A Reflection on the Perspective and Development of an Eating Disorder

For my visual essay, I chose to chronicle the development and recovery of an eating disorder. I chose this because I struggled with an eating disorder, and several people my age do too. Eating disorders are a topic that needs more attention drawn to it, so people understand the negative physical, mental, and emotional tolls it has.

Too little to eat.

My pictures were taken at Furman University. I added typography and filters and cropped unnecessary or distracting elements out of the picture. Specifically, I added a typography reading, “You Are Enough,” to portray red lipstick written on the mirror, while slightly blurring and blending the text. I also removed several objects from the picture using the lasso or patch tool, along with other elements. For the photographs capturing the eating disorder, I tried to set a dark, emotional tone by lowering the brightness, saturation, and vibrancy to illustrate the pain of an eating disorder. Several of the photos originally had bright, distracting lighting that countered the emotional tone of the image, so I edited them.

This was my first time using Photoshop, and all the edits I made taught me a lot about the proper ways to portray a photo and elements I can use to enhance the image. For example, I had to angle the typography on certain lines to look like realistic journal writing and lower the shadows and saturation to match the image’s tone. I can use this knowledge and these new skills in the future because I hope to have a career in marketing, and high-quality photos and presentations are crucial.

Check out my visual essay here

A constant reminder for me!