Interpreting my portraits (1)

Peace be upon you. First of all, i would like to thank the reader who have interest in the meaning of my pictures. As i said in my Facebook profile, i will explain and interpret some of my portraits that i have shot through out this year. I didn't shot a lot of portraits this year due to the everyday life stuff and also my studies. Okay, before we start to interpret my images, lets check ourselves, and ask ourselves, how do we actually appreciate an image? Is it by simply looking at the image? Or, by judging or debating about wether the images are RAW or edited? Or you just dont know, and see the image just by the surface. Now, thats where most people are wrong. Every image, has its own message, its meaning. So what the image is edited? Editing is a process just to simply ENHANCE the image, not manipulating. Manipulating has its own category, Digital Manipulation. The pictures are beautiful not because of the editing or retouching, it is beautiful as is where is. Have u ever try to edit an underexpose image or even a ridiculously image? Yes you can edit it, but the end result is still horrible. A good pictures start from the RAW image, if the RAW image is good, plus the enhance the images will become superb ( Enough debating wether it is edited or this/that guy isnt talented, the pictures are good because of the editing. For some people who think like that, you are such an dumbass. Seriusly. ) A good image is a good image. Enough said. Haters gonna hate but let them be.

As for my 2012 portraits that i have done, if you notice, all of the images i took are all in the jungle or woods or thatch ( lalang ) . I was doing a series of " Mother nature " . You may ask, if im doing a series of Mother Nature, than why put a model in the middle? Let me explain, the tittle speaks for itself, " Mother Nature ". "Mother". Nature is always associated with women because of the nature is beautiful or pretty etc so what i did, i place an female model in the shots to represent mother nature. Okay now that is clear, another thing, why mother nature and why model in a forest, thatch and such. Well than, all of my photo-shoot location for this series, i did it in the city of Shah Alam. Yes, i repeat, Shah Alam. You think i love to enter the forest, hiking and such? Nope. But why, why i choose the location to be in Shah Alam? I think everyone knows that Shah Alam is a city, but it still has some forest-tree-looking-a like places and they do have really beautiful landscapes. But unfortunately , building will rise, forest will be cleared, no more beautiful landscapes. Thats what i did, i capture the forest before it was demolished. And guess what, it is demolished right now. Sad but true. Lets look at the image.

Nina -  2012, Seksyen 10 Shah Alam. 

The image tittled " Nina " above was shot at seksyen 10, Shah Alam. The image was shot at dawn, i used an speedlight attached to the umbrella to fill in the light. The mood of the image, is gloomy. I purposely wanted the image to be seen in a gloomy mood to create a message. The model in the middle represent mother nature, the sad expression, how the hair falls, the clothes that she wore, it is all related to mother nature. The message that i wanted to convey in this image is that, the mother nature "nina" is sad thinking about the forest's fate in the future. What would it be left for the future. Will people still appreciate the forest and its beauty or just simply demolished them for building more buildings. The model face and eyes are to stare at the future, thinking about their fate and seeing the humans destroying the forest, heartlessly, without thinking, killing the tress. What can a tree done rather than sit there, watch, and waiting to be  killed. The model hand is holding the tree as if the model can understand the feelings of the tree. The hair, makeup, lipstick is to represent the beauty of mother nature, the beauty of landscapes. The clothes that the model is wearing is to represent the time that i shoot, which is at dawn, mother nature had just woke up from bed ( lol ) . The role that was played by light was to represent the morning sunrise, to create a mood in the picture. Lets look at another portrait of mine.

Nani - 2012, seksyen 8 , Shah Alam. 

The image of " Nani " is about the tress are calling for help but the tress do not speak, the cant speak, so they just sit there, helplessly, crying in silent for help. As you can see in the image, the branches are sort of like reaching out to someone or somebody, asking or pleading for help to save them. The model in the middle is to represent the helpless beautiful mother nature that cant do anything but to just simply stand, and wait for something. Simply put, the model is the representative for the braches. I created a face, a expression, a subject matter, showed the emotion of the forest and put it in the form of a human being. The color i use in this picture is sorta like a soft pink. Pink is always related to women as the color pink characteristic is soft, beautiful, gentle, love and passion. Lets look at the last image.

Risa - 2012, Kuala Selangor. 

The last image is not shot in Shah Alam, its in Kuala Selangor but the message is the same. Here you can see behind the model is some dying, burned out, decaying tress and the model is the representative of mother nature or goddess, is sad looking at the tress that are dying. This picture was taken in the rain because i wanted to make it look like as if the goddess was very sad, and her tears is to show her sadness. But what can nature do rather than sit, helplessly waiting to be killed.

Thats all for this post, i hope you read it and understand know what my portraits are about, the message behind every picture. I will right another entry about my other portraits, but i cant promise when. If you would like to share this, feel free. But, please inform me in advance and please do not steal the image and claiming that it is your. Please do not plagiarise. If you want to use it for educational purposes, please contact or inform , ask my permission first. I hope you like this entry and i'll be writing again soon. Peace. Salam.