Photo Essay: Domestic Violence

Introduction of Images

When trying to develop and express a message to an audience, writers have a formula in mind. While creating my photo essay,

I created a formula that consists of time sequence, theme, ideas, and location/background. I used these individually, but making

sure they interlink together. My overall theme displayed through my photos is domestic violence.

Themes are really important when trying to express an idea, validate a point, or get a message across. Along with showing

images of variations of domestic violence raw, I showed images of the aftermath. Not exactly images of the physical aftermath, for

example, bruises and black eyes, but more of the mental and emotional effects it causes. I also showed symbolic images of the

power someone has over you, and showed metaphors of power and outlets/escapes as well. Since I wanted to show domestic

violence raw, and then the aftermath, time sequence for my images was a key to developing my photo essay.

The time sequence starts off right away with screaming and yelling, which doesn’t exactly scream abusive relationship, but

that’s why it was important for my images to progress. The following image is a standing male over a woman shouting at her. The

woman is sitting and covering her face seeming scared of him. Following that image, there is the same woman sitting sunken in

with a males hand over her mouth, representing power and dominance. The next image is the same thing, but this time the woman

is sitting more straight up, and is trying to pull the hand away. The last few images are of the woman sitting there distraught, tired,

scared, confused, angry, and plain miserable.

You can clearly see the struggle that she is going through, but more importantly you feel for her. I wanted my audience to

connect with my images, not just by me pulling on their heart strings, and not necessarily connecting directly. I don’t expect them

to know what the pain from an abusive relationship is like, but that’s not my main point. My main point is for them to be able to

draw connections and know it’s a daily struggle. Domestic violence is something that was happening yesterday, today, and will

continue happening in the future unless the silence is broken.

Image One

Image two

Image Three

Image four

Image Five

Image Six

Image Seven

Image Eight

Image Nine

Image Ten

Image Eleven

Image Twelve

Image Thirteen

Analysis of Photos

I used my formula while taking my photos to create a purpose. Each photo was purposely taken individually to provide meaning. I

wanted each photo to hold its own meaning, without the viewer having to see the other photos. Each photo can be individually

analyzed alone, but it does help to see how they all correlate together.

The first image is a woman in the house doing the dishes while a male is pointing close to her face. This is a simple photo

representing the dominance.

The second image is another male yelling at the female who is sitting down in a corner in the kitchen cradling her head. This is a

physical representation of domestic violence.

The third image is a male holding staring at his dinner plate, wondering where dinner is. The flowers on the table represent the

romantic side of him that occurs sometimes for you to keep trusting him. Although, you can see that the roses are dying, representing

that he doesn’t deserve your trust and the relationship died a long time ago.

Image four is an image of the male’s hand over the woman. The image is lighter adding to the effect that the woman is just

comfortable with it now. She’s sitting down and her shoulders are relaxed and pressed down making it look like she’s tired of it and

now she’s just letting it continue.

The fifth image is the female grabbing the males hand back. She’s showing force and you can see the veins in her hand

representing the struggle that still remains, but now she is fighting him off. This image is darker than the previous one because now

she’s confident and asserting herself.

Image six is the female grabbing back, this time harder. She’s much more forceful than before because she’s tired of it. She

knows in her heart this isn’t right, and she’s over all of it.

The seventh image is the female sitting there on the floor with her eyes closed. When you close your eyes, you forget. You

sleep with your eye closed, and when you are sleeping nothing is a bother to you. This image represents that metaphor. Sometimes,

she just wants to forget.

The eighth image is a blurry black and white image of the female grabbing her head. This image represents the mental and

emotional effects of an abusive relationship. She looks like she could use some help, and probably wants it. The black and white

represents the confusion. She doesn’t know where to go, or where to turn. The blurriness shows her anxiety, and makes you feel for

her. The outlet is there to represent a realistic house setting. This happens in many people’s homes but you just don’t know what

happens behind closed doors.

The ninth image is a black and white image of the female grabbing her head. This is when you start to see the effects of

domestic violence. This female is grabbing her head thinking am I really going through this right now? The black and white represents

the fuzziness that is still there.

Image ten is the female grabbing her face in a colored image. Things may be lightening by now, but are they really? The

expression on her face doesn’t tell you that, but now the world around her is colored, because she got away from her abuser.

Image eleven is a really powerful blurry image. It’s a black and white blurry image of the female who is clearly still distressed.

Things seemed to be getting better at first, but now everything has changed. She doesn’t know how to fight anymore, or how to live.

It’s almost like she can’t live with, or without him.

Image twelve is the female looking up in a black and white image. The female looking up represents exactly that. She’s no

longer in so much pain. She’s able to keep her head up now, but the black and white is her past. It’s still with her, but she’ll come up

on top.

The last image, image thirteen, is the female looking up in color. She has a dead stare, yes, but she’s looking up. The reason I

didn’t make this female smiling is because right after an abusive relationship you are not healed right away. She’s looking up though

and the colored image represents it will be ok.

All the images correspond with each other and you can see the built timeline. Representations, metaphors, symbols,

actualizations, color, depth of field, patterns and composition rules are all important pieces when taking images for specified purposes.

Analysis of One Image

“Always a way out” is the title of my photo I picked to analyze. I chose this image because my entire theme is domestic

violence and the effects of an abusive relationship, but in this photo the woman is fighting back. If I wanted my viewers to receive

any message from my photo essay, the message is this photo.

This woman’s hair is dark, her clothing is dark, and her eyes are closing, but that doesn’t mean it’s over yet. In this photo, the

woman starts to fight back. In her hand, you can see her veins popping out showing force while she grabs his hand back trying to

pry him off. You can tell she is struggling by the fact that his hand is still fully covering her mouth and pressing in her cheek. You

can also tell that the prying is working a little, as you can see his fingers slowly coming off her lips. The subject’s expression does

so much for a photo.

“The eyes shout what the lips fear to say” – William Henry. Her eyes are giving off a daggering look. Although to a viewer

they can appear to be closing and giving up, to me, they are confident. The stare she is giving off represents she has had enough

and now she’s slowly fighting back. She’s now trying. The representation of struggle for her is still in this photo though, and that’s

what I admire about it. The violence is still there, and happening. Her hair is still messy and everything besides her face and the

wall behind her is very dark and black. His hand is still over her mouth, representing the power he has over her, but now her hand

is there too, and over his.

The power outlet next to this woman’s face was purposely there. To a viewer, it could represent the dominance and power this

man has from his abusive ways. To me, it’s the exact opposite. It represents an outlet. There’s always a way out. There’s an

escape, and even though it’s very difficult and challenging to escape from, the possibility still exists.

Not only is what is in the image important, but also how the image was taken is important. My female model in this photo is

centered in this image for a purpose. One rule of composition that is present in this photo is depth of field. The first thing a

viewers’ eyes are drawn is the hands. The hands are located in the center of the image and are “closest” to the viewer. In the

background, you can see the power outlet and the white walls. Besides representing she’s home, the power outlet represents a way

out which is why it’s placed in the background of the photo.

Another rule of composition is symmetry and patterns. This photo is pretty symmetrical on both sides, besides the power

outlet. Photography Mad website says, “Another great way to use them is to break the symmetry or pattern in some way,

introducing tension and a focal point to the scene.” Her hair is pretty symmetrical along with her eyes, eye brows, and nose. I

think that symmetry is necessary, but then I like where it is broken. You see their hands over her mouth, and you see the outlet

which are not symmetrical to anything at all. I like that about this image because that is where the eyes fall, which to me, are the

most important parts of the image.

Cropping is another rule of composition that I used for this photo to really capture of what was happening. Photography Mad

says, “By cropping tight around the subject you eliminate the background “noise”, ensuring the subject gets the viewer’s undivided

attention”. The other images I used showed the female’s entire body and even her feet on the floor. This image only captured her

face and the hands. I wanted the viewer to get a good look on her face, and what her eyes are saying. I feel if I didn’t crop this

photo, the viewer could’ve have gotten lost in other background areas that were not important to this photo’s message.

This image overall represents the struggle of domestic violence relationships, rules of composition, and photography. All of

my images were specifically taken at certain angles with certain lightning to do this project. I never realized all of the groundwork

that went into photography and taking pictures. Overall, it was really fun to take and display my images. This is a topic that hits

home for me, and it was neat to express my feelings towards this topic through imagery and analysis.