Final Project: Makenzie Wistien #TSwift

Polaroid Photograph by: Makenzie Wistisen

While this may appear to be a simple project, there is much more here than meets the eye. I was inspired by the one and only Taylor Swift, my idol, my all-time favorite singer, my borderline creepy fixation, to recreate her infamous 1989 album cover photo. If you don't already know, Taylor included several Polaroid photos with hand written lyrics in her 1989 deluxe album package. Candid pictures of the singer dozing off on the couch or sitting all to fashionably in a city bus can be found in this photo album so to speak. 

The funny thing is we spend thousands of dollars on DSLR cameras and ultra high quality lenses to get that crystal clear, Vogue worthy image when in fact, photography is retroactively moving in the opposite direction. A leading figure in all things retro and hip, Taylor is reinforcing the Polaroid movement; young people using low quality, ancient cameras from Grandma's attic in order to achieve that perfectly blurred, low-light, low resolution photo devoid of detail or vivid color. 

I took this photo with a friends fairly new Polaroid camera in an attempt to stay true to the look of the album cover. I then cut the image in Photoshop and overlaid the album cover with Taylor's handwriting. It's a bit more rectangular than I'd like, but what can you do. Obviously, I enjoy enhancing our visual similarities in the form of clothing, makeup and style. People have repeatedly stopped me on the street, floored by our apparent similarity. It's a little awkward but being mistaken for you idol is also pretty fun. 

I wanted to resonate with Taylor's Polaroids by using an informal background and relaxed, almost disinterested pose. I desaturated the photo to a black and white image as I felt this added to the retro vibe and because I've dealt with a lot of color in previous projects, thought it would be refreshing to take a different approach. I sharpened the image just a tad and took care of a few blemishes. We can't all be as flawless as Taylor unfortunately, but I shake it off. Like Taylor, it's minimalist, but I had fun and have gotten a lot of positive feedback through social media. Haters gonna' hate, hate, hate, hate, hate but I hope you enjoyed! Thanks for viewing!