Brittany Brooks

"Waterbodies"

This photo was taken in a basement show and was the first time I had ever seen the band Waterbodies play. The basement was unfinished and the band had set up blue lights that were soaked into the concrete walls. Their sound was loud, and used so much distortion and re verb that you actually started to feel like you were being pulled into the deep sea. I figured the only way to capture this feeling through a photograph was to use a slow shutter speed to catch the lights and the movement. Once I pressed the shutter button, I slowly rotated the camera body, keeping the lens on point to give the light a spiral effect.

"Little Mushroom"

On a cool summer's afternoon a friend and I were laying in the grass enjoying the breeze. I noticed the window of my house was casting a beam of light onto the grass. She had such a small and delicate frame that I thought she would look beautiful curled up in the light. I quickly got a stool from inside of my house and began photographing her from a high angle. The outline of the boxed light around her body made the photo seemed planned, or edited in - but it was real and i believe it turned out lovely.

"A Dame"

My brave friend Meghan agreed to paint her face white and let me photograph her. Neither of us really had any idea what the shot would be or what it would turn out like, then we stumbled upon this alley way with some really grungy walls. The red colour of her lips matched her jacket perfectly, which really made her jump out from the background. There is no definite meaning to this piece, only that I wanted show a beautiful woman wearing a painted face. The only technical difficulties we encountered was the pain she must have felt when the paint began to crack and itch her skin.

"Down the Stomach"

This was a photo taken against a wall that had no coverings. I immediately knew that I wanted to use the beautiful set up of the vertical metal lines and made my friend stretch his hands up the wall. After rotating the photo it looked like he was actually sliding down the wall, but because of the texture it reminded me of a spongy yellow stomach that he was sliding down. I enjoy the contrast that his body and the wall has, and the optical illusion created.

"Blowin' in the Wind"

This is one of my favourite photos because it was simply just capturing a burning incense stick, but the photo looks so much more complex. It was originally taken in colour but I later decided that the black and white would make the curls of the smoke be more prominent in the frame. Grey scale also allowed the texture of the sticks to show. I took many different photos of this moment but I liked this one best because of the way the body was situated in the background as well, with the legs having an eye leading quality right to the smoke.

"No"

This photo was taken on a disposable camera on a bike ride through the country side. Along the road there were tons of homemade signs for pedestrians, this one however caught my interest. It was to warn people not to go into the pond but instead of saying that it just said "No". I found this hilarious and took the photo using the rule of thirds and placing the sign on a hot spot. I love the quality the disposable camera gave, and the grainy washed out colours add the the simplicity of the photo's content.

"Q-Man"

This fella is a feisty one. The 6 year old had found an old guitar which was almost the size of him and started pretending to be a rock star. I turned on a desk light and pointed it towards him, just lighting up his eyes a bit. This photo is one of my favourites because I feel it really shows how awesome the boy felt at the time, holding a guitar and making angry faces. This kid is certainly going places.

"Matches the Eyes"

This photo is actually a very big contradiction to what was actually occurring at this moment. Me and Spencer were on our way to a musical and had made a pit stop. We found these old doors behind a building, and using a disposable camera i took a snap of him standing in the middle.

"Ma petite amie"

This was taken on a 35mm SLR, and actually fools the audience into thinking this girl is in a flourishing forest - but really this is the result of over grown trees at the side of the highway. I love the grainy texture the film gave the photo and the solar flare that falls right over the subject's arm. I also think the redness of her hair against the green background creates a nice complimenting colour scheme.

"Marshing the Mellow"

This photo was taken at Nuit Blanche festival, I am unaware of the artist's name who made this piece but I wanted to capture the glowing light of these puffy characters while still keeping most of the photo dark. I held the camera close to the ground to get an intimate feel with the piece and the cord in the front leads the eye back to the piece. I i were to further edit this piece I would reduce the contrast in order to make the whites not-so-blown-out on the art piece.