Technology’s advancement is usually wonderful thing, but for the first time in our every day media we are looking up to images of people that sometimes aren’t actually real. People in magazines, television, movie posters, and many other aspects of media are being manipulated and changed in ways that most of us don’t realize. The technology is so incredible, so advanced, that some photoshopped images can’t be processed as being something that doesn’t exist in real life. The reality is that many images that we look up to and set as our beauty standards aren’t actually people that exist in real life. This illustration shows a naturally beautiful woman who has obviously been over-manipulated to show that just because we have the technology to enhance already beautiful women and men, doesn’t necessarily mean we should.
Behind the Lens: I always enjoy working with my close friend Niki, and when I wanted to portray this idea, I felt the most comfortable asking her. I’ll admit, it felt a little odd for me to sit here and take out all of Niki’s “imperfections.” Her wrinkles, freckles, imperfections of skin, even a changed hair color. But Niki and I both understood why it was important to do so. The wonderful thing is that at the end of the prices, every one involved in the editing process (friends looking over shoulders, etc.) preferred the unaltered Niki. I just love how her hair falls over her shoulders and her black shirt blends into the background, making the face pop. Here’s the lighting set up:
Let’s all take a second to laugh at my “thumbnail” sketching skills.
Kaiti Grant 