Self Portrait

For this Self Portrait project I honestly wasn't sure where I was going with it at all. I took my pictures like I was supposed to, but nothing was inspiring me to form a composition. I knew what pictures I wanted and which ones I didn't, so that helped. Once I started opening up the images in Photoshop all I did was mess around with the different tools to see if something stuck out to me. Then I got an idea to form a composition that had an overall hazy, dreamy, thinking effect, which also helps explain myself in a way.

I would definitely consider myself a thinker; more so, an over thinker. I over think anything and everything possible. Sometimes it benefits me, but most times it is my enemy. In this piece, I wanted to get the viewer thinking about what's going on. I was pretty literal with the thinking bubble, but I also added a dream catcher. I am fascinated with dream catchers and its presence shows that I'm not only a thinker but a dreamer. I think about the people, things, and ideas I have and love; I dream about the things I hope and are willing to obtain. In a general view, my message is to never forget who you are or where you come from, but always look into the future with an open mind to do what you love.

The way I went about creating this technically was by creating multiple layers and each layer needed something different to make it fit into my idea. Once the thought was in my head I worked to make it happen, but I also changed my thoughts as I went on to make it appealing to the visual eye. Some tools that I found really helpful were the transforming tool, the opacity bar, the filter gallery, and the smart object converter just to name a few. Luckily, the process went smoothly and I didn't run into many issues like I was expecting because I didn't know what direction my composition was headed.