Project Post #2
Good evening,
Reading Rexer’s chapter got me thinking about the effect of time in terms of creating unique pictures. In
our world of saturated images, one way to take a picture that has never been taken before is to take it at
a different time. This is critical to my explorations of this project with a documentary approach-these
photos can serve as time capsules and become valuable with time, as connection is lost to events of
the past.
our world of saturated images, one way to take a picture that has never been taken before is to take it at
a different time. This is critical to my explorations of this project with a documentary approach-these
photos can serve as time capsules and become valuable with time, as connection is lost to events of
the past.
I feel there is a fine line I am walking with these images; Rexer sums it up nicely with this quote,
“The perceptions don’t have to be particularly original, but what they produce is” (144). Anyone
can walk into a grocery store and take a picture of shelves, and text it to their friends-look at all the
cleaning products that are sold out! I am trying to separate my images by not only creating and
preserving the current reality, but evoking a mood. Their simplicity does not correlate to ill
consideration for composition and art-making, quite the contrary. I often find that simply composed
photos combined with black and white make the path from the viewer to the story of the image much
shorter. The stark, straight on views of the shelves and signage reflect their authority and ruling aura
over my own conscience, and that of the world, as we wade through the challenge of the pandemic.
Therefore, thinking about the aforementioned quote, the place I stand in when I take these pictures
are occupied by hundreds of people a week. The purpose of these shelves are to display products
in a pleasing way, to be looked at by everyone, and immediately wiped away from memory. What
these images produce as far as storytelling, mood, and highlighting ordinary aspects of life as
important details to remember sorts them into a new place in the world. Often, it is the small things
of ordinary life that create the richest image of the past, and are also the most easily overlooked, and
therefore, forgotten-something photography is capable of holding onto.
“The perceptions don’t have to be particularly original, but what they produce is” (144). Anyone
can walk into a grocery store and take a picture of shelves, and text it to their friends-look at all the
cleaning products that are sold out! I am trying to separate my images by not only creating and
preserving the current reality, but evoking a mood. Their simplicity does not correlate to ill
consideration for composition and art-making, quite the contrary. I often find that simply composed
photos combined with black and white make the path from the viewer to the story of the image much
shorter. The stark, straight on views of the shelves and signage reflect their authority and ruling aura
over my own conscience, and that of the world, as we wade through the challenge of the pandemic.
Therefore, thinking about the aforementioned quote, the place I stand in when I take these pictures
are occupied by hundreds of people a week. The purpose of these shelves are to display products
in a pleasing way, to be looked at by everyone, and immediately wiped away from memory. What
these images produce as far as storytelling, mood, and highlighting ordinary aspects of life as
important details to remember sorts them into a new place in the world. Often, it is the small things
of ordinary life that create the richest image of the past, and are also the most easily overlooked, and
therefore, forgotten-something photography is capable of holding onto.
Glad you’re on the planet,
Leena
Nice captures! I like your idea of how time plays into creating photographs. If you figure time into the equation, then there's no such thing taking photograph that's been "done" before! I have come to realize the importance of environment and context when it comes to photography (and any art form for that matter). Many photographs taken during this time could end up having profoundly different meaning to viewers were they taken in different, more normal circumstances.
ReplyDelete