Narrative

For my photography class we were instructed to take pictures inspired by narrative painters. This was a tough assignment for me. I didn't know any narrative painters and I never really take narrative or staged pictures so the whole experience was a bit new to me. After browsing the web for a bit, I discovered that certain portraits are considered narrative. Using this new information I found two Picasso paintings that fit as a narrative, but could also relate to me. The original paintings and the photograph depicting the painting are shown below. The one I am most pleased with is the second one, "The Drinker". I feel like i captured the mood of the painting much better than in the first one, "The Guitar Player".

"The Guitar Player's Brother" Brian Tragno

"The Guitar Player" Pablo Picasso

"The Drinker" Pablo Picasso

"The Wino" Brian Tragno

We also had to create our own narrative photographs. This added even more to the challenge of this assignment. What I came up with are three different stories and the photographs to go along with them. This first picture has a rather elaborate story about a killer who seems cold blooded to the police who are chasing him, but in reality, he is tortured by the murders he has been forced to commit. In this photograph he has just committed another murder and sits devastated on the bathroom floor trying to cope with the horror of killing the woman he loved.

This second photograph deals with what we see of a person when you first meet them. It can be compared to an iceberg where you see what's above the surface but that is only a small percentage of how deep it actually goes. I is the same when you meet someone. You only know the smallest percentage about them and many times that is how people are judged even though their personalities run much deeper.

Tattoos are a way for people to express their likes and passions. They also tell a story. If you meet someone with a lot of tattoos you can probably get their life story simply by asking about their tattoos. They are bookmarks in our lives. They also are a great source of mystery. That's why this picture tells a story, it leaves you wondering why she has these tattoos and what the story is behind them.