Drugs
For this unit I wanted to explore the effects of some drugs. I want to find out how the different drugs can change the way you feel or look. I decided to research Cannabis, Ecstasy, Cocaine and LSD. For my final piece unit i want to take what I have experimented in my other units to help me display the different effects caused by these drugs.
Bryan Lewis Saunders started a project to create a new self portrait every day some of which he did when he was under the influence of drugs.
Each of these portraits represent how he was feeling while under the influence of each drug. I like how these pieces are unique to how he, as an individual, felt at the time.
Cannabis.
WEED, SKUNK, SINSEMILLA, SENSI, RESIN, PUFF, POT, MARIJUANA, HERB, HASHISH, HASH, GRASS, GANJA, DRAW, DOPE, BUD, and BHANG are the other names for Cannabis. It can be consumed through food by adding it to the ingredients when baking, however it more common for people to smoke the plant as the effects occur a lot quicker. People tend to take the drug because the short term effects give them a sense of euphoria and makes them feel 'high'. When taking this drug your eyes may turn red and your pupils will dilate. It increases your appetite and slows down your reaction time. Colours could become more vivid and sounds might seem louder. This drug could also cause anxiety, panic, suspicion, hallucinations and make you more aware of your senses, slowing down everything around you. Regular intake of Cannabis can effect the way the brain works.It could make it difficult to learn and concentrate and could decrease any motivation.
Ecstasy
Ecstasy is now usually sold as tablets, they come in all sorts of colours and could have designs stamped onto them. The tablets can be crushed and smoked or snorted but most people tend to swallow it whole. People take ecstasy to energize themselves, it makes them feel alert and alive. Taking this drug could distort time and your perception, it could intensify colours and sounds, could make you feel anxious and could cause panic attacks. Your pupils may become dilated and your body temperature may rise.
Cocaine
There are different forms of cocaine, powder cocaine (also known as coke), freebase and crack. These are all very powerful stimulants with short-lived effects. They temporarily speed up your mind and body. Cocaine can make you feel very confident, alert and awake but can sometimes make people too confident, arrogant and aggressive causing them to make careless decisions. This drug raises your body temperature, makes your heart beat faster and reduces your appetite. When the effects of the drug start to wear off, people may feel depressed and run down, this is the 'comedown'. This crash could last for days afterwards. Snorting cocaine seriously damages the cartilage that separates the nostrils and could end up ruining the shape of ones nose and isn't surprising that smoe heavy users end up losing their cartilage all together. Using cocaine a lot can cause serious problems with anxiety, paranoia and panic attacks.
LSD
Also known as Acid, LSD is a hallucinogenic drug so the user will experience a distorted view of objects and reality, including hearing and seeing something that may or may not be there. The experience of taking this drug is known as a 'trip'. Trips can be either good or bad and you wont know which one until youv taken it and by this time it would be too late to do anything about it. A good trip can make the user feel relaxed and happy where a bad trip can make the user feel confused and agitated with scary and unpleasant hallucinations. Time and movement can appear to speed up and slow down. Along with things being distorted, the user may experience double vision. LSD can make you feel tired, axious, panicky and depressed.
The Faces Of Drug Charges.
An article showed drug addicts and how theyre appearance chnaged over time from the constant use of drugs.
Roman Sakovich - 'Half'
Roman Sakovich is a photographer who created images that displayed two different halves of people. In these he shows half of someone as they are healthy and well dressed and the other half showing the affects of drugs. How their skin has sagged and turned pale, bruised and lifeless compared to the full, happy and more coloured side.
David Szauder - Failed Memories
While looking into the drug ecstasy I found a photographer who did a series called Failed Memories. He distorted parts of his photograph to portray broken or lost memories. I thought this linked well with some of the drugs I have been looking at as some common effects are distortion and not being able to see or think clearly.
Szauder Inspired Photoshoot.
inspired by szauders 'failed memories' series, i used photoshop to break up some photographs i had taken. for each piece i had moved i created a new layer. I selected a strip across my models face cut it and moved them all to the right as if the picture is frozen or corrupt. I thought this would go well with the effects memory loss when on drugs or not seeing things as clearly as you would sober.
Ideas Page
LSD Inspired Photoshoot
Also inspired by the work of Szauder and the affects I had researched on LSD I experimented on photoshop ways you could distort an image. 'LSD is a hallucinogenic drug so the user will experience a distorted view of objects and reality, including hearing and seeing something that may or may not be there' Using photoshop I wanted to create a very exaggerated distortion. I focused mainly on the face and the features of my model as I wanted to show how the effects are purely on the person who had taken the drugs. I also edited the colours a little. I enhancd the contrast and added tones of red and blue.
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Cocaine Inspired Photoshoot
Inspired by the work of Roman Sakovich, I wanted to show the effects of a drug on half the face. I chose Cocaine as I thought this drug has the worst long term affects visually and wanted to compare to how it would look healthy. I thought if I compared them and showed contrast it would enhance the look on the affected side and make it appear even worse. I used make up to create dark circles to show fatigue and contoured the cheekbones to show signs of weight loss. The use of makeup also helped when I began to Photoshop as I only had to enhance what was already there. I used 'liquify' to make the skin sang and make the cheekbones stick out more.
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Cannabis Inspired Photoshoot
From my research on Cannabis, it's main short term affects is the feeling of euphoria or feeling 'high'. The main change in appearance when on this drug is the eyes turning red. I took this and wanted to exaggerate how red they could get. The affects also say that colours and sounds are enhanced. Because thesis meant to be a 'happy' drug I wanted to make the photographs brighter and more colourful.
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Ecstasy Inspired shoot
After researching ecstasy I wanted to create a photograph that would display how you may feel after taking the drug. I wanted to show how time and vision can seem distorted. Taking inspiration from David Szauder, I thought breaking up the photograph could represent some of the effects of ecstasy. Using Photoshop I selected and copied parts of the face and moved it. I thought this could show the effect of having double vision or not being able to see things clearly. For each part of the face I had selected I had to create a new layer. After copying the layers I set them to overlay the original portrait. This blended the layers together and enhanced the colours in some of them which I thought also represents the effects of this drug.
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