Panic by Christian Sampson
Christian Sampson is a 21 year old Photographer from Peru in Indiana. He started taking photographs around the subject matter of mental illness in 2014 for a photography course in which he was studying for.
Sampson’s aim for this project was to show the most common mental disorders around the world which range from depression to insomnia.
During the research for my blog I had studied Sampson’s series of images of Mental Health. One thing i noticed in particularly was the way in which the photographs are based on the different mental health illnesses which really intrigued me. I like his approach to this series as his research clearly shows in this work and you can see what he is he trying to portray in his work, very clearly. The photographs also enables the viewer to see the difference between each of the mental health problems. No two images are similar which i love as it shows he took a lot of time to plan, think them through and apply this research carefully to the images through the use of the elements in the frame.
I select this image named ‘Panic’ from his series of photographs of Mental Health for the reason panic can related to all mental health disorders. Panic is state of a panic attack or in of when the mind becomes overwhelmed and panic with thoughts it becomes intense. The photo shows this because the model looks like she is screaming even through we cannot see her face but her hands look tight, intense and she looks very uncomfortable. The use of the knife suggests suicidal thoughts.
I feel for myself this image is very relate able. When my anxiety becomes too much for myself to handle, my mind goes into panic mode where i become overwhelmed with my thoughts this is due to stressful situations. My body will become intense, takes time to calm down fully and try to control your thoughts instead of them controlling you.
