I decided to do this as my project because I realized that we as viewers are what gives art its significance. In our society, we always focus on special art pieces for millions of dollars, when art is everywhere. It’s in the train rides, in the way the flower bouquets are arranged at a store, it’s in the art on the sidewalk, and the man on the street playing guitar. Art is everywhere, so I took this time to not just enjoy it, but draw some appreciation to it. Art is the simple magic of each day. Art can make changes, but it can also be what brings us joy on a grey cloudy day.
For this assignment, I didn’t set time apart from my day, but in moments where something made me look twice or gave me happiness, I took pictures. I did this over Thanksgiving break when I was throughout the city and around Rhode Island. This activity genuinely brought me so much joy. I personally love people watching and just taking the surroundings in, and this was a nice way to capture my experience. This activity also gave me a huge sense of thankfulness, because looking at what I captured I felt so lucky to experience this daily.
At the beginning of this, I felt overwhelmed because there is so much to capture, so I waited until a smile was put on my face and that’s when I decided I would take the picture. That’s where I got the idea of “things that make me smile”. I was drawn to take pictures of things where there was an ‘experience’ almost. Not everyone will see these pictures the same way I do, but that is the beauty of this project. Everyone has their own emotion and association with the pictures.
I ran into some problems when I realized how hard it is to acquire the film, so I decided to take “film pictures” on an app I found on my phone. This solution worked better in the long run. With the app, I could take as many pictures as I wanted and was able to sort through and find the good ones. What I noticed more and more as I looked through my pictures was that they were of architecture, natural and human-made. I think there is something special about the way all of these images have significant similarities and differences. Each image’s architecture, design, and setup plays a role in how we look at the world around us. These images show how we are influenced by what’s around us and how that shapes our opinions.
Art is EVERYWHERE and it shapes the way we view the world. So for each person, it will differ. Some questions that came up as I looked through these pictures were: What do you see? How are they similar/ different? What does each picture mean to you? What are your preconceived thoughts about the pictures? How does each picture make you feel? What associations do you have with each picture? Questions like these arose while looking at pictures and realizing how I interpreted them.
The app I used made some interesting patterns with the lighting. It made the pictures light more prominent. The prominence helped to enhance the light and dark contrast which made the pictures have a more dramatic feel in my opinion. This wasn’t on purpose, but having this dramatic feel made the pictures seem more serene. Bringing out the light helped to show the beauty and simplicity of what was being captured. This lighting showed the simple pleasures that natural light can bring to each captured shot.
I was appreciative of this activity. I had always wanted to do a photography portfolio of captured images of everyday things. I think they are really interesting, especially when asking other viewers about the photographs, what they see and how the pictures resonate with them. I enjoyed being able to plan the questions I would ask the group and was interested in how they might see things differently. I think overall this project went well, and I was happy with the array of pictures I had to display.
