Photo Project- ''Pain''

One of my old photo projects- ‘’Pain’’

Looking back on these photos, I am stunned… it seems like yesterday that I’ve shot these images, yet it has been about 4 years if not more…
I was going through my photo shoot files and stumbled across this old set of photos I did for a fellow model who wanted updated shots for his portfolio.
I was fairly a newbie to portrait photography, or studio lighting and although looking back at these shots, I cringe a little due to number of mistakes I’ve done…. I am still very fond of them.

This was the time when I hit a turning point in my photography, discovering my fondness of the dark style in photos. I was shooting loads of varied fashion photos beforehand but at one point I started choosing darker lighting, strong shadows, more edgy sets… and once you know… you know. It felt incredible, I knew that this is the direction I want to choose. Vibrant colors and happy atmosphere wasn’t fulfilling enough for me, I was always craving for something deeper, something darker. And here I am now.

Of course, my style of photography has advanced over the years and so did my knowledge, but the dark style remained.
Now, specifically talking about this photo shoot. I got inspired by the emotional journeys of pain, highlighting emotions of guilt, fear, self-hate among others. I used black paint to stylize handprints and scratches which symbolize the ‘’pain’’, giving a more visual connotation to how pain touches the person, slowly staining their being. Not sure if any of this will make sense, it’s the thought process that happens in my head before I commit to a photo shoot… So, apologies if any of this seems confusing.

The photoshoot took place in a studio of a local photographer who was kind enough to share it with me, when I was in need. Very amazing guy, we’re still friends till this day :)
Living in such a remote area, it was tough to organize a shoot, because of such a lack of resources…. Models, make-up artists, photography studios…. It was tough!

But! Because of that, it really made my job easier once I moved to the city, I also gained a lot of new skills in multitasking, doing set designs, make-up and characterization and planning shoots basically back to back. It was tough, but I’ve learned a lot of valuable lessons and picked up some useful skills along the way which made it worthwhile.

The day was really fun, just messing around in the studio, completely free to anything I wanted to create :) I wasn’t really thinking of making photography my profession at that time, I was just doing something I love. Those are still one of my most valued moments, because it was a beginning of something which paved a path for me, for the future… and I didn’t even know it! Now I am so grateful!

Hope you enjoyed this post!

Cheers,
Marta x