Face2Face

Last night before I fell asleep, I had to get out of bed to write down an idea I had. I believe it came from three sources:

1.) I just edited and Photoshopped countless pimples off of 52 students chosen for the "Eagle's Nest Award" at my school. I feel for these kids because their faces will be projected in an auditorium 20 feet high!  So that little pimple suddenly becomes a 10" long pimple... and teeth... well we all don't have access to proper dental care... so I did remove some yellow and lighten a little. One girl even had a hair wrapped up in her braces. How gross is that?

(In her defense, she has a disability and probably can't brush and floss on her own)  It's bad enough these photos will also be hung on stars by the main office where ruthless kids can ridicule them.. I want them to look their best.  

2.) My Photography students  have been searching through magazines looking for examples of different types of photo techniques, so there are magazines strewn about my classroom all day long.

(Side note-- They did cut elementary art and music in our district. One of those art teachers has been at the school for more years than me. I was worried that I might get Riffed.  But I heard that I beat her out by just 21 days! (She had gone out on maternity leave twice and lost time) Talk about a close call. Whew!  I'm very lucky!

3.) I'm reading about feminism and how women are down about themselves, pick apart their own flaws and are their own worst critics.  I just love the Dove adds that counteract this tendency and encourage girls to love themselves for who they are.

Today I asked for student volunteers to help me with my grad project. I explained my idea to them and told them how I want to show real beauty versus fake beauty. At first, just a few brave souls stepped up, then it was like a frenzy. "This is fun!" Everyone wanted their photo taken! The students picked out the face or part of face they wanted and I tried to guide them to align it as closely as possible to their face. I found it interesting that they picked models faces that somewhat resembled their own.  My intention was to show their real beauty versus the Photoshopped beauty they see in magazines every day.  I heard comments like "That looks so weird!" I told them about how advertisers really do distort faces to fit a certain unrealistic ideal. I will be showing them videos and before and after Photoshop pictures soon. Here are the results: