Monthly Archives: July 2017

a reflection

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What made you stop to record the moments of noticing? 

As mentioned in my previous post, I pushed myself to notice one of my three pets, Christopher the Cat. This form of motivation was interesting and refreshing, especially when I was paying attention to my cat’s behaviour and mannerisms. I did not restrict myself to record what I noticed at a certain time because I wanted the experience of noticing my pet to be authentic. I tried to make these images be candid as possible, but I guess there is a form of planning when you are consciously trying to stage a piece of media much like mine. Factors that contributed are also when my cat is interacting differently with the environment to make it a more dynamic collection of photos. Overall, I feel like I’ve done a mediocre job of noticing my subject mainly because of the setbacks I mentioned in the previous post (I could not find my kitty and sometimes he would be in the same exact positioning).

How did the way you collect relate to your initial research prompt? 

With my decision to notice my pet cat, this definitely fit in with the criteria of “collecting your own moments of noticing by ‘setting yourself’ to notice”. I may have justified myself one too many times when it came to the reason why I decided to document my cat but that is truly the reason why I chose to do this kind of task.

What did you discover/learn about making media through noticing? 

I feel like I’m repeating myself here but this task has assisted me into becoming more aware of my surroundings and practice introspection. Once I have gained these skills, I will be able to implement seeing the unseen’s purpose of improving my abilities as a media maker. The skill of introspection is very powerful when it comes into the field of media making, particularly with the field that I am interested in – filmmaking. I hope to specialise in that field in the future and of course, apply the skills I have attained throughout my media degree.

Lyreca.

Christopher the Cat

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From beginning to the last photo, I put myself to a task and decided to notice my cat, Christopher. Before I jump onto the similarities and differences in these photos, I’d like to include an on-the-spot analysis that occurred during my presentation of these pictures to the group table:

It’s a totally different feeling when you are viewing your work with others to see what it is about. I could say that this is my analysis of the photos I took during the moment where I could feel my photos being critiqued. With the real analysis now, everyone who views this photo could say that there is one similar subject throughout these images; my cat. I made it a point to have my cat as an ongoing theme in the photo because of their cautious nature. I tend to notice Christopher less because, in a household of two cats and a dog, there’s a lot of attention to go around. I did not find in any way difficult to photograph this cat, only except when he was not around or was in the same position as the previous photo. When it came to those kinds of conditions, I had to compensate and use the same photo from the same day. Another point I also wanted to iterate was for me to witness my cat being in a completely different space each day – I wanted that to be the aspect that was different for each and every photo. So to summarise, the similarity was that my cat was always present but I managed to give unusual attention to one of my three pets. The difference with these photos was that they are unique in their own way – it was in a different location each day (except for two of these images) and my cat was always doing something different.

I managed to notice my cat (see the unseen)!

Lyreca.

first post of semester two – my moment of epiphany

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The beginning of Semester 2 has started off with learning the art of introspection. The Seeing the Unseen studio involves us noticing aspects of everyday life that we usually do not notice. Of course, too much noticing can cause ‘sensory overload’ as discussed in class but it’s really about the elements in life that you want to get noticed and recognised.

A moment of both learning and epiphany was realising that perspective is everything. Not everyone will share the same viewpoints as you and some might be more or less introspective than you on certain subjects of the daily life. The moment of realisation occurred to me when a classmate noticed more than I did. An example was during the Patrick Pound exhibition. Here is a photo:

At first glance, I simply thought it was just a series of books compiled for the sake of presenting it in the exhibition. It wasn’t until a fellow peer pointed out the fact the books’ numbers correspond next to each other. Take a closer look – seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, etc. What I noticed is that people notice a lot than what I do – they are more aware of their surroundings, thus inspiring and pushing me to excel out of my current creative state. Others may have already reached the art of noticing and it is now my duty to deliberately notice as Ihlein has mentioned and applying it to my work as a media maker.

The ultimate question that I have set out for myself this semester is: What can I notice as a media maker and how will I use this skill to enhance my skills as a student? 

That is my moment of discovery –

Lyreca.