What Remains After Love?
Conceptual self-portrait project that explores the emotional landscape after love and loss. Through monochromatic imagery, it seeks to express fragility, resilience, and the quiet strength found in vulnerability.
Tools: Canon EOS Rebel T7; Adobe Photoshop for post-production and tonal editing.
Project Objectives
Concept
- Capture the emotional state after loss through photography.
- Use light and shadow to symbolize emotional duality.
- Explore introspection and transformation through self-portraiture.
Aesthetics
- Use black and white photography to strip away distraction and focus on emotion.
- Compose each image to evoke balance between absence and presence.
- Integrate symbolism and minimalism in each frame.
Narrative
- Translate grief and self-reflection into visual storytelling.
- Emphasize texture and silence as emotional elements.
- Invite viewers to find personal meaning in each composition.
Creative Process
Research & Planning
Conceptual Insights
- Photography as a medium can document emotion as well as reality.
- Contrast and composition can express what words cannot.
- Silence and emptiness can carry emotional weight as strong as action.
Gallery
A visual essay told through self-portraits that capture emotional aftermath — the tension between memory and release. Each image reflects an attempt to understand what remains once love fades.
Challenges and Learnings
The process was deeply personal. Working with self-portraiture demanded emotional openness and technical precision. The challenge was to maintain authenticity while shaping a coherent visual narrative.
- Balancing emotional vulnerability with artistic control.
- Capturing natural light transitions in indoor settings.
- Creating rhythm across multiple compositions.
Next Steps
- Expand the project into a printed photography series.
- Experiment with analog photography and natural grain textures.
- Explore collective exhibitions on emotional identity and self-perception.