Blog Prompt #19

How do you ensure that your work is relevant to you?

My work is relevant to me if it makes me think. If a piece is important to me, I also feel that it will give rise to other ideas or modifications of the original piece. I want an initial photo to be a jumping off point for new processes. 

How do you ensure that your work is relevant to the contemporary world?

I think if you can get a reaction out of an image, it is relevant to your audience. When I work I guess I’m never really all that sure that it will be relevant until someone else sees it. I am trying to work in a way that will create an image that should draw emotion or a new association for an object you might not ordinarily give second thought to. 

How do you brainstorm? Do you sketch? Do you use the camera as a brainstorming tool so that you “look” at the world through the frame of the camera and capture bits and pieces of your environment?

When I brainstorm, I generally begin with a object or idea that seems fairly commonplace (the use of x-rays, books, matches, etc.) and try to find a way to modify that concept or item to give it a new life. I am a big listmaker so writing down my thoughts about a set or shoot will usually lead me to other associations or ideas. I have found that I may have an idea in my head for a project, will begin, and end up finding a completely different way to work with my materials. 

Do you combine elements of various media? How do you do this? Do you do it physically with printed images or objects? Do you combine elements virtually in the computer?

I have been working with imagery from childrens books that I have physically cut out and assembled into sets. When I shoot or create an image I tend to bring other objects into a scene, or create one from scratch as opposed to just shooting something that I have found. I am interesting in the modification of an image, but by physical means. 

How does your process relate to your ideas/concept? How does your process relate to your outcome/final pieces? Why are you using digital technology (if you are)? Why are you using analog technology (if you are)?

For my thesis, I am dealing a bit with temporance. I plan on destroying my sets I’ve constructed and through using analog processes, I am ensuring that the shot can no longer be reproduced. I am starting to work with smoke bombs, and am excited about the prospect of documenting something that will never occur again the same way twice. 

How do you judge your work? When do you think it “works”? When do you think it is “not working yet”? What criteria do you use to make these decisions? 

I think that when I look at my work, It seems to either feel “right” or that something is off about it. It’s hard to explain the criteria for this, I guess I would say that if I can get a reaction out of what I’ve created or feel a photo is thought provoking, I am happy with it. If I’m dissapointed by something, It wasn’t a failure so much as something I can learn from. 

How do ensure that your work is new, unique, ground-breaking, and/or you are breaking the mold/thinking outside the box/pushing the limits?

I'm trying to ensure that I'm thinking outside the box by doing a lot of experimentation and letting ideas evolve as opposed to being stuck on an idea and leaving no room for trial and error.