As this will be my first post here, I am interested in critique and comments. I will try and answer all questions.
The project was part of my final year project at a University in the U.K. (images at the end of this post, after project text).
It is called:
FragmentsMy analysis of these sites would act as a bridge between the two sets of things: one an invisible realm that includes the way of man; the other a visible, tangible accumulation of material remains such as trash, tools, ornaments, and buildings. I would consciously try to stay away from derelict areas, as they would only contain a very brief history and not especially particular and personal background. It has always been my intention to make my images as objects of recollective moments, being metaphors for history, as one would see them in museums.
As with many other contemporary artists who have chosen to work with black and white photography, such as the Bechers, Robert Adams and Patrick Faigenbaum, I am attracted to the descriptive precision of the medium, its ability to describe the physical texture of objects. More so than color, it offers the opportunity to explore the contingency of human experience at the same time as concentrating on the complexity of the visual world. Another aspect of the photography is how l was restrained in my work from the weather.
Patience played a large part in this project. Sometimes l had to wait several hours before the light I wanted would appear, and in this project l wanted it to be as dull and grey as possible, so that it could be seen upon as a metaphor for history, something that is blurred and not quite understood or remembered. l had to be ready to seize that moment when it appeared. And this right moment could also be seen as a metaphor where that second of the right moment represents that second in our mind where we recollect something that we see or sense.
Time is of the essence and importance, so time becomes history and history becomes distant (or in some cases very distinct) memories. To further enhance this effect in my pictures I have deliberately made most parts of them slightly out of focus, to represent the process of thinking. This is very important to me, to place focus on only a certain part of the picture, so that this would be that particular something that we remember. Without knowing exactly what it is, we do remember some specific subject, and it is this that is in focus.
