For Tatiyana, she enjoys the fast-paced, dubstep/riddim/electronic music community. She often goes to festivals and raves where there are tons of people dancing crazily, with bright flashing lights and loud beating music. I definitely wanted to capture motion in my picture of her because when you are listening to that style of music it is basically impossible for you to sit still, you constantly want to be moving up, down and all around to the crazy beat. I was able to get Tati to whip her head up and down which created her super long dreadlocks to spread out everywhere. It took multiple tries to get a picture that I really liked, but I was glad that Tati was used to head banging and mosh pitting so she didn’t mind. I think that the picture I captured really symbolizes the upbeat, all over the place style of the electronic music listener, who you are most likely to catch dancing.
I wanted to incorporate my own genuine love for hip-hop and rap music with a self-portrait in this series. I really enjoy how rap music gives you the confidence to feel like a boss. I wore my bright pink beats headphones which are popular for recording artists in the hip-hop community. Along with a vintage Wu-Tang Clan shirt, a popular old school rap group. My posture is the “dab” which is a new dance move which is prevalent in the recent hip-hop community. You basically do the “dab” move whenever the beat drops, or the rapper says a really good line. I incorporated this move into my self-portrait because it represents my teenage generations new take on hip-hop.
Next, for Tyler, he has expressed to me that he has recently played the trumpet and has been strongly influenced by old style jazz music. This inspired me to create a mysterious style lighting portrait, which involves emotion on his face. He is wearing gold beats headphones, once again representing that he is a jazz listener. We rolled up some paper and Tyler was able to use them as props which represent jazz instruments such as the flute, cello, and trumpet by holding them in the position that they would be played. I also chose to use a small hint of red lighting in the portrait by placing a red gel light cover on one of my spotlights. This helped me achieve the moody, mysterious but chill vibe that jazz music portrays.
As well, for Jessica, she embodies the persona of a hippie flower child, so I wanted to go with the alternative indie style of music for inspiration for my picture. She is wearing an indie style outfit with a jean skirt and a turtleneck, and flashing the peace sign. The peace sign represents that she promotes good vibes and happiness, which is what indie music portrays. I got Jessica to sit down on an indie-style blanket, as if she was at a hippie festival. She is very smiley because this kind of music produces happiness constantly.
Lastly, for Noah, he communicated to me that he listens to rhythm and blues, therefore that style of music was my inspiration for my final portrait in the music listener series. He is wearing his beats headphones, representing that he is listening to music of course. His hands are on the headphones because he is really feeling the rhythm. I wanted to use a blue gel light cover because of the ‘blues’ vibe of R&B. I was able to use a spotlight shining on Noah face so that his facial features stand out, in a teal blue tinge. You can see through his facial expression that he is really feeling the music.
