Concept:
For the diptych project I went through various concepts, finally landing on an idea hoping to convey a social/political commentary on society’s misknowings of their own government or lack of involvement in politics, specifically pertaining to the younger generations in America. I chose this concept because it is an issue I feel very passionate about and I think it is something that needs to be addressed in order to work towards fixing the many issues plaguing American society, the most prevalent among those being ignorance.
Process:
In order to make my concept come to life I used two photographs taken at a concert. One completely unedited, showing the excitement of the crowd, the dozens of pictures being taken of the performer, the flashy and colourful lights, back up dancer, etc. The unedited concert image represents the huge amount of attention placed onto celebrities and mainstream media by young people and demonstrates the level of importance that things such as a concert hold in younger generations lives. The image on the right of diptych is taken from the same concert but is edited in a way that demonstrates how pressing issues regarding politics and governmental action/policy do not receive nearly the same attention or have the amount of importance they should have placed on them by younger people in America. I attempted to demonstrate this by removing all the flashes and phone screens seen in the image to show a lack of interest as well as cut and pasted various photos from protests I have attended into the big screens previously displaying images of the singer. I also cropped out an image of a girl at a BLM protest from 2020 of her standing alone amongst the tear gas, unfaltering in her stance, and holding up a sign and placed her on the stage instead of the singer. Lastly, I decided to make the whole edited side of the diptych black and white because I felt it also translated the idea that many young Americans hold, that of issues regarding anything to do with politics or government as uninteresting and nothing for them to be involved with.
The one thing I wish I could’ve improved upon before submitting the final version was perfecting the color matching between the added photos and the background layer so that it looked even more natural and realistic. It took much longer for me than expected to figure out how to use clipping masks to edit the light and exposure of each but once I did, it made a huge difference and I wish I could’ve played around with that a bit more.