Outline
For Phase One of our third Bridge assignment “Multiple Perspectives,” we were asked to create a photo essay that represented our identity. Simultaneously, this photo essay had to be done with the idea of using a “camera as a weapon”. This meant having to consider the use of the camera conceptually. For this Bridge project, my goal was for my photo essay to embody my Filipino nationality and my identity as an Instagram blogger.
“How does one get across the fact that the best way to find out how people feel… is to listen to what they tell you, and to try to treat them accordingly without shellacking over their version of reality with yours?”
This question from Maggie Nelson’s The Argonauts correlates to my photo essay in the sense that people make assumptions about me that mask my identity, or rather, they “shellack” who I am and my perspectives. Some of these assumptions stem from stereotypes, widely held ideas created by society’s generalized views on a certain group of people. An example is the stereotype of Asians being in the medical field. I luckily come from a family that supports my goals and aspirations and are not traditional in the sense of ensuring there is a doctor in the family, but I have come across people outside of my immediate family who have assumed that I would become a doctor or even a lawyer (since my grandparents were both lawyers). Such an assumption has given me doubts, making me have to second guess if the medical field was the path for me instead. Besides this, back in high school, it was assumed that being an Instagram blogger came with only perks and no struggles. That was not the case at all. A lot of work and effort came with blogging. Not a lot of people realized this, as all they saw were the tokens I got to receive doing it. This idea of having a behind-the-scenes that the audience has no access to results in Nelson’s metaphor of “shellacking”.
Process
For my photo essay, I decided to use a polaroid camera as my “weapon” to resemble digital screenshots from Instagram. My idea for this project was inspired by being an Instagram blogger. As for my Filipino background, each picture displays different sides of me on-camera and as if I were off-camera. The shots the camera captured did not have any restrictions to it frame-wise in order to show that I do not limit my audience’s view of me, and that I do not necessarily have anything to obscure from them. On each polaroid, I have written my Instagram accounts’ usernames (danneigh & danni.go) at the top and drew icons seen on the app to give more detail to the screenshot concept.
Instagram is a huge part of me. When I initially became an Instagram blogger, it felt almost like my job as I was getting paid for it, However, it was just last year when I decided to do it simply for fun and though I still do collaborations with companies, I do not do it for monetary compensation but simply to promote the product. I chose to alternate my usernames for each polaroid to show that no matter which account I am on, I am exactly the same person. The only difference is that my posts on my Instablog are more curated. To show my nationality, I wanted to recreate the Philippine flag through my clothing. With this, I simply wanted to show that I am proud to wear my colors and represent my country. Since living in the United States, I have gained more appreciation for my roots. Overall, each individual photograph symbolizes how each small part of who I am make up the big picture, being my cultural background and identity.
Shift
I did not encounter a lot of shifts throughout this project. From the start, I knew exactly what I wanted to do. I knew I wanted to showcase my cultural identity for sure, but did not want to settle for just that, knowing there were other aspects of myself that were worth embodying in this photo essay. I thought it would be interesting and unique to incorporate how I identify as an Instagram blogger, something that has no correlation with my natural identity. With this, I wanted to portray that how someone identifies as can come from hobbies one indulges in, for a lot of what we do influences who we essentially are just as much as our gender and race.
What I Might Do Differently
If I were to do this project differently, I think exploring and using a digital camera rather than a polaroid camera would perhaps give me different results, or would allow for more manipulation. Since polaroids are printed images, there is no way to change them. On the other hand, digitally captured images can easily be uploaded and edited on a computer.
