with, way back in February when I was in Auckland for the first week of study; Portraits without a face. Ever since then I've been meaning to expand on that idea and use more than one item of the individuals belongings so the photograph creates a slightly more detailed picture of what the person might be like.

I've decided 5 is a good number. I prefer odd numbers (even though even numbers are somehow prettier..) and I think 5 items might even be easier to set out aesthetically speaking, on the still life table I've borrowed from my wee lovely Daegan. So, I've asked people to give me 5 items that belong to them, items that they think define them. Whether they be some of their favourite things, things that are dear to their hearts or things that represent their hobbies etc.

Here's my first attempt: two slightly differing set ups of the same items.

Abbey Proctor, 2011, Anon I [digital photograph]

Abbey Proctor, 2011, Anon I [digital photograph]

I quite like these aesthetically, but because I know the person whose belongings these are, I can't really tell if the idea is working how I want it to. I would really appreciate some feedback about these; whether they're working, what you take from the items in terms of the individual etc.

First Whitecliffe assignment

Slightly out of order but.. These photographs are from the first assignment we had at Whitecliffe way back in February. The Christchurch and Rotorua students had to go up to Auckland for a week for orientation. While we were up there, we had that week to do a small body of work where the concept had the potential to span the length of the year. The items featured in the photographs belong to my classmates. They're objects they had with them at the time, that they thought would say the most about themselves. One of the things the tutors had said at the beginning of the week was to push ourselves out of out comfort-zone, as it were, hence the marks on the surface the objects are sitting on. I'm quite a perfectionist when it comes to that sort of thing and at first I was not happy about it. Now I think it adds something to the images. They were taken the week of the massive February 22nd Earthquake in Christchurch, and I just didn't have the time to edit them...

Abbey Proctor, 2011, Portraits without a face (series) [digital photographs]