ERIN REEVES

With my camera and my ideas, I attempt to create work that separates the viewer from the world around them and urges them to confront their dark and somewhat uncomfortable thoughts. What intrigues me about photography is its ability to pull the viewer out of the world their living in and visually transport them into a different world that exists within the frame of a camera. With my photographs and occasional transformative editing, I hope that the viewer will view my work with a sense of familiarity and understanding, whether it is something they have directly experienced or know someone who has. It is my goal in photography to shed light on subjects (such as depression, black self-love, and the correlation between age and beauty) that are often left out of mainstream media and reconstruct what those themes mean to society.My photographs are intended to force viewers to confront their own emotions. Real life experience seeps into each of my photographs, for what makes a compelling story if not intimate and powerful emotions? I explore the many facets of depression through my photography to show the reality of someone struggling with something that is not wildly understood. The emotions I showcase are not so different from the emotions everyone has felt at some point. I argue that my dramatized images are even more representational of everyday life because they contain feelings and emotions that resonate with the viewers. Sometimes life does not have to be photographed with a rose-colored film over it; instead, why not explore the harder to face thoughts and sentiments that are often swept under the rug. My edited photographs are amplified versions of the thoughts that plague my mind. I add mood and atmosphere, by adjusting the tone of the image in post production, to them to give a feeling of realness and intensity; This gives the photographs a visceral and recognizable feeling.I often manipulate tones so that the subjects become one with the scenery and both combine into one concurrent authentic feeling. The essence of my photography is portraiture; it is capturing a fleeting moment of emotion. Many of which are true in time to the feeling of the subject and project a dramatized emotion that is almost unbearable to feel and accept. Whether being able to relate to the photograph or knowing someone who it may pertain to, the emotion resonates with the viewer. I want my imagery to extend beyond the realm of photography and include facets of film and literature. I get a lot of my inspiration from people such as Dario Argento and Gwendolyn Brooks. My love for storytelling and the importance I place on representation extends to my photography. It is this poetic and justice seeking quality that I emulate, such as the use of personal text intertwined within my photographs, that I think gives my work a thought-provoking quality. There is a particular agenda to all my photographs, one that can be described as honest and riddled with complexities that addresses problems, I face in my own life that can be related to by a larger audience.