I spent many hours in my basement over this last weekend (a place which kind of creeps me out) pursuing a new photo essay which I titled the Wicked Witch of Westbrook. It’s been a valuable learning experience which has been not only tons of fun but it  also found me dealing with many different lighting situations. In fact, there were several aspects of the project which challenged me.

Because I’m just starting out with photography, I have no real lighting equipment and so was forced to make do with what I could find available. Dealing with compositions which require making photos from a dark basement into the light of the noon day sun and vise versa was a challenge. Working with animals, where I don’t just make a photo of them sitting around passively, but trying to get them to “pose” was considerably less difficult than I expected (maybe because my cats actually listen to me? Or maybe because they really are my familiars).

There were several ideas running around in my mind when I first started thinking about the project. The first inspiration was the music of Amy Winehouse. I love the dark aspects of her voice and compositions. Also the black and white imagery from her video Back to Black and You know I’m No Good were probably the seeds that started the whole thing. I knew from the start that the photos had to be taken in my basement. You might be interested to know… I’m afraid of basements.

Six years ago, the name Wicked Witch of Westbrook was bestowed upon me. The new name was actually duly noted in a court of law and I rather liked that. Having that written in a legal transcript seemed to make it official and my family had a great deal of fun with it. Recent events in my life further caused me to embrace the notion of being a bad witch, so as I began putting together ideas for a new photo essay, I was very encouraged to explore and embrace aspects of my “darker” self.

Self portraiture in photography is tough and it takes many many tries to get a decent photo, let alone a photo which expresses that certain something for a themed essay. Because you are never really sure where the camera is precisely focusing, clear sharp images are kind of a crap shoot. I would often put an object in place of me, such as a broom, and focus on that. Once the camera’s timer began ticking, I’d remove the object and stand in its stead. Getting nice lighting effects on skin and silhouette is most definitely a challenge!

I have a photograph of my mother. In it she is gorgeous. The photo was taken in a studio and is very 1940’s. I love that picture and whenever I look at it, I feel close to my mom. I remember what a fashionista she was. How smart she was. How refined. I wanted to be able to provide something of remembrance for my sons and up until this summer, I did not have any decent photographs of myself. Always on the lookout for photographic subject matter, I decided to experiment with self portraiture. I think at this point, having taken hundreds of self portraits, I have captured not more than three photos which, if not merely interesting, would serve as a nice reminder for my boys. I’m not getting any younger, you know.

Other challenges presented themselves in photographing in a dark basement. I wanted to include aspects of atmosphere and mystery which might not be photographic perfection from a technical standpoint, but we are talking about the Wicked Witch of Westbrook, so I was free to include mistakes and special effects in the essay as I experimented with camera settings and movement. I’m generally pleased with the outcome.

I have not yet finished this project and each time I take a photo it seems that I’d like to explore some additional aspect of creation. Because it is also an essay, I need to complete the ending of the story. While I have some ideas in my head for that… I’m just not quite ready to call it a wrap yet.

You can see this project in progress via my facebook profile or on Google+. I hope you enjoy it.