Summary:
she being Brand by E.E. Cummings is a poem that on the surface looks like it’s about breaking in a new car, while it is really a metaphor for having sex with someone who is inexperienced/a virgin.

Coming Home, Detroit, 1968 by Phillip Levine talks about the bad situation in Detroit in 1968. It was a time with lots of racial tensions. The poems talks about how the city is dirty from the factories, all the pollution.

Communication Problem:
One of the challenges is making the same toy car look very different in the two different photos. she being Brand should capture something raw and sensual, while Coming Home, Detroit should capture something more gritty and dark.

Image ideas:
For she being Brand an idea could be for the car to be on an angle, it’s the first time and it’s not straight forward and symbolizing the ride not being smooth; inspiration from this line “cranked her up, slipped the clutch (and then somehow got into reverse she kicked what the hell)”.  It should have a light, pink/red/warm lighting.

For Coming Home, Detroit my idea is to shoot the car from the front and for the back of the car to be in the light, while the front of the car is in the dark. You’re coming home, but coming home to a city that’s in a bad state. Another idea could be to show the car going up in smoke, or in a fire like the last line of the poem “we burn this city every day”.

Results: I shot this at home with clamp lights and filters. It was a challenge setting up the lights right for this, but I think I got some good results in the end. I was able to follow the image ideas that I had from before, holding the car up with tape to get it on an angle. Coming Home, Detroit was more challenging – originally I wanted to shoot the car from the front with the background being light and the foreground being dark but I realized that it was easier to do the opposite – so now the car is seen from the back driving into the dark city.

she being Brand
Coming Home, Detroit

Some other tries:
Photo 1
Photo 2