Night Moves “We were just young and restless and bored Livin' by the sword And we'd steal away every chance we could To the backroom, to the alley or the trusty woods I used her, she used me But neither one cared We were gettin' our share Workin' on our night moves Tryin' to lose the awkward teenage blues Workin' on our night moves “ -Bob Seger
-Abbey Lee Kershaw photographed by Angelo Penetta
Victoria Weitbrecht Artist Statement
For my photos, I was going for natural, warm tones mixed with a laid-back sixties like tone. I chose a photo of model Abbey Lee Kershaw taken by Angelo Pernetta and a verse from the song “Night Moves” by Bob Seger. Although the melody and emotional attachment I have to the song were a large influence on my song choice, the lyrics also provided an excellent backbone for my visual aesthetic. For my model, I decided to stick with warm tones, earthly feels, and casual textures and fits. Although a fur jacket or vest was unavailable, the texture and fit of the tan crochet shirt provided a good substitution for an earthly-like feel. The distressed denim, large feather earrings, and variety of random, layered jewelry made the look appear very casual and spontaneous yet still fashionable. Also, the headband over pin-straight middle-parted hair is a staple of sixties hipsters. The photo I chose to follow for a visual aesthetic, although it is black and white, the textures of the fur shawl and backdrop of aged wood evoked the feelings of nature and warm tones. The model also looks strayed out, inebriated, and very casual. She also appears very endearing, a quality that I wanted to keep in my photos. However, I took a different approach to it, making my model seem more fun-loving and spontaneous instead of intimidating and mysterious. This fit more with the song verse, which is about a woman who out of spontaneity, lust, and inebriation became one of the man’s fondest memories of his youthful days. The addition of the flask in the photos was another youthful touch of good nights of times pass. The one photo that I feel also needs explaining, is the shot of the tree. The mood I was capturing here was one of somberness. I felt in the song there is a hint of wishful thinking that he could return to his teenage years and this tree at sunset is what triggered these emotions. But the colors are peaceful, the blues and yellows are not strong, which points out feelings of not anger or depression of times pass, but joyous reverie. Although the lighting of my photos was not choice, I felt I was able to do a number to the photos with the Picasa2 editing software. In the majority of the photos, I changed the color temperature to a yellower tint. I also brought down the saturation, added a glow, and a soft focus effect to bring about the feeling of ‘hazy memories’.