Snow White and the Huntsman
My Photoshoot was based off the text “Snow White”, the original Grimms brother’s version. My color harmony used is primarily reds and sepia tones, with a complimentary green occurring in my hair.
Snow white is the tale of a beautiful princess with “skin as white as snow, hair as black as ebony, with lips and cheeks as red as blood.” Initially I tried to imply the black hair with a black scarf loosely placed on my head, as seen in the first photo. I decided to remove the scarf after the first section of the photoshoot, because the blacks in the scene were well represented by the black background, black corset and my darkened eyebrows and lashes. In this modernized version of the fairy tale, the viewer is asked to accept the fact that green is not a natural hair color. If a modern snow white were asked to protect and disguise herself from the evil queen, she would likely change her hair first.
Upon research of original drawings from the fairy tale, and modernized versions, Snow white’s outfit varies greatly. I chose this red dress to make the relationships to rosy cheeks and lips more apparent. The black corset was used to reference the evil queens first attempt to kill snow white, which is often forgotten.
“Snow-White peered out the window and said, "Good day, dear woman, what do you have for sale?"
"Good wares, beautiful wares," she answered. "Bodice laces in all colors." And she took out one that was braided from colorful silk. "Would you like this one?"
"I can let that honest woman in," thought Snow-White, then unbolted the door and bought the pretty bodice lace.
"Child," said the old woman, "how you look! Come, let me lace you up properly."
The unsuspecting Snow-White stood before her and let her do up the new lace, but the old woman pulled so quickly and so hard that Snow-White could not breathe.
"You used to be the most beautiful one," said the old woman, and hurried away. “
The story doesn’t specify what color the bodice was, so I chose black because it harmonizes the shadows, background and color relationships in the story. The black bodice also serves to cut the figure in half and add interest to an otherwise plain red dress.
The moment that snow-white bites the apple is probably one of the more dramatic scenes from the Disney version. I took several photos reenacting this scene but settled on one with chiaroscuro lighting. This lighting suggests that being poisoned is not an instantaneous death, but rather a slow “fade to black”. My eyes and chin are dimly lit, to once again invoke the “black as ebony wood” theme from the story. With red and black being the dominant colors in the scene, the green hair serves to redirect the viewers attention from the head, to the face, chest and the apple. The dark silver lock and key necklace serves to add contrast and suggest paler skin than was actually possible without editing.
My favorite photo from the shoot must be a focused shot of a hand holding the apple. Although I directed the scene and my “photographer” point and clicked; I had him hold the apple so I could take a couple test shots to get the result I wanted. To make the poison apple, I chose one that was half yellow and half red. After taking a huge bite, I dropped red food coloring into the normally white inside of the apple. This invoked the analogous color scheme of reds and yellows that implies the apple is poison. I also enjoy the fact that sometimes the best “special effects” can be physically achieved without altering the image in photoshop.
The bonus photo of The Huntsman was part of a series of test shots I took of my boyfriend. The chiaroscuro is what informed my choice in lighting for the self-portrait shots. However, it was too out of focus in the face, and the black on black shirt/background makes it look like the arms are floating. I couldn’t edit this image without altering it completely, so goes my choice to include it as a bonus shot. This photo is more about test shooting and process from the artist’s perspective.
Overall this photo series gave me 14 photos I would be proud to display on my website and can claim ownership of. It was a great learning experience on how to collaborate with another human, who’s not an artist in the photography sense. I also managed to get a few photos that I would be delighted to turn into a painting. This project greatly informed my painting process based on color emotion relationships and self-portraiture.
