CHROMA Idea created by Siena Pennington
Chromatographic separations are the single most heavily used techniques in the larger field of analytical chemistry, whether applied or fundamental. Without mortal chromatography, we would struggle to answer many of the pressing questions of our time, and without the improvements and advancements through humans we would struggle to probe more deeply into the challenges of the future. Whether it is for better understanding or characterization of each person, qualitative determination of each unknown person is an important matrix to the discovery of the emerging compounds of the future. Chromatography is the science that ties our humanity together. This project is combining the ideas of chromatography and individuality to isolate and extract different chemical compounds in life’s beautiful mixture. The idea is to metaphorically think of life’s rainbow and extract different people and consider them chemicals. Based on this method, each chemical when isolated is always a labeled color based on its characteristics in the mixture. Each person in this photo story is assigned a specific color HEX CODE based on their life experiences and the energy they put into the world. Using the HEX CODE that portrays who they are as a person, I used it as the sole lighting for their story about what makes that person, them. Through the use of color and light, I tell the stories of each individual subject and capture how beautiful they are as people.
Project Summary + Logline: By metaphorically combining the ideas of chromatography and individuality, this project is highlighting the differences between humans in a society and is bringing out the elements and stories that make them, THEM. Each person based on their stories and experiences throughout their lifetime has a HEX CODE made uniquely for them. This HEX CODE is their color that best represents them as an individual. The lighting of each subject is their HEX CODE color as the colored light source.
Website Description: This is the project’s interactive website. There are four sections in your journey throughout the site.
The sections are:
Understanding Color
HEX CODED SUBJECTS
Subject Biographies
Letters to Subject Role Models
In this journey, I want you to really understand who each subject is and why their color is so important. In the Understanding Color section, it gives you a summary as to why each color is important in our lives today and some characteristics of what each color means symbolically. I suggest either reading that first or last depending on your preference.
The beginning part of the journey is the HEX CODED SUBJECTS. This is the photo story with a small synopsis about what their colors mean and which HEX they are. This section is for interpreting their photo story without many words, create your own interpretation based on the visuals I created. They symbolize each person’s story greatly without words.
The next section is the Subject Biographies. This section is key because it dives in deeper as to who the person is and their story that is behind the visuals. After reading this section, you will understand the way I photographed to the fullest and understand the colors and person as well. In this section, the photos are on top of the description, so you do not have to look back and forth.
The last section of the journey is the Letters to Subject Role Models. This section goes into detail about the inspirations and role models behind the people who I photographed. I break down their HEX CODES in words, as I did not have time to photograph every single one of them for the project. I wrote them letters thanking them for their support and the photos they were inspired for. Their stories incorporated with the subjects were a big part of how I made some of the photographs. The descriptions at the end of each letter contain the photo they were an inspiration for, it goes into depth about some of the hidden meanings of how I composed and lit certain photographs.
The last part of my website is the 1-2 min trailer of my website with a soundscape experience.