Thursday, October 11, 2012

Katie Glynn (42426723) - Photo Essay 'STUCK'







In this assignment I focused on the theme ‘Stuck’ and the sub-theme, ‘Colour’. The concept behind this theme is the idea of finding mundane items that are stuck, whether they are glued, taped, or naturally formed, on every day areas i.e. walls, floors, ceilings and other objects. By visiting urbanised areas i.e. the city and Balmain, I found a variety of different items i.e. posters, nails, stickers, tape, hair, fluff and gum. As I focused on the ‘colour’ sub-theme, I was able to capture interesting aspects of these items by emphasizing their vibrant colours in my photographs via natural lighting and in the editing process. I could also determine how long that item has been stuck for by looking at the richness in colour of the objects, and I also could judge whether that object was stuck intentionally or just a natural occurrence. 

Through this assignment I was able to alter my interaction with image and the everyday aesthetic. By focusing on the small items of life that go unnoticed, I highlighted the main concepts of Week 5’s reading, ‘Digital Images, Photo-Sharing and Everyday Aesthetics’. This article centred on the case study Flickr.com and was based on the social use in digital photography.  Murray argues that there has been a significant shift in the way we interact with the everyday image as, digital photography has ‘become less about the special or rarefied moments of domestic living and more about an immediate, rather fleeting, display and collection of one’s discovery and framing of the small and mundane’ (Murray 2008: 147). Murray also commented on the role of the amateur photographer that ‘can create and comment on with relative authority and ease’ (Murray 2008: 151) and the idea that their photographs have ‘some sort of artistic aspirations or pretensions in their composition, use of lighting or framing’ (Murray 2008: 155). In my collection of photographs, I discovered objects that are in fact, ‘small and mundane’, and took on the role as the amateur photographer by focusing on an artistic aspect of taking a photo i.e. colour. In my findings, I discovered a range objects that were full in fantastic rich colours, whether they were on posters, gum and signs and some that were rather dull in colour i.e. nails and webs, which I could make interesting comparisons in vibrant colour vs. dull colour. In the editing process I used tools that brought out these vibrant colours even more. My choice in mundane photographs, sharp editing transitions, fast paced editing, and choice in music with a bouncy adventure feel, created a realistic urbanised environment. I feel that with these photographs and the way they were transformed into a short video, I captured the concepts that were discussed in the Murray reading and the theme ‘Stuck’ and sub-theme ‘Colour’.

Murray, S (2008) Digital Images, Photo-Sharing, and Our Shifting Notions of Everyday Aesthetics. Journal of Visual Culture August 2008 vol. 7(2). 147-163.

Copyright Holder: 2007-2012 SoundCloud Ltd.
Title of work: Walking Down The Street
License Type: Creative Commons License: Attributions

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