So the launch of Sustainable Strategies last week felt life a tornado had ripped through mu work to date. Having started the module with hopes and plans to develop my Still Moments project, I quickly realised this was not going to be the best option for this period of the course. This was partly due to the direction the module was taking us but also a deeper feeling I have in respect that I didn't want to just continue to take still life images without exploring other aspects of photography. It felt like I was staring at a blank page, a writer with writer's block with no idea about which way to move my project into.
The usual brainstorming session was conducted and I established four possible options:
Production of a image based video to accompany a song.
A focus on macro photography and getting close to the UK summer's wildlife.
An exploration of the M40 Motorway and what it cuts through. A change of job means I am going to be on this road for 4-5 days every week.
Architecture and Photography and how modern editing can create new ways of looking at both historic and modern buildings.
Whilst all four had opportunities for expansion, the latter one relating to Architecture particularly interested me and linked to some work I had recently been developing in terms of multiplying images to create a kaleidoscope effect. This idea quickly took shape and has evolved into the following project idea called Multiplicity:
Whilst the idea has now been born I have quickly realised that in looking at my photography I do tend to be 'practice based' rather than 'practice led'. In other words I do tend to focus on the final outcome rather than develop original processes.
My immediate plans are to undertake three photoshoots over the next week or so, primarily focused around Birmingham and capture a series of shots, looking up at iconic and unusual buildings in the city centre to establish if this project has sufficient scope to be developed over the course of the next ten weeks.
Alongside this I have started reading 'The Eyes of the Skin' (Pallasmaa, 1996) as I am keen to explore how architecture can touch all of the senses, rather than just sight and how a building looks. I want to see if my project can also develop this concept so that my images give something more than just a visual representation of the building.
References
Juhani Pallasmaa (1996). The eyes of the skin. Chichester Wiley.