Claustrophobia Theory Notes

Claustrophobia
Theory Notes

Picture 1

The first picture that I took was from a class mate and my teacher's daughter. I know I had to convince the teacher to let me use it for claustrophobia, and so this is a perfect chance for me to explain why. Almudena is holding the little girl in her arms, and behind her we can see some sort of gate. This picture does not make me feel claustrophobic, but the setting and the looks of the "models" make it seem as if they are the ones that feel claustrophobic. Some people could interperate this picture as if the two people are scared and afraid, which is technically correct because if a person is feeling claustrophobic, they usualy don't look very happy.
When I was taking this picture, I really tried to take it at diffent angles, but I decided to just go for the direct angle, so their feelings would not be "hidden". I also really tried to get the bars in the background to try and give that feeling of enclosure. If the bars would have not been in the picture I don't think that it could be considered as claustrophobia.

Picture 2

The second picture was of another classmate of mine. She was sitting under a small little table. I asked her if she could somehow represent a look of fear, or being able to look scared, and so I tried to use her facial expression the best I could. I did not take this picture at a direct angle like the picture I described earlier, this time I decided to go for a bit of a different angle, which I think made the picture a bit more dramatic. I'm also very glad that I was able to capture the wall and apart of the table, so it is a bit more clear to see that the model is in a small space. In this picture I also made sure that the model was not looking at me, which made her seem more distant.

Picture 3

This picture is quite different from all the other pictures that I took. In all my other pictures I had people to represent the claustrophobic feeling, but for this one I decided to use objects. This picture is a bike shed full of bikes. They are all the same kind of bikes, they are all the same size, and they are all in the one row in the same position. You can also clearly see that they are in a bike shed which adds that more enclosed feeling towards the picture.
Bikes do not generally make me feel claustrophobic, but when I see things, which are all the same in one little small location I do feel a bit overwhelmed. This particular picture does not make me feel that claustrophobic, but I do feel some sort of enclosure. This picture was also taken from an angle which ended up being a side angle. I think in this case taking the picture from a side angle does have a bigger affect, because when I looked at my negative I had a choice of taking this picture or a picture without the side angle but with just a direct look, and it was very obvious to me which one I wanted to use for this project. Something about the direct shot made it feel like a " so what" picture, and it really did not have any affect, and it didn't even look good.

Picture 4

This picture is taken of a little girl, who is looking straight at the camera and it gives the picture such a dramatic effect. This little girl is behind some sort of a wall or little fence, and she has her hands resting on the little fence which makes it seem as if the little girl is trying to get away, and trying to escape from the area that she is in. When I was taking the picture I wanted to include the wall so it would be easier to see the child's surroundings. Now that I look back at my picture I imagine the same exact picture with a different model, someone older like an adult, the picture would be so much different and it would not have the same effect. I think when taking a picture of claustrophobia it is important to keep in mind who the model is.

To see all the pictures you can look at my Printing compostitions.