Environmental Portrait: One Reks
By: Jinx Thomason
This photograph was taken of my roommate One (pronounced Oh-knee), in their "natural habitat" - their craft area. One is one of the most creative, colorful, and eccentric people I know, and I thought the best way to portray them in their natural environment would be here, doing what they love. After taking many photos I landed on this one, as I felt the reflection of the TV added an interesting element of symmetry and duality to the photo, creating more of a narrative than just "someone sitting doing art". I felt the duality aids in the audience understanding his character more: Everything can be positive and colorful but you never know what people can be feeling on the flip side of things, something I hoped to add with the slightly darker more dulled details on the reflection side. I also wanted this perspective to get a better scope of the maximalist nature of One: There's a lot to look at in the image and to me that's kinda the point for this photo. Overall I'm pretty happy with how this turned out as it gave an interesting take on portraying him while staying true to they nature all white creating a compelling composition.
