Okay, so I’ve been messing around with this idea of “autophobia” in photography – basically, the fear of being alone, or of oneself. Sounds kinda heavy, right? But I thought it could make for some really interesting shots. I wanted to capture that feeling of isolation, even when you’re surrounded by stuff, or even people.
Getting Started and The Idea
First, I grabbed my camera – nothing fancy, just my usual DSLR – and started brainstorming locations. I figured empty spaces would be key, but I also wanted to play with the idea of being alone in a crowd. You know, that feeling of being lost in a sea of faces?
Experimenting with locations
- First stop: an abandoned warehouse I found downtown. Totally creepy, totally perfect. I spent a couple of hours there, just wandering around and shooting whatever caught my eye. The light was amazing, all these dusty shafts coming through broken windows. I tried to get shots that felt…empty. Like, really emphasize the vastness of the space.
- Next up: I hit a busy street market. Total opposite of the warehouse, right? But I wanted to see if I could capture that feeling of being alone even when you’re surrounded by people. I focused on getting shots of people looking lost, or disconnected, even when they were right next to someone else. It was tougher than I expected!
- Then: I went to a local park late at night. It was pretty deserted, which was the point. I played around with long exposures, trying to make the empty benches and swings look extra…lonely. Sounds kinda silly, but I think it worked.
The Process and The “A-ha!” Moment
The whole time, I was shooting in RAW, because I knew I’d want to mess with the colors and contrast later. I wasn’t really thinking about specific poses or anything – I just wanted to capture the feeling of the places, and the people (or lack of people) in them.
I think the “a-ha!” moment came when I was editing the photos from the market. I started desaturating the colors, making everything look kinda washed out and bleak. And then I boosted the contrast, so the shadows were really dark and the highlights were really bright. It totally changed the mood of the photos – they went from being just regular street shots to something…deeper. Almost unsettling.
Learning and My Thoughts.
It’s still a work in progress, this whole “autophobia” thing. I’m still learning how to really capture that feeling, how to make it visible in a photograph. But it’s been a really interesting experiment so far. It’s made me think a lot more about how we experience loneliness, and how we can represent that visually. I have to take more picture to really master it, but it’s a fun journey.
