Blog #25

Write a detailed description of your “motivations” for your final self-proposed project. Why are you interested in this subject? What do you want to convey? How do you want viewers to respond? Why are you inspired to make these images/this project? Do you want to evoke emotions in viewers? Shock viewers? Make them laugh? Make them think? Inform them? Reveal something about how you see the world? Reveal something about yourself, a person, a place, a feeling, a memory, a moment in time? 

My final project is meant to be an ambiguous set of photos that can evoke emotions in all people. I have chosen a theme where I take photos of empty scenes that you would expect people to be in, and then I add in very subtle shadows/outlines of people that once were. This theme conveys the ideas of loneliness, sadness, emptiness, feelings of the past, and feelings that we're all in the same boat. These themes come together to form my project called "No One But The Cameraman." When the viewer first looks at my photo, they will feel the emotions listed above and not notice the subtle shadows for some time. But once they notice the shadows, feelings of past lives and all the other interpretations of shadows that people have will come into play. I am motivated to do this project because I feel that everyone shares these emotions. It is commonly hidden from society, but at some point everyone feels alone and isolated, even when there may be others around them (another interpretation of the shadows). This project has personal meaning as well. Being an only child often meant feeling alone and "empty." Those feelings do no persist today, but the memories of them inspired me. This is also why many of the photos in my set are blurry or have a shallow depth of field, creating a memory/dreamlike effect. Overall, I want my viewers to think and feel. I want my photos to be personal to each individual through their ambiguity. And lastly, I would like my photos to feel almost like a story, traveling from place to place, feeling the environment, and searching for those shadows.