Project 1 - The shade of Brown

 

1 - The meaning behind Brown

The shade of brown is known to signify: Earth, nature, wholesomeness, reliability, security, dullness, simplicity, friendliness, nostalgia, oldness, cosiness and warmth.

2 - How I could use Brown in my photography

When contemplating how to effectively use the shade of brown in my photography, two initial concepts came to mind, one being colour dominant photography, the other being using a sepia tone across the entire image. After research also, these were the only two solid ideas on how to use brown that would work with my project.

Firstly, I looked into colour dominant photography, some experimentations of which I found especially interesting. I created a board of this type of photography below involving the colour brown. I did however find some interesting images that weren't just brown on this website: 32 Beautiful Examples of One Color Dominant Photography - The Photo Argus 

Initially I really liked this sort of concept for my own work, and my plan was to create a brown theme for the background and then have my subject fit it by wearing brown, but I could see several issues; the main issue was the fact that under current lockdown restrictions, it was going to be quite hard to build a set and do such a photoshoot indoors without breaking any lockdown measures. However, a second issue I pondered on was that Diane Arbus never builds a set or manipulates or prepares her subject in any way. Although I am merely taking inspiration from her work, I fear such a take on her work could lead me to drift away from my objective. This was then enough to make me look for another way of including the shade of brown in my work.

Secondly, I looked into sepia photography. Sepia is red and brown toning that is added to a monochromatic image, traditionally during processing the film, to add warmth to the photograph and make it appear less harshly contrasted. However, in the digital photography era, a sepia setting can be used on your camera, or a filter can be applied in post. To demonstrate creative use of sepia in modern times, I have created another photography board.

One of the main sepia photographers I came across whilst creating my photograph board was Tim Rudman, whose portrait photography in particular caught my interest. The website that I saw these portraits on was Tim Rudman - AlternativePhotography.com . I have realised that sepia photography would be far more suited to my project than colour dominant photography, as Diane Arbus also uses monochrome photography, just not sepia. In addition, sepia can give a photograph a dated but nostalgic feel, which is the impression much of Diane Arbuses' photography gives off today.