Idea

So now that I have had my first crit it's time to think about what direction I'm going to take from here. I received enough good feed back to get me thinking about several possibilities for exploration. I was happy with my work going into the crit, and I feel that it can only get better from here.

So one of the biggest things that was mentioned was keeping the images consistent. Jeff mentioned that the laundry place, the pizza and the printing press convey different meanings as stores. Each one has a different mood and there for a different conceptual idea behind it. The laundry is unique because it is not a place that one would normally window shop at, or even glance at on a late night walk. It is basically an invisible business that everyone assumes exists but never really gives any attention to. I think this idea of sublime beauty that exists in the every day working class shop is very interesting and worth perusing.

The second Photo containing the restaurant and the pizza sign gives off a completely different vibe. There is a much greater use of figure ground ambiguity creating a loss of specific location. By melding the back, middle and fore ground together along with the location behind the viewer there is a sense of confusion as to where exactly we exist. This process is interesting to me because it shows the interchangeability of each of these locations. This could be played up to an even more extreme point where the line between reality and fiction is questionable.

The third photo is much more abstract and painterly. Tom mentioned that at first he thought that it was a city scape of industrial buildings rather than an interior shot. The simplicity of the image and large amounts of negative space plays a big role in how the photo is received. Also the unnatural vibrant colors amplify the question of reality and where it is that these colors can actually be seen. Fooling the viewer to me is a great achievement. Showing something that is abstract enough that the viewer starts to draw their own conclusions and formulate their own reality I think is a great strength to this piece . This image seemed to get the best response from crit so it will be the main avenue that I explore.

The crit was a massive help and really got the ball rolling on me being able to nail down what and where exactly I want to shoot. More soon!