I knew project brief no. 1 was going to be valuable but going into no. 2 with the knowledge I’ve gained from it is really beneficial. As I mentioned in my reflection, I still like the idea of painting a picture of myself from the world that I live in rather than detailing myself – but I decided to focus on the world I surround myself with, rather than the world that surrounds me. It’s a slight distinction but a major one I think. People choose to catch the train or drive, for example, but it’s still about them getting to the same place. But if someone chooses to take a plane to a holiday their destination is up to them.

 

For the first few days I was stuck, which really scared me because I usually have ideas pretty quickly – crummy, unsustainable ideas, but things I can use as a springboard. Eventually I managed to develop my vague understanding of these two different ‘worlds’ into something tangible. I wanted to talk about mountains. For someone who’s been born and mostly lived by the sea, I have a strong connection to the mountains. It’s all about that choice I mentioned: I am surrounded by the sea but I choose, when I can, to be by mountains instead.

 

In the end it seemed a little two-dimensional to talk about nothing but “hey I really like this geographical feature” for an entire minute, but out of that grew the idea to talk about the things in my room (the poster of the Wildschönau Valley is a remnant from that original idea) and then onto reflection and deliberate noticing in general. I thought about the way I think, the things I like to look at, and realised I was usually thinking about these things when I should have been focusing on something else.

 

From there, it was a process of almost interviewing myself and trying to figure out which phrases really expressed how I felt and which were boring or idiotic. I wasn’t overly concerned with the video component so long as I took from my beautiful things in daily life. I love nighttime much more than the day so that was an obvious choice. The lights at North Melbourne Station are something I go out of my way to see, even after a long day, and I always cross the road to walk on the Town Hall/Cathedral side of Swanson str, even if I know I’ll have to cross back again. It’s these little choices that shape my day which is ultimately what I wanted my project to be about: how my personality affects my choices and my life.