Photographics Precedents

Several precedents have influenced my ideas.


Peter Menzel has captured images of houses as well as their contents and the family who live there, from many locations throughout the world, in these images you can see many differences that reflect the place of origin.
Below are a small selection of these images.

Iceland

Mexico

China

California, USA

The images show differences in the surrounding landscape, different types of houses, and incredible differences in the stuff that people own.
In all of the above images there is at least one T.V. this says how effective television is at communication worldwide.
In each of the images the different amounts of stuff tells of the Availability of goods to purchase. In the USA stuff is fairly easy and cheap to come by, however in China there is neither the means to purchase or the space within the house to put copious amounts of stuff.

Images found at:
http://thechive.com/2013/07/29/peoples-home-possessions-from-around-the-world-38-photos/



Gabriele Galimberti's project Toy Story asks children to take their most precious things and display them in front of them. It is interesting that some children have one or two objects when others have a bedroom full of belongings.

Once again comparisons can be made between the children in a multitude of ways that reflect their country of origin, their influence by the media, their families morals, and even their future aspirations;
for example, based on the objects they have chosen I would assume that one of the above children wishes to be a pilot, another a musician, and another a policeman.
I can also link some of the above images with experiences from my own childhood; for example, I was never aloud to play with toy guns at my house whereas one child has a collection of toy guns at his disposal.

Images found at:
http://www.gabrielegalimberti.com/projects/toys-2/



My third precedent is a video from Campbell Live which film the contents of many children's lunchboxes to illustrate the connection between the nutrition received by children at different decile schools.

http://www.3news.co.nz/Lunchbox-differences-in-decile-1-and-decile-10-schools/tabid/817/articleID/269617/Default.aspx

Object Sentimentality

 A lot of effort is required to run a cemertary

Ongoing work is required to maintein trees bushes, grass, from becoming overgrown.

Concrete bases for headstone must be constructed by wooden boxes and cement.

I have also noticed that there are places in the cemetary where 1000mm by 2500mm of grass is lifted which can then be replanted atop of a grave.




Over the past two weeks of walking the dog through the cemetary I have noticed things that are interesting to say the least.

I have experienced the joy a dog finds in running through grass, puddles and mountains of mulch.

I have experienced the beauty of many stones of rememberence including angels, rugby balls, and even turntables.

I have seen hundreds if not thousands of plastic flowers found scattered throughout the bushes after blowing away from nearby graves.




But most importantly... I found a hat.

I think this hat is beautiful. It is damp, and covered in moss and lichen.

Who did it belong to?
How long has it been lost to nature and growing moss and lichen?



I like to imagine the owner of this hat also covered in moss and lichen.

This object has been lost and neglected. I have been fascinated about things lost and forgetten throughout the year in this course and in my own photography.


Throughout the taking of these photographs I was wary of the environment of the cemetary. I have my own personal superstitious beliefs which include respecting the dead and not completely disbelieving other peoples beliefs. So though logically I know that I am the only one there I still feel the need to tread carefully and to respect those who live buried there while I take my photographs.

Weekly Task - One Light Source - Fire

Weekly Task





I Explored fire.


I hopped on down to my nearest salvation army store and found something wooden with an interesting shape that would produce some awesome flame photography.

I chose a wooden camel candle holder (without the candle)

This worked well as the ever changing light distorted the camels face and therefore our percieved emotions.
The process of burning was really interesting especially as the camels head fell off and eventually the whole thing was unrecognisable.

See images below.

The camel's shape is completely distorted by the flame, into a snail like shape

This extreme close-up of the camels head shows many interesting textures and illustrates the fluidity of the flame.

Final Hand-In, Tissues

 

BBQ

Last night I cooked dinner and it was a BBQ feast. Along side a fresh garden salad there were grilled capsicum, mushrooms and onions. I cooked an traditional Irish potato dish boxty, sausages, chicken nibblets, chicken wrapped in chicken, and of course the center piece of any BBQ, the steak.

Last nights steak were the soul of the BBQ it was the last piece of meat remaining from the families cows which were butchered just before Christmas last year. In preparation I thought it only right to cook it exquisitely and so it was rubbed with garlic and marinated in red wine and sweet chili sauce. It was BBQ'ed to medium.

Raw Food

Stirring Through

The Steak

Near Done

It isn't something often thought about but after butchering, the marinating, cooking and eating of meat is the only ceremony that cows and other animals are given by humans before they are forgotten to our stomachs.
Other animals give even less ceremony to their dinner.

People and their pets on the other hand are remembered ceremoniously in specific ways after their time of death, most often this includes a burial on a piece of land where they are remembered. Mentally and spiritually they may remain in that place, in reality all living things decompose over time.


This is where I am heading in regards to my final set of images based around time.

Cemetary

It's interesting living in a place like Makara where almost nothing is how much there is available in the way of resources. Today just a small scooter ride away is the cemetary which I set off to in the hope of getting some emotional snap shots.

Little did I know that I would take an extra ten minutes getting there because a lock had broken and a gate had blown open in the wind and two shetland ponies had escaped across the street. I didn't think to take any photos but if anyone had taken photos of me it would have been a right laugh.

I'm not experienced with horses at all.

One horse at a time this is how I did it. I grabbed a handful of long grass and thrust it into the horses face, I put my arm around the horses neck in a headlock grab. I pulled the horse across the road and pushed it back into the paddock.

I also had to make sure that they wouldn't run back out while I was closing and tying off the gates. Not my idea  of fun, but living in a small community and all of that someone needs to keep an eye out.

Enough back story, here are the images I took.

 

You get a sense of uniform and symettry

Time shows itself on this unkempt headstone



The small angel juxtaposes wealth and
sincerity with the larger angels behind

Here the cross juxtaposes with the angels behind



I didn't wish to capture any names
in my final images.

I was fixe on these angels, they illustrate
rememberance through ornament.

 



The other images I have taken include a memorial for our pets.

The tree under which a much
loved pet is buried

And what happens to the lot of us when we are buried.






Worms



Using Leather

This is my first time using leather to create things and I don't think it will be the last, it is an amazing material to use.

I have looked into how to make a wallet getting inspiration from the website: 'the art of manliness'
http://www.artofmanliness.com/2012/11/30/how-to-make-a-wallet/

I have bought leather from Goldings on Marion St and some other bits and pieces and practiced how I will make create some of my wallet designs.

Leather is to be cut,

Holes were punched by hammering nails through the leather.

Curtain Cord is thread through the holes of both pieces and tied at either end.

The Curtain Cord ends are melted to prevent unraveling.

Big holes are punched with a hammer and punch.

Eyelets are fastened in big holes by hammering them with en eyelet tool.

The above test piece was made, with skills used on this I can create completed test wallets.