Month: July 2017

Similarly to my last post, I discovered that I have a fixation with movement, light and architecture.
They’re broad topics of exploration but I like the idea of starting out in this capacity and then allowing myself to narrow down my area of noticing to a smaller pool over the course of the studio.

I do wonder why it is that I notice the things that I do. I wonder why I am attracted to light and certain light too. Usually light being reflected in pools of water, creaking through doors, cracks or light leaks.

The way I was collecting my media was made easier by the fact that I used alarms to prompt my noticing, rather than relying solely on myself to remember to notice – which I find difficult in the early stages of learning.
The alarms alerted me to my surrounds and it’s almost as though I kicked into gear and my process of selection and elimination took over and my instincs decided what was worth and what was not.
I would like to continue working with alarms even as I grow more accustomed to noticing as the set moments during the day, regardless of where I am will serve as an interesting element to the media project – what will I find that will catch my eye?
– I may be in class, in a sterile environment and find a sliver of light particularly interesting as my alarm goes off – who knows.

Overall, I was satisfied with my findings and I’d like to begin forming a narrative with the work through the use of video as a study to help incorporate motion into my work.

Architecture plays a pivotal role in my images, lines and form compliment and accentuate the shadows and the structures upon which they’re reflected and projected upon. It’s always prevalent in one way or another, mostly silhuouettes and replicated by way of shadows.
Angles are created and focused on, rather than curves. While I like an undulating form, I tend towards sharpe angles and contrast a lot more than anything.

Texture is also prevalent in the images, both smooth and coarse surfaces – tacitile elements are interesting to me because of their visceral nature, as is the overall vibe of the images.
Each image contains a shadow which incorporates movement.
If I were to have filmed one single spot where the light made a sharp line across a brick wall, it would have shown the slow progression of the day. The light, rising and falling, closing the chapter of that day until the next.

When sharing the images I took with the group on Thursday, no one mentioned anything to me that offered any alternate perpectives as I think the images themselves are self-explanatory – simplistic. The fact that the images are simple is what I like about them but I would like to evolve the images further by exploring the subject of simplicity and intricacy further.

I struggled to set myself the guidelines within which I would begin to develop my media for this first exercise.
However, faced with the prospect of having to focus in and notice things around me sparked an existing interest in light, shadows, movement, stillness and reflection.
Creating boundaries was and is still difficult for me but I  decided to set alarms on my phone to remind myself to notice.
Already quite an observant person, I found that the act of actively noticing was something that I had to adjust to, as most things tend to go ‘unnoticed’ in that I don’t document all my findings by taking a photo or recording them.

10am:
I found myself on my way to work as my first buzzer went off, cutting through to the park near my house to avoid the icy wind. I saw a puddle of water on the cobble below and noticed that by looking down how I could delve deeper into my environment and take in more of my surrounds.
It was a glimmer of light that first caught my eye as soon as the alarm went off.
I used my dslr to frame different shots, noticing angles of the houses around me that took on a new perspective now that I was focusing.
The light breeze created ripples that looked to charge the reflection with a surge of power, creating new dimensions and perspectives – it was just so simple and captivating.
The process of elimination is another element of noticing that interests me. What is it that we deem interesting, worth noticing and worthy of accumulating or sharing?
I feel noticing is an intrinsically personal a thing. Why did I notice this puddle and opt to ignore something else?

I’m also drawn to shadows and lights that take their narrative and cast it onto a new surface to create an entirely new one.
Take a tree on Cardigan street, the wind rustling through its branches. I can see the textures of the wood clearly, the grain and the coarseness of its branches, their wirey tendrils reach out across the road, making pathways for the birds that perch themselves high up there. Their plumage is clearly visible from where I stand, I can take in the textures, sounds, movements and the infinite three-dimensional details of the scene.

When you add sunlight to the equation, it trickles through the branches and casts a silhuouette onto the wall opposite, painted soft pink, the branches are simplified to a soft grey shadow – the entire scene is now a two-dimensional, un-choreographed shadow puppet show.
By no means reduced in that it is lesser than 3D, just simplified, opening up a new avenue for exploration.
The branches dance across the wall, now appearing a soft custard yellow, bathed in sunlight, the colours and story begins to evolve, adapt and change.
It becomes a poetic display of nature, without texture or detail, it’s now a rhythm and dance of the branches and birds. The lights and shadows perform a ritual of day to day – therein lies my interest in the intricacies of simplicity.