This portfolio by Allison contains 15 digital photographs exploring themes of truth, beauty, and goodness. Allison was inspired by characters and stories from Tolkien's "Great Tales" to portray these concepts through dramatic portraits. The images start with simple photo editing and progressively incorporate more digital manipulation, with Allison altering her own face in several works. Through experimental techniques like photo manipulation and montage, Allison aimed to demonstrate the existence and importance of truth, beauty, and goodness in modern society.

1. GREAT TALES PORTFOLIO
Allison

2. Image 1
Sustained Investigation
Height: 16 inches
Width: 20 inches
Material(s): Charcoal, ink,
watercolor, collage on paper,fire,
original and reference photos
Process(es): I gathered ideas for
investigating truth, beauty and
goodness through otherworldly
portraiture.
Image 2
Sustained Investigation
Height: 16 inches
Width: 20 inches
Material(s): Digital photography and
photomontage, photoshop fix
Process(es): I investigated high
contrast to accentuate the eyes,
perceiving beauty, and desiring it.

3. Image 3
Sustained Investigation
Height: 16 inches
Width: 16 inches
Material(s): Digital photography,
overlaying two original photos,
Photoshop fix
Process(es): I crafted ethereal lights
and darks and overlaid the leaves to
portray natural, true beauty.
Image 4
Sustained Investigation
Height: 16 inches
Width: 20 inches
Material(s): Digital photography,
costumes
Process(es): I emphasize contrast to
demonstrate the darkness that can
come from lusting after false beauty.

4. Image 5
Sustained Investigation
Height: 16 inches
Width: 10 inches
Material(s): Digital photography,
costumes, photoshop fix
Process(es): I practiced crafting
flowing shadows to emphasize the
beautiful nature of self-sacrifice.
Image 6
Sustained Investigation
Height: 20 inches
Width: 16 inches
Material(s): Digital photography,
digital face manipulation, filter
overlay, photoshop fix
Process(es): I created emphasis to
demonstrate the goodness of life,
when contrasted with imminent
death.

5. Image 7
Sustained Investigation
Height: 12 inches
Width: 20 inches
Material(s): Digital photography,
costumes, photoshop fix
Process(es): I saturated the figure to
illustrate her joy as she sees the
goodness of her love for the first
time
Image 8
Sustained Investigation
Height: 17 inches
Width: 20 inches
Material(s): Digital photography,
filter overlay, photoshop fix
Process(es): I studied contrast to
invoke a feeling of sad
contemplation as all that is good
seems lost

6. Image 9
Sustained Investigation
Height: 20 inches
Width: 12 inches
Material(s): Digital photography,
costumes, photoshop fix
Process(es): I investigated leading
lines to the face to emphasize the
fear of losing all that is good.
Image 10
Sustained Investigation
Height: 12 inches
Width: 8 inches
Material(s): Printed original photos,
pen, paper, watercolors, paste
Process(es): I experimented w/
different angles, searching for the
most effective to communicate
contemplation.

7. Image 11
Sustained Investigation
Height: 16 inches
Width: 20 inches
Material(s): Digital photography,
Photoshop fix
Process(es): I focused on shadows
to create a lost feeling associated
with contemplating the truth of ones
past.
Image 12
Sustained Investigation
Height: 12 inches
Width: 8 inches
Material(s): Original and reference
printed photography, pencil, paper,
paste
Process(es): I experimented with
digitally altering my face, focusing
on the eye to create a sense of fear.

8. Image 13
Sustained Investigation
Height: 20 inches
Width: 16 inches
Material(s): Digital photography,
photo manipulation, photoshop fix
Process(es): I emphasized the eye to
illustrate fear and confusion asking
oneself “what is truth?"
Image 14
Sustained Investigation
Height: 16 inches
Width: 20 inches
Material(s): Digital photography,
photoshop fix
Process(es): I used contrast to
create encroaching shadows,
illustrating how a horrible truth can
prey upon one.

9. Image 15
Sustained Investigation
Height: 16 inches
Width: 20 inches
Material(s): Digital photography,
digital painting.
Process(es): I enhanced contrast for
a rough texture, illustrating a tragic
end stemming from horrible truth
Written Evidence
Sustained Investigation
How can I investigate Truth, Beauty
and Goodness through dramatic
portraiture from Tolkien’s “Great
Tales"?
Truth, Beauty, and Goodness permeate and influence our lives,
but modern society denies their existence and claims
everything is subjective. I use portraits of characters in
the “Great Tales" as a vehicle for demonstrating their
existence and importance. I explore the prevalence of
Beauty as
desirable while acknowledging the destructive nature of
lust through the story of “Beren and Luthien" (2-5).
Through “The Fall of Gondolin" I
investigate Goodness in life and how lost we become when
we lose
everything that is good (6-9). Finally I illustrated Truth
through the tale “The Children of Hurin," (10-16) in its
nature as haunting, powerful and essential, and how losing
or ignoring it can lead to despair (15,16) and death (16).
Throughout the portfolio I integrated more and more photo
manipulation. I started with simple editing of photographs
(7,9,11,14) and shifted to digitally rendered lighting (3,5)
then to photomontage (2,3) and finally to digital
manipulation of faces, making myself into 6,13,&16.Through
experimentation I turned ordinary people into otherworldly
characters

10. Selected Work 1
Selected Works
Height: 20 inches
Width: 16 inches
Idea(s): This image explores fear in
the loss of identity and the question
“Who am I?"
Material(s): Digital photography and
photo manipulation
Process(es): Manipulating the face
to create this person using myself as
a template, focus on high contrast
Work 2
Selected Works
Height: 20 inches
Width: 20 inches
Idea(s): Contemplation of mortality
and death, straddling the line
between grief and apathy.
Material(s): Digital photography
Process(es): Positioning model in
the shadows of the leaves to create
movement in the lighting.

11. Work 3
Selected Works
Height: 16 inches
Width: 20 inches
Idea(s): Seeing ones deeds and
identity through the reflection in a
knife- a weapon of destruction.
Material(s): Digital photography
Process(es): I focused on shadows
to create a lost feeling associated
with contemplating the truth of ones
past.
Work 4
Selected Works
Height: 20 inches
Width: 16 inches
Idea(s): Isolation and a feeling of
imprisonment in quarantine, and a
desire for life to be normal again.
Material(s): Digital photography
Process(es): I took the photo of
myself from the other side of the
blinds and heightened contrast for
texture.

12. Work 5
Selected Works
Height: 10 inches
Width: 20 inches
Idea(s): The modern woman covers
herself with makeup until it becomes
a mask, and the real woman
disappears.
Material(s): Light, cosmetics,
photography
Process(es): I set up a light and
arranged the cosmetics to cast the
shadow of a woman’s face.