Doppelgänger - C+C?

PatrickGliem

TPF Noob!
Joined
Nov 20, 2009
Messages
5
Reaction score
0
Location
New Jersey
Can others edit my Photos
Photos OK to edit
So.. I'm starting a new photos series and these are some of the preliminary shots. I've quoted what I've written for the concept and I'm curious as to how well you guys think these images match.. and how they stand as photographs by themselves. Thanks for any comments!

Doppelgängers are traditionally thought of as an exact copy of yourself living completely unaware of your existence. Generally, a doppelgänger is considered something like an evil twin or darker counter part with the opposite ideals of your own. However, the origin of the word tells of a different creature that predicts death. If you intersect paths with your own doppelgänger, it's advised that you do not engage in any sort of contact, specifically meeting eyes. There have been several reports throughout history of people in power, such as Abraham Lincoln and Queen Elizabeth I, who have seen this type of wraith mere weeks before their own deaths. Marked as an omen of ill fate, the doppelgänger is a rare sight but an inevitable fear.

Despite the Germanic folklore that burned these ideas into our minds, I see the doppelgänger as something different. The purpose of any lore is to instill a sense of fear and caution through telling tall tales loosely based on facts or, more often, misunderstandings. Every person is said to be born with a doppelgänger, though few ever see theirs. What if this myth was actually a mental truth only solidified in "human" form to heighten the anxiety of the story? What if our doppelgänger was mere subconscious imbalance? It is in this thought that I believe our doppelgängers to be the voice in our head that constantly hinders us, the part of our psyche that binds our bad habits and the fire that fuels our untamed tempers. We live alongside these fabled phantoms and combat their oppressive misfortunes on a daily basis. From mundane problems [such as lack of sleep] to major accidents, we are forced to choose between sanity and white walls because of the jaded shadow embedded in our brains. In death, we hope to finally find our true selves, thus our mind lets us rest by granting sight of that within. This is the true nature of a "doppelgänger."
1.
finished6.jpg

2.
finished7_2.jpg

3.
finished8.jpg

4.
finished9.jpg

5.
finished10_2.jpg


Thanks again!
 
Last edited:
Hahahah well thanks you guys! I'll take that as a compliment.

I added two new photos that I've taken. Curious as to what you think!

Thanks again!
 
The concept is pretty cool. My problem is that in the photos you can't really tell that they are the "same" person. You can't really see the face or any other distingushing features, except in the first picture.
 
how did you do #2? i like it, but you can't tell who the person underneath is, i thought it was a female to be honest. it's the shorts i think
 
Thank you guys for the responses! I agree that it's difficult to tell it's the same person in most of them. I was talking with a friend about it today and she mentioned how it'd probably be in my best interest to take at least a few where it was blatantly obvious it was the same person. I took another today that I like, but I don't want to overload the topic or anything? I'll link to it here rather than in the first post.

@erose: Yeah, I was pretty excited when that happened! I took around two or three photos on the bottom and top of the staircase so I had a few options when pulling them together and I was happy that it happened like that.

@mwcfarms: Ahhh, okay. I tried to keep a high contrast in the important area of the photo [black clothes on white] but I guess it didn't work out too well. Haha you should see all the crap I moved, too. I actually shot that in the basement, so there was a ton of stuff lying around. Thanks for your input!

@rokclmb: I agree! haha thanks for the comment.

@TylerF: Haha dude it sucked. After I had taken the photos and uploaded them, they didn't match up. Not only that, but I actually used two different pillows on accident and one was darker. So I had to do a bunch of warping and distorting to get them to overlap properly. Thanks for the comment!

This is the new image I took today. It's not as dark as the others, but I'd like to address some more casual settings as well for this concept because it's not simply about death. It's also about having this other person alongside you always.

finished11.jpg
 
Personally they are too dark for my liking, and with that you are hiding the key detail that it is the same person.

You don't need to nuke the photos but bring it up 1/3 of a stop or two.

I like the concept a lot and hope you don't give up on it! Just focus on the face more since that is the star in these photos.
 
But even though you can't really see that it is the same person in 3 (or in the others), I still find 3 successfully creepy. Whoa! That expression! Way cool.
 

Most reactions

Back
Top