Identity Crisis

In my first attempts at photo compositing I was inspired by idea of identity and what it means to be part of a society and what it means to be an individual.



My inspiration for the first photo happened while the Democratic National Convention (DNC) was happening in Denver. Everywhere I went all I saw were black town cars with tinted windows and some guy in a suit driving other men in suits around. It felt like a scene out of the matrix as my vision of corporate and political identity, or lack there of, surfaced in the form of a photograph.

The subject and background are two separate shots and composited to look artificial and unnatural to match the concept.



Songs and stories by other people can give rise to inspiration to other artists. When assigned a project to create a photo from a song, I chose one called Daedalus by the band Thrice. A true testament to this continual artist inspiration the song is about the story Icarus and his father, Daedalus, who are trapped in a labyrinth (built by Daedalus) and their efforts to escape on wings made of feathers and wax.

In my translation, I dressed my subject in a plain white t-shirt and jeans to represent a common individual and set the scene in a city scape that can literally and figuratively act as a labyrinth. We as members of a society, a group, the human race, much like Icarus, sometimes try to escape societal expectations and boundaries in hopes of establishing an individual identity.

The cityscape, sky and subject are three separate shots.