In making this photo collection, I struggled initially with letting go of a controlled plan and just allowing myself to go out and find images to create a collection from later. However, once I had begun taking photos here and there and finally went on a walk through the autumnal glory along the Fox river to see what I might find, I noticed a certain pattern which had been hidden before. McLuhan mentions "invisible environments" and how their "groundrules, pervasive structure, and overall patterns elude easy perception." This was certainly the case with the photos I took. Though I had been drawn to the beauty of changing leaves and last blooms outdoors, when I went through my photos I noticed that the ones which were most compelling to me were sometimes darker and often showed things which were discarded, out of place, or dying. I was reminded of the simple trajectory of Autumn into Winter, life into a slow decay, and though some of my photos were influenced by humans, I thought it was interesting to see the hand humans and nature mutually have in causing this slow destruction. I wanted to capture a journey which I could see forming from the 20 photos I chose, and creating the Flickr set allowed me to do so. Though the photo set isn't in the chronological order in which I originally shot, it depicts a walk through a dreary landscape with two main events- the desiccation of a tree by swarms of insects and the discovery of a scene of death- the withered bouquet of wildflowers sprawled on the path evoked a stumbled-across crime scene, and I enjoyed snapping the different angles of its decomposition.
I like your idea of taking pictures of things that are often disregarded, it brings a sense of sadness and gloom to your photos- but in a good way :).
ReplyDeleteI absolutely love the pops of color in your photographs, especially the purple sock in the photo of the puddle. The color exaggeration - in a way - bring life to the rotting leaves and dying flowers.
ReplyDeleteI like how your collection of photos feels connected through the use of hints of red and brown colors in each photograph.
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