Edward Honaker

 Edward Honaker is a 30-year-old man from California, who suffered from depression and anxiety disorders throughout his life. In order to help him cope with his mental illnesses, he decided to get into photography. He used it as a medium to explore what life is like with mental illnesses, to convey the confusion, hopelessness, and stress he encountered in his day-to-day life. Using his expertise in the manipulation of color and light, he creates amazing self-portraits that perfectly encapsulates his emotions. As I just mentioned, his main focus is on self-portraits, using this specific style of photography to educate others on the struggles of mental illness, while creating deeply profound and beautiful pictures.

This picture immediately stuck out to me while I was looking at Honaker's works. It shows himself laying down, looking tired or defeated, surrounded in empty white space. It looks like he used negative space and centering, as despite being in the middle, the figure doesn't take away from the rest of the space. The blinding white feels oppressive, like the figure is trapped. It gives a sense of solitude and isolation, like Honaker is stuck inside his mind, alone with no one to support him or give him aid. His posture seems to convey profound exhaustion, like he's about to give up on life. Maybe this picture showed how his depression caused him to contemplate suicide, or that the depression had such a massive impact in his life, that he ignored his surroundings and the people who loved him and instead fixated on the depression. Either way, I think this picture is both visually appealing and deeply meaningful. 

I think that this picture is very interesting to look at. Seeing how happy everyone is, seeming like a normal family photo, has a sinister undertone when you look at Honaker's figure, with his face replaced with what looks fire. The black and white help create a darker atmosphere, like everything isn't as it seems, that those once normal smiles look rather eerie, seemingly hiding something terrible. I really like the detail of Honaker's face not being shown. It gives the feeling that he feels like an outcast, isolated from those he holds dear. Maybe these people surrounding him are contributing to his mental illnesses, or maybe they don't understand or notice what Honaker is going through. Nonetheless, it is a visually striking photo and has a message that relates to me. I can understand how Honaker feels out of place, and this picture manages to convey that well.