When I read through the studio prompts, Real to Reel stood out to me straight away. I could imagine myself doing it. At first, it was the appeal of doing something with more of a ‘real life’ focus rather than a fictitious one that interested me. Whilst non-fiction media practice is indeed the focus of this studio, I feel that it offers more than that. I think that this studio will offer me practice in film, photography, writing and technical skills. These are all skills that I want to improve and so, I think that Real to Reel offers them in an interesting way. For example, I’m excited to be learning about filmmakers and photographers who have paved the way for how we produce media today. Through adding this level of depth to learning, I’m hoping to feel very inspired for my own work.

For my own work, my main goal is translate the real world into photos, film and writing. To explain this, I’d like to mention my interest in photography. Whilst I only do a small amount of photography myself, I do spend a lot of time admiring the work of others. As obvious as this sounds, I like how photographs capture only a single moment. Whilst that’s what a photo is, I think that it’s often difficult to take a photo that sufficiently captures the essence of the subject. For that reason, I find photos especially fascinating. That every time I revisit a photo, I can be transported back to that moment. Or, if I’m viewing a photo taken by someone else, every look at it evokes the same feelings in me. I think that this notion of capturing a moment ties in well with this studio and what I hope to obtain from it. That through being given the opportunity to capture the real world, I am capturing something that is unique to this time. Therefore, whether it be taking photos or filming, I want to try my best at preserving moments in time through honest and raw depictions of them.

Overall, I’m very interested in observing how the world functions and so, I’m excited for how I’ll be able to do so this semester in Real to Reel.