Judging a person by appearance is a common part of everyday life. We judge people we walk past in the street we even judge our friends and family on clothing choices from time to time. My project ‘Don’t judge me till you know me’ is all about the identity a person has for himself or herself.
Often I have been judged on my first impression, people have seen me as a nerd or a bit snobby due to my glasses and quietness. It is only until I feel comfortable enough to be myself that people begin to realize my true personality. I am anything but snobby so it hurts me when people think this. I have found this is the case for several other people I know. The photographs I have produced for this project are a series of Men and Women aged between 17 -56. I asked them to show me how they see themselves and tell me a little about why they have chosen the location and clothing for their identity photograph. Then I have chosen a contradicting identity for them and paired up the images, making it hard for the viewer to know which one is really their true personality of how the subject sees himself or herself. I have used August Sander and Rineke Dijkstra as my artist models as they both use a straightforward frontal style of photographing. They both show minimal background detail and allow the subject to tell the story behind the photograph. Dijkstra has adapted Sanders techniques into modern day practice. |