Portraits Real/Ideal

                 This project begins to deal with portraiture. Portraits have a long history, and can be seen across many different cultures and time periods. From the Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci in cerca 1503, to the ancient burial portraits of the ancient Egyptians, portraits can be seen everywhere. My personal favorite artist mentioned in the lecture was Richard Avedon. The way he captured Marylyn Monroe in her typical mood, and then also in her more depressed and contemplative mood was moving. Avedon, regardless of his methods, does a great job of expressing people's inner  selves and capturing truly meaningful portraits.

                For this project, we were assigned partners to work with. We were to attempt to portray our real selves, along with an ideal self we may aspire to be like. My partner for the real and ideal portraits was Erica Forkner. When we talked about what she felt her ideal and real self were, they seemed to be pretty similar. Erica is very content with who she is and in a stage of her life where she has a very joyful inner essence. She always desired to be a Wheaton student (she's a third generation), and now she is attending the school she always wanted to go to, loving every minute of it. She is joyful and funny, and loves her family and friends deeply. We encountered an issue because Erica doesn't have an ideal self that she aspires to be more like. She is content with how she is. I showed this by picturing her in two fairly similar photos, with one showing her more true spunky self that lives life to the fullest.

                    The two images I chose were shot on Blanchard lawn. This is significant because Erica loves Wheaton and it means a lot to her and her family for many generations, and Blanchard is commonly used to represent Wheaton. The first photo is the ideal. It shows the "Ideal" Wheaton student that Erica sometimes feels pressure to be. They must be put together, mature, and studious. The real Erica is being goofy, carelessly laying in the grass, not acting as studious and serious as a Wheaton student may be expected. I think this image does a great job of capturing Erica's joyful and energetic spirit. She loves life, and enjoys where she is at along her journey at Wheaton.