So recently I’ve been trying to develop my skills in fashion photography in the areas of shooting as well as editing. I did a photo shoot with a few of my friends last week, and it turned out great. The story line behind this picture is based on a story written by Shakespeare called “King Lear”. The play of King Lear is about a person in search of his or her own personal identity. Int the historical period in which this play is set, the social structure was set in order of theings closest to Heaven. Therefore, on Earth, the king was at the top, followed by his noblemen and going all the way down to the basest of objects such as rocks and dirt. The structure was set up by the people, and by going by the premise that anything that is made is imperfect; this system cannot exist for long without conflict. Any way to make a long story short the king had three daughters and in order for him to decide which daughter to give all his land to he had them give a speech on how much they love him. The first two older daughters put on this big speech, basically a lot of bs. But the youngest one was real in her words and up front on the way she felt. The king felt as though she didn’t love him and banished her from the kingdom. In the end, the king finds out that the first older daughters didn’t really love him as much as they said they did, and the youngest daughter returns to fight for the land. Here what she told her father during her speech.

Cordelia: “You have begot me, bred me, lov’d me; I return those duties back as are right fit, obey you, love you, and most honor you. Why have my sisters husbands, if they say they love you all? Haply, when I shall wed, that lord whose hand must take my plight shall carry half my love with him, half my care and duty. Sure I shall never marry like my sisters, to love my father all.”

So in this picture I took, there where a few things I put in the photo to symbolize certain things. Three things actually. One is the torn red sheet which symbolizes her torn love for her father. The second is the knife in her had which is the sign of war, and third is her body language which symbolizes her heavy burden that she has.

Before

After