Playground Catwalk: A Senior Black + White High Dynamic Range Diptych by Isabel Martynenko (2016)

This diptych tells the narrative of how my childhood affected my ability to tell stories through cartoons. I used shoes as my focal points because I see a person and their story with each pair. The picture with the sneakers represents a slice of my childhood in which I started to really delve into my interests with cartoons and discover the creative freedom that comes with them. Whenever I see sneakers, I am reminded of my adventures on the playground with my old friends and how many childhood journeys I took in these types of shoes. In contrast, the other side of the diptych shows a pair of high heels. As a child, I strived to wear heels like my mom did. These shoes reflect the professionalism, maturity, and class I gained when it came to growing up. Even though these shoes are different in appearance and represent a different part of my life, I walk in both shoes throughout life. Each pair is a character in this story I am developing to this day.

For the composition, I decided to place the left pair of shoes on the further left side and the right pair on the further right side of the diptych because I wanted to show a longer transition between each photograph. I placed my photos according to the rule of thirds and added a vignettes to make the focal points stand out more. In Photoshop, I selected each pair and used the curves adjustment layer to play around with the blacks, greys, and whites in the black and white photographs. For the sneakers, I adjusted the darker greys and white to increase their brightness and to add contrast between the two colors. For the heels, I darkened the shadows on the black heels while brightening the light greys to add texture to the shoes. Even though the wood floor is a nice backdrop for the shoes’ placement, I wish I had created more of a contrast between the two photos with backgrounds to reflect childhood and approaching adulthood.