Final words for the quarter

Overall, I am very pleased with the duration of the quarter. I feel that I pushed myself to step out of my comfort zone a bit and I hope to continue to do so with future photography endeavors. I kind of feel so excited by the turn out of this project that I would like to get a head start with next quarter a bit. I think it would be really awesome to create a sculptural piece similar to some of pieces seen in the final chapter of the Cotton book, or maybe a collage?

Busy as a BEE

Since the last blog post, I have been quite busy finishing up the last bits of the project. I spent a lot of time figuring out the presentation of the locks and ordering the images. Then I went back and did some last minute adjustments, fixing color vibrancy and exposure just to ensure that the images juxtaposed nicely. Lastly, I wrote the necessary statements and printed the project! Only have a couple more things to do before the final.

Presentation

The last couple days I've been thinking about how the lock images should be presented. Originally, I planned on matting them individually with the 16x20 mats. I think that the series of locks might be more powerful if they viewed together as a unit, instead of one at a time. I'm thinking of a large poster sized print framed with all the locks in a rectangular grid. I'm also considering using more images too, possibly 24-30.

Friday Fun!

Friday Amanda and I took a photo adventure up to Cle Elm, Roslyn and Ronald for the day. After wondering for a few hours I managed to find some pretty interesting locks. Here are the little beauties below!! I am simultaneously working to figure out what to write on the prints as well.

a step back

I figured I would take a step back and explain how I got to where I am currently. When I was preparing for last week's critique and considering the images I have taken up to this point, I really began to realize that it was all very chaotic. Then I went about trying to organize the chaos to find some sort of meaning behind the images. What I found was two patterns emerging, one with clouds and one with locks.

The series of cloud images symbolize a lot for me. During the last few weeks I have been seeking balance in my life, and in moments of struggle I am always able to find peace in the clouds. They can be happy reminders of childhood memories, gazing upward with imaginative abilities that give the clouds character. Clouds are ephemeral, fleeting and never to appear the same way twice. In a way I felt as though something was lacking in the images, and I wasn't sure what exactly it was either.

So, I moved on and found the other pattern of images to be locks. I think these images are more striking than the clouds because there's just so much more going on with them. They symbolize the secrets we keep, thoughts unsaid, love not forgotten and many more. It could also be commentary on society and how it today it seems necessary to literally chain and lock up even trash. After the receiving suggestions from last week's critique, I began to consider how to possibly push the series further. I plan on writing on the prints in a similar to Amelia Morris' series.

At the moment, I intend to work with the series of locks and see where that goes. I may decide at a later point in time to continue the cloud series.

Patterns Emerging

Since I started shooting for this quarter, I have noticed trends in the photographs. Some of the images focus on certain objects, while others on juxtaposition of organic shapes and geometric. Overall, I am unsure how the photographs could work together since they appear very different. Perhaps multiple mini series? 

Photos

Even more photographs

More photossss

 Here are some more photographs that I took over the weekend. I have been experimenting a bit with purposefully leaving images out of focus to attain the softness of Uta Barth's work. I really enjoy the painterly affect it gives the image.