Resurrection: A Narrative Character Portrait by Rohit Padmakumar (2015)

My character is a caring, determined and thoughtful teenager who is struggling to maintain his sister's innocence. My story portrays a brother who is constantly replacing his sister's first pet fish when it passes away, such that she is unaware when it dies. This tedious act of going to the store and buying a fish without his sisters knowing becomes a stressful burden, and one that he cannot afford to lose for the sake of preserving her innocence. In my photo, I decided to display a moment when he is refilling the fish bowl after recently throwing out the old dead fish. His facial expression depicts one of an anxious, puzzled, and tiresome teenager who is caught in a standstill between the conservation of fantasy in his sister's perspective and the reality of the situation he has put upon himself. This is the revolving conflict in the story, for the brother is faced with such forces that make him question how long he is needed to keep replacing the fish to maintain her child-like and idealistic beliefs.

In creating the photo, I decided to have more of a head-on frontal shot of my character so that my audience could truly see his expression, the vital part of the piece. In doing so, I had my character picture himself in a burdensome situation in order for the viewers to understand the meaning through his facial features. Along with that, I incorporated a fish bowl and a thin plastic fish bag with water to make the scene come alive with a setting and action. With a high shutter speed, I was able to freeze the water in its place, perpetuating the lively energy involved when filling the bowl to make the scene more visually attractive and appealing. When I finally put the picture in Photoshop, I utilized various tools to blur the background completely along with creating a vignette so the subject could be the focus and pop out at the viewer.