Work in Progress Critique 3 // Photo 2

• Why do you feel the selected image most strongly conveys your conceptual content?

The selected image represents the precise time of day I would be rediscovering my space. It embodies a full representation of how much of a mess things can become and how much of a mess it inevitably does become during the times in between.

• How do you hope the formal treatment of each image impacts the interpretation?

The first image was treated with several adjustments on Camera Raw. The second and third versions of the images were adjusted with layers in Photoshop. The second image way made brighter in some areas and darker in others. I adjusted some of the saturation and levels. The third image, on the other hand, also has some adjustments in light, but was really meant to have a more surreal range of colors. Not completely out of the realm of reality, the image is only acidic enough to have the viewer see reality in a new light, one that is tainted by the unnatural residue left behind.

• What was/is the initial idea, how is it evolving?

The initial idea was to capture the residue which a person, or I, leave on my home. I would photograph that which I found upon coming home, the mess left behind in the fleeting of the morning. I hoped to use this to explore the idea of home, its meaning to me, and the way I choose to treat my home. This idea has evolved to embody the relationship between home and material culture, the contrast between human nature and unnatural objects. Through the use of light, these works illustrate a sense of time in a space.  The use of color highlights the artifice in an otherwise naturally lit space. Still life photography references Dutch still life oil painting, bringing to mind connotations of the historical ideas of vanitas and memento mori, thereby highlighting the conceptual ideas of time fleeting and the rejection of material goods.

• Why do you feel the images you selected to print for this critique are your strongest, from among the group of new images? (i.e., what was your criteria for selection)

All of these images represent the traces left on my space. I found with the last critique that certain compositions are more successful than others. In this way, I aimed to take more photographs with lots of empty space as well as those that took up the whole image. The mix gives perspective on how cluttered the mess may look from both near and far. I think that this really gives a sense of my own perspective on my space. I am able to both aestheticize the subjects into a traditional still life as well as make the viewer feel like they are amongst the mess with a view as cluttered as reality and a mind as visually stimulated as my own when my space appears that way.

• What specific questions do you have about the work in terms of how someone other than yourself might interpret the imagery?

Is there any way I could manipulate the images with layers to better convey my ideas? Do the images bring to mind questions about home, belongings, and time?