Powerful

Emancipate yourself from mental slavery; none but ourselves can free our minds.
"Bob Marley"

I have always been influenced by Roger Ballen's work, especially his backgrounds. In this photograph of Lundy Jumats I noticed the plugs on the wall and the rough paint strokes. The wires and Lundy's expression.

I liked the "rawness" of the image. I find today's photography, especially in digital work almost too glossy and perfect and whilst I work in the digital medium, I still prefer the traditional look of film photography. With photoshop, I can almost achieve that effect.

In my work I also like to show the rough backgrounds so as to see the environment in which these folks live, perhaps , with the simple inclusion of the plug box and the texture of the walls. Of course, the most important is the subjects expression or emotion which can make the whole photograph.

With photoshop in this image I used the gradient map option many times to create darkness and light and then sharpened the textures. I deliberately darkened most of the one side of Lundy's face as I think it made more impact.

Lundy Jumats - 18 years old.