Living overseas and traveling has reignited my love for photography. Anyone who knew me in my early 20's knows that I spent quite a large amount of time in a darkroom. And it was very rare to see me without a Canon AE1 in front of my face. I LOVED FILM. A couple of days ago, I found my first photography teacher online. He's still teaching at the same place, and probably inspiring just as many people. I remember when he taught us to wind up film and develop it. I thought it was the most amazing thing on the planet. Honestly, it was magic. Two years later, I discovered color photography. Similar process, but in complete darkness and drastically different results. Mind = Blown.
Fast forward to now, or 5 years ago. Either way: same, same. iPhone 7 on the ready at every possible second. Digital goodness all the time. My phone camera is easy to access, always has "film", and can take 30 or more pictures in half a second. It's not film. And it's not as clear as a DSLR. But it does all of the things I need it to do. I know it's frustrating to people that I am always taking pictures of things and wanting to document everything. But it's my passion. If I'm not taking pictures, I feel like I'm losing shots left and right. That's an incredibly sickly feeling--it makes my stomach and heart feel very heavy. I also have this constant worry that I will forget something that I saw or experienced. Perhaps this relates to a large part of my mother's side of the family being diagnosed with dementia and Alzheimer's.
The point I am trying to make is that I am really happy with what I am doing in the picture taking arena. And I will not stop documenting or snapping shots anytime in the near future. And regarding the photos in my thesis, I like dressing up participants in collages of materials and readymades. I enjoy having conversations with these people--most of them my friends--and learning about them as we go about with the shoots.
Most recently (and by recent, I mean March), I took pictures of a colleague of mine.
The top image I am having turned into wallpaper for a project that includes a lot of glass jars and collectibles. The 3rd image I am having printed very large and framing it to hang on the wallpapered wall with all of the glass jars and collectibles. There will be 5 more of these style images in this series.
I am using the images from my thesis show last summer to inspire an app I am designing. The app will allow the user to dress themselves in whatever type of costuming I provide to the app, and then the user can place themselves into one of my installations. Finally they can share this image however they see fit (social media, printed, emailed, etc). I envision this final image looking like a very cut-and-paste photoshop job. This will please me to no end, and allow me to involve people all over the place (not just friends and colleagues).
I'm also developing a video game version where people can interact with the creations they've made on the app with other people's creations. So someone in Singapore could potentially engage with someone in Colorado, for instance. The only real hang up I have with this part of my project is the guilt I feel over providing yet another reason to have a screen in front of our/yours/someone's face. I find myself getting more and more tired of tech things, yet here we are. I am writing this-here post from a laptop whilst sitting on a bed next to my iPhone.
Carry on.
PS: If you are interested in participating in this project, either as a subject for a photograph or a tester for the app or gaming portion, please let me know. I am reached best via email. Happy day!
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