I am I think, I think I am by olgapetrusewicz

I am i think, i think i am

Olga Petrusewicz

SELF-AWARENESS

their boundaries and are in good mental health. They tend to have a positive outlook on life and can overcome their bad moods quicker than people who are not aware of their emotional states. It is interesting that self-awareness is closely connected to being in control of ourselves. People who can understand causes and results of particular actions are more likely to avoid, or fight, stress and above all, know how to manage their anger, euphoria and are less likely to have mood swings.

Self-awareness described in the book Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman says that it can be described as having an ongoing attention to oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s emotions and internal states. A person who is self-aware observes and tries to investigate experience including all the emotions he or she felt throughout it. They are also aware of their moods and have thoughts about them, they basically understand how their emotions work and know what causes certain ones. Self-aware people are sure of

POSES The interesting fact I have discovered while doing my research was that you actually can trick your brain using your body. Doing certain movements can release testosterone - hormone responsible for being confident, assertive and comfortable during social interactions, and at the same time reduce the level of cortisol - which is a hormone related to stress. Power poses can be described by standing straight on both feet and generally taking as much space as possible. It evokes the feeling of domination and send signals to the others that we feel confident in a given situations. The research has shown, that doing these poses for even two minutes before a stressful social interaction can in great way change how we act and feel during it as well as how successful we are during it in the eyes of our interviewers. The same thing happens when we smile. We come across as nicer and more easy-going for the people we meet but most importantly - it can change our emotional state and produce as many felling good hormones as eating 2000 chocolate bars. The poses which release more cortisol are these when we want to take as little space as possible. Crossing our legs or arms. They leave us being more susceptible to stress and feeling powerless. It is amazing that we can alter our emotional state and make ourselves feel better simply by adapting a few movements. Our mind and body are strictly conected and I find it really amazing that we can transform our well-being by moving in different way.

CONCEPT

The painting I have decided to explore - “Her First Love” is filed with ambiguity and symbolism. The viewer is forced to find a deeper meaning within it. For me, the white rabbit hold in the girl’s hands represents fear of her own thoughts, as they start to change together with her coming of age, and being exposed of them. The girl’s body language definitely shows her lack of confidence and fear of interaction between her and the potential author. I wanted to focus on this particular aspect of the artwork and explore the idea of being aware and managing our emotions as well as hiding them from the other people.

I have found that not only, it is possible to trick others into believing we are self-confident but we can alter our emotional state by using our own body. I want this to be the main theme for my shoot. I want to combine particular body language (power poses, smile) to represent being in control of our brain, with the symbolism behind certain colours, which I plan to use in my styling and make up. I aim to experiment with analogue and digital photography to create the atmosphere of privacy and intimacy on the pictures as the main theme touches our mentality and very personal feelings.

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I went on Instagram in order to get inspired and find the look/type of the model I will use in my shoot. I looked at some girls (some of them were models) who seemed to have cool style and pictures on their profiles. I really liked Laura, due to her block fringe, which I think would look really good in my shoot. However, due to the fact she lives in London realistically I wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be ablr to shoot her in the nearest future. I eventually decided I want a girl with short dark hair and quite pale

skin - to get good contrast on the pictures. I picked Emerald cause she looks very good on camera and has very angular face, which look amazing on the images. Also, she does look good in make up and has done modeling before, what is a great advantage. Short hair will look very good on my shoot and will work with main theme of power and control. Also Emerald has blue eyes and this gives her amazing power on portraits.

red

I want my shoot to include a few colours. My original idea for the next outfits was combining the colours together and creating a few looks incorporating orange, red, pink etc. But after creating a look for the yellow colour, I have decided I am going to use block of colours for every outfit in my shoot. I have researched which colours are going to be appropriate to deliver the message I want my project to have. From what I found, best colours to use are red and pink. As red is a very strong colour I want to treat it a bit lighter then

the other options. Its meaning are quite controversial as well and it was quite hard to come up with the outfit that was sending the right message. Red represents desire, passion, so often is used as colour of sex and emotion. I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want my outfit to be about that, it has to represent energy, pride and strength. Red is described as very visible and noticible colour, that is why it fits perfectly with my idea of creating oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s identity using their clothes and styling them in certain way.

RED EXUDES POWER, ENERGY, EXCITEMENT AND PASSION. IT MAKES PEOPLESâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; HEARTS BEAT FASTER

YELLOW

In terms of styling, I wanted to focus mainly on the meaning behind colours and the power of using very flashy and visible outfits. That way would be coherent with my overall idea of seeming powerful in the eyes of the others. Also I have looked into the psychology and seen how much we can change our perception in the eyes of our peers and most of all, how we can alter the perception of ourselves, just by wearing different clothes. As wearing bright colours usually attract attention I wanted to take it

a bit further and experiment with styling them together. I wanted to create each outfit using mainly one colour - particular one that symbolism behind would make my model seem powerful and very confident. I looked into the meaning behind yellow and found out it is generally cheerful and playful colour which appears happy to the eye. People are drawn to it easily. Often using this colour in the whole outfit may seem a bit risky and can be overwhelming but the person wearing it appears as very confident and self-assured and

A PERSON SURROUNDED BY YELLOW FEELS OPTIMISTIC BECAUSE THE BRAIN ACTUALLY RELEASES MORE SERATONIN WHEN AROUND THIS COLOUR

pink

The next colour I decided to go with is pink. I think it looks really cool and powerful when used in the whole outfit even though it is often read as very feminine and girly. â&#x20AC;?Since pink is a combination of red and white, both colors add a little to its characteristics. It gets the lust for action from the red color, and the white color gives it an opportunity to achieve success and insight.â&#x20AC;? I have decided not to use red in the whole outfit due to its very strong meaning, however with pink, I think it will be appropriate to have the whole pink

outfit. I may experiment a bit with the styling and add some details in the different shade or tone. Even though the pink is said to be a delicate, romantic and soft colour I believe it is also very cheerful and positive, people seen in pink clothes seem more approachable and playful, so even though the colour itself is not considered as very strong I am aiming to make it look dynamic and interesting and definitely not too sweet and stereotypically feminine.

references I want the model to look fierce and powerful on the pictures. The poses are supposed to follow the overall idea of power and being in control. Modelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s body language has to suggest she is strong and independent. It is going to be achieved by standing firmly on both feet or doing poses with lifted legs or arms. I want to experiment with portraits as well thats why I need my model to have powerful look in her eyes. However, as the whole editorial is about hiding vulnerability from the others, some of the portraits need to show that. Playing with the camera angle is going to be vital for that photoshoot as I want the model to fill as much space as possible. Taking photographs from beneth her will allow me to create a vibe of dominance and overpower the viewer.

MAKE UP

For the make up I want to experiment with very strong, graphic eyeshadow. My idea is to try out blocks of colours on the eye lid or black liner around it. I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want the make up to overpower the whole picture and look too forced so even though it is supposed to be strong and visible it sill needs to remain subtle.

analogue photos

For my shoot I also wanted to experiment with analogue photography and used my point and shoot Olympus mju II camera. I really like the dreamy atmosphere on the 35mm pictures and thought it might me worth trying to incorporate that to the editorial. I quite like the raw and unfinished look of the photos, they look very cool with the light coming through the trees and make the sun a little bit less sharp and tough in comparison to the

digital photographs I have taken. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve chosen the best ones to put them near the digital outcomes. I like how vivid are the colours on the pictures, especially the yellow outfit - most good pictures are of this style. They have a bit more yellow what looks great and creates the vibe of summer and positivity what really matches my whole project. However, the quality is not very good and the pictures look decent only in rather small sizes.

The light I shot in was really bright and tricky. The original images were often too sharp and the sun made them too contrasting and not very flattering. I tried a bit manipulating with the exposure and the tone of lights in the images I have eventually chosen to edit. I made the temperature of the pictures a bit warmer in order to get more vintage and old-school look. The background reminded me of old pictures of people in LA or California, so I have decided to follow this pathway and make very

proper, clean, digital photographs slightly less perfect with a tiny bit of yellow shade over them. I also manipulated with the coloursâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; hue and illumination, as my project focuses mainly on the idea of symbolism behind them, I wanted to make them come out and be the most eye-catching. They are more intense on the pictures I have edited. I manipulated the background slightly to make it less clear in order to make my model and her clothes pop most.

final images

I have chosen a few images that I considered the strongest from the whole shoot. They are mainly full body length shots with just a few portraits as I aimed to show the whole outfit on the pictures. The poses represent power and strength and I feel the viewer can see it on the photos. I didn’t use make up after all and I feel it would be too much, because the clothes are already I manipulated with Emerald’s hairstyle slightly but similarly to make up, it wasn’t as vital for my shoot as I initially expected it.