Contest #1 Entry: Photographic Representation

 

Above is my entry for Contest #1 (the photographic representation). This picture represents the book "Pandemonium" by Lauren Oliver.

 

Here is a short summary of Pandemonium: In DELIRIUM  Lena Haloway dared to fall in love with Alex and escape the cure, the government-mandated procedure that renders a person immune to the disease of love. Lena and Alex staked their lives on leaving their oppressive society, but only Lena broke free. PANDEMONIUM continues Lena’s gripping story. After escaping from Portland, Maine, Lena makes it to the Wilds and becomes part of an Invalid community, where she transforms herself into a warrior for the resistance. A future without Alex is unimaginable, but Lena pushes forward and fights, both for him and for a world in which love is no longer considered a disease. Swept up in a volatile mix of revolutionaries and counterinsurgents, Lena struggles to survive—and wonders if she may be falling in love again.

I believe my picture is a good representation of the book Pandemonium for many reasons. Pandemonium was given it's title for a reason! The theme of this book is chaos; Lena's world is crumbling away before her eyes, leaving her helpless and desperate. I tried to capture this aspect of the novel in my picture; I wanted to make it seem as if everything was very crammed together and disorganized. There are many things going on at once. Further, uncontrolled fire is often a cause for panic and disarray. The massive flames dominating my photo are meant to represent both this sense of hysteria as well as form a literal representation of the actual forest fire that occurs in the book. In Pandemonium, Lena and her fellow escapees take part in an intense battle against the goverment, in which many of them are wounded by the weapons and fury of the government-controlled city. The fire, darkness and red tinge of the photo are all meant to represent this battle and the injuries sustained by Lena's friends. There is also an air of mystery about this book; many things are left to the imagination. I attempted to capture this mysterious aura by keeping numerous parts of my picture shrouded in darkness. Darkness is the universal symbol for mystery, sadness and despair (all three of which are recurring themes in this novel). The winding staircase in the centre of my photo represents Lena's growth as a person. She has made the long journey to adulthood and has developed into a strong, determined young lady by the end of the novel. Finally, the old wooden doors, brick walls and chamberpots lining the ground are meant to represent Lena's new life in the wild. The escapees living in the wild do not have much access to modern luxuries, and the scene depicted in my photo portrays just that.

 

This picture was taken by me in August 2012 during the "Sirens of TI" show at Treasure Island Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. I used pixlr.com/o-matic for the editing. Props to bendavis for the site. When editing, I sharpened the picture a bit and added a black border to give it a more polished look.

Edit: I think I was hacked or something because I clearly remember calling this post "Contest #1 Entry: Photographic Representation", but when I logged back in a couple hours later the title was appearing as "Contest #1: Photo Representative". I don't know what's going on. :/