Steph Balloqui / Lab 14

What is the concept behind your series? How has the idea taken shape or changed as you set out to begin shooting?

After passing through a few other ideas involving other similar themes that either didn’t work out compositionally or were a little too dark, I started thinking about the possibility of creating the concept of a world through “Patron Saints” of darker issues such as self harm, drug use, homicide, and other things of a similar nature.

What inspired you to pursue this idea? What particular photos are you thinking about (from class or from anywhere else in your life) as you’ve begun shooting? Do you have any painting, design, or other non-photographic visual references in mind for the project? Are there any particular styles that you are attempting to emulate?

The main three things that inspired my idea was the concept of Patron Saints and their aesthetics in the Catholic Church, Greek Mythology (or Mythology in general), and Grimes’ work, especially her albums Art Angels and Miss Anthropocene. A lyric from Jack Off Jill’s song When I Am Queen inspired one of my characters as well (the Patron Saint of Self Injury). I wasn’t exactly looking at any specific references, more so just going off of the idea of Catholic prayer cards. I wanted my photos to look like prayer cards that were shot in hell- something uncomfortable to look at.

How did the first week shooting go? Did you encounter any difficulties or setbacks as you began to shoot? Have any parts of your series proved more difficult than anticipated? Have you had any great successes in your first week of shooting? What has gone better than expected? Have you been surprised by the outcome of any shots? Which images are you most excited about?

Despite the original ideas falling through, shooting the Patron Saints series has actually been a breeze! I’m having a lot of fun with the concept and conception of these characters and the world I’m building. Nothing has been extremely glaring in terms of issues while shooting. I’m very excited to tackle difficult topics using art and reclaiming the aesthetics of a religion that ruined my life.

Which images is your group most excited about? Are there particular qualities of those images that you can pinpoint or define? Can anyone in the group clearly state why they’re reacting to these particular images?

I’m mostly excited about the Patron Saint of Self Injury for it’s “shock value” and use of fake blood, the Patron Saint of Domestic Violence for its use of makeup (hearts surrounding the black eye, displaying that people who are usually abused in relationships are still in love with the person), and the Patron Saint of Drug Use, for it’s more personal nature to me and the way I portray it using actual needles I’ve used and actually stabbing the needles into my skin to create a more real effect.

According to your group, which aspects of your pictures need to be improved or refined? Are there any technical issues that need to be resolved? Are there ways you could improve your exposure, your composition or your framing? According to your group, where should you focus your energy in the coming weeks? What would members of your group like to see added, changed, removed, etc.? How will you go about doing this?

There was a lot of debate about the color of the background of the photos. Half liked the red and half liked the idea of black or white. Lighting and final composition were also discussed, and I’m not married to the ideas concerning light and composition in the final project, maybe even doing portraits for each Patron Saint instead of prayer cards. My group thinks I just need to fine-tune the more technical aspects of my series, maybe even playing with different costumes, lighting, and backgrounds. I might also even add some Patron Saints as well.

What is your agenda for shooting in the next couple weeks? When will you be shooting next? How many more shooting sessions will be necessary to complete your project? Remembering that you’ll need time to edit your images, what are your dates for shooting?

My goal is to do one-two saints per day, leaving two days free for my sister’s wedding. The makeup and fake blood I use stain REALLY easily so I’ll probably do those images first. I’ll probably start shooting late tomorrow just so I can get more ideas together. I’ll probably need about 7-8 more shooting sessions with two days to edit the final images. My goal is to shoot for a full week starting tomorrow and then letting my sister get married before going back to edit photos.