‘Dreaming of Home’ is a beautiful photo collage that makes me feel a slice of nostalgia, a feeling of yearning and as the title suggests, makes me think about home. Its dehaze makes some images blurry, and the flash captures that feeling of being in the past in some instances where the light in the sky feels so dramatic. I love the free-flowing vibe of being outdoors, since we sometimes forget to enjoy the naturalistic environments surrounding us. The little daisies and the fireplace feel a sense of community as we can all relate to seeing daisies resting amongst our front yards, and truly anyone in the world loves a firepit to spend time with friends and sit in the dark peacefully with the comfort of small light and the spark sounds. Even the little dog, it brings me back home. My favourite images of the collage are the daisies in full focus on the field in a close up, and my second favourite is of the girl standing in front of the tree with the sky shining through the left corner. Overall, I am thoroughly captivated by the nostalgic sense of youth and natural surroundings generated by this photo collage. The colours are bright and exaggerate well together and provide a nice contrast. The dark trees beyond a light blue sky are so beautiful to look at. It’s amazing how vibrant the warm filter makes it look.

Moving onto Maggie’s work ‘Coburg’, I was very happy to discuss with Maggie about her work. She states how she rode her bike around Coburg and took photos, capturing the raw and natural beauty of the place. This is a truly beautiful video submission for a photo portfolio. The black and white scale images are not dramatic and work calmingly. The serenity evokes peace and is a wonderful viewing experience, along with the well-articulated soundtrack of the sound of crows, the slight breeze, street music and the tram. It truly makes you feel as though you are in Coburg looking through a historical timeline of the street. In some ways, it reminds me of Vivian Myer’s style, especially being able to capture people just going about their daily lives. The blur in some photos feels mysterious and as though the images are from the past. Interestingly, the whole video does exude both past and present details, within the yes vote. I love the way the video combines even if it is not structured in an orderly fashion. I really enjoy the presentation style because it feels like flicking through moments in time even though they are scattered. Some photos are overlapped with others, again another intriguing choice and even if the images are different, they meld together and fit. The fades suggest they are a part of the same location, just different aspects captured. Overall, I love the essence of capturing the heart of Coburg and the different lifestyles portrayed. The farmers, and the local businesses, people on the go, and the slice of city life with the tram really showcase an assembly of different personalities and reasons for life. The black and white greyscale is beautiful in essentially placing things together and forming how the past and present have emerged together.

From the screenings, my studio matched with ‘Drop the Pilot’, where the whole class merged in a whole group assignment to create a captivating story in a made-up town, which I cannot imagine how stressful, yet rewarding this would have felt for the students. As we read Peter Petrusma’s ‘A Glimpse Behind Bars,’ we gain a sense of how over time, the level of creativity and confidence increased, and everyone eventually felt confident in their abilities to share thoughts. The writing became easier within the group, and eventually everyone got along well and enjoyed the assignment. To help people visualize each character, the group created concepts for them to pass by. The class had a whole summary at the front of the entrance to invite us into the story without being overloaded with unknown information about what the studio’s assignment was. I think this really helped me with understanding the layout and setting of how this show was being told. It’s wonderful to see the inspiration that burst into the mind of Peter seeing the use of Radiator Springs as an influence on their isolated town of Barrel. I also feel happy that the people who worked on the group assignment felt connected and excited by the characters that they created within their tropes and ideologies. Overall, I enjoy how this studio invited the idea of collaboration, and how when introduced to it, makes the process of expressing opinions and thoughts not so challenging and helps make stronger connections with peers when everyone is on the same page.