Bon Iver would be proud. Or sad.

 

For the art gallery showing, I was required to title my three photo pieces. I had such a difficult time trying to acquire the best sentiments that I felt would best fit these pieces. I’ve found myself in the past being too flowery with words or dramatic with my descriptions, I know I needed to lean away from that. I’m not sure if I achieved that or not but either way, I went with my gut instinct and tried to gravitate towards symbols in my life I resonated with at the time I created these photos. I decided on these three titles:

“The in Betweens”   “Traveling Curiosities”    “Familiar Corners” …the titles were displayed so tiny I bet not many really noticed.

These photos were sadly the “lightest” and most positive art (so far) I’ve made throughout my portfolio. And how I created them I spent days lugging around heavy emotions and stress nearing college graduation trying to find some sort inspiration. And if that process isn’t art, I don’t know what is.

This time I’ve reached some unfamiliar corners.

I’ve been reaching major tunnel vision lately.

I’ve found myself so wrapped up lately in the thoughts of photography and its world that I ended up losing its technicality and form this summer. I felt as if I wasn’t able to be pushed or challenged this season into creating what I wanted to create and find out of my comfort zone…but instead, I’ve been itching to do something more. There’s something greater in photography than those glamorous landscapes, exaggerated colors, or incredible shots of coincidental captures you see…but instead, I’ve discovered that these pictures product affect and emotion. Photography as a therapeutic form is no longer something questionable, but a plausible integration into new art therapy. I question why it hasn’t been more of a popular subject in therapy and education in the states as I see how much potential it has for an audience of all ages and gender. It’s extremely applicable, couldn’t you agree?

When you enter into a photograph, you feel what you feel. You don’t feel what the photographer felt. Or what your close friend felt. Its a present form of exploding thoughts, feelings, sensation, and past experiences of that one person. It’s entering into a whole new world of your own. It’s personal…I can’t tell you what my photograph means because you won’t get it entirely, would you? Maybe you will resonate with me on some surfaces of a photograph I took, but you can’t resonate with me 100% on that day and time I captured it, and the after affects of how I looked at it on my computer and what elements I recreated. Or my perception, memories, and sentiments. There’s no facts. Beauty is subjective, remember?

Your happiness during one specific point in life was my apathy. My anger was your inspiration, and vice versa. We have all dealt with all the different of emotions that we have learned and been conditioned to feel, it’s not going to stop.
Not everyone is going to understand the deeper parts of our smile, the furrowing of our eyebrows, or the echoes of our sighs…we are the only ones who are able to translate what has transpired in our lives. When we step outside of ourselves to examine what we have become and what we want to become, it’s almost like looking at a photograph for a quick second…where our state of consciousness flickers. And when we take a little longer to look into a photograph, such as stepping into its story, lines, memories, shapes, texture, thought, colors, and time… we find something even more complex, the state of our subconsciousness arising.

How can we not feel then?