Personal Photography

For my personal photography/ the body I decided to do personal photography because I found it more interesting than taking pictures of the human body. It took me a long to time to brainstorm what exactly I wanted to do for the project. But, eventually I came up with the idea of exploring and altering old volleyball photos with themes.

I decided to alter volleyball photos because it is my favorite hobby/ sport, and I love it more than I love air. I’ve gone from playing for 4 years to coaching because I’m addicted to the game. In my opinion there is nothing more satisfying than receiving the stinging pain on your forearm after you block someone, or coaching a fourteen year old kid and seeing the joy on their face after getting a point for their team. It’s safe to say that I’ll love volleyball forever.

The photograph that really inspired me for this project was “Seeking Comfort, I Sucked my Thumb” by Clarissa Sligh. Her photograph really inspired me because it was very emotional and showed her strength. Her strength is shown through the words written in the background saying, “seeking comfort, I sucked my thumb” over and over. This phrase shown over and over again on the right side of the photo really portrays her unhappiness. I decided to do something similar for two photos. For one photo I decided to use a picture of myself coaching two very young girls that had barely played any volleyball. I usually coach 14 year olds, but my boss needed help for the under 11 kids. So I used a quote that explained that if you don’t love something, then don’t do it. No matter what age I’m coaching I’ll enjoy it, and I love coaching so I’m going to continue doing it. I also decided to leave the kids in color because they are the reason I coach. If they’re not having fun then I’m not.

For the other two photos I basically did a collage for both of them. I tried to do something along the lines of “Relapse/Detox” by Nan Goldin. For one of my photos I collected actions shots of myself playing during my senior high of high school and club. For the other photo I gathered pictures of “Retro Night”. This is when my volleyball team picks one home game and wears short shorts, tank tops, and high socks. The purpose of it is to try and get some kids from our high school to actually attend the game.