Friday, October 12, 2012

Assignment 2: "Bad Parks" by Eleanor Sanderson (42879302)



Bad Parks

by Eleanor Sanderson (42879302)

The theme for this photo essay is ‘Bad Parks’ – something we see every day and quietly chuckle over but never give any greater consideration to. I have defined a bad park as being a car parked in an illegal location, at an odd angle, off the curb or not within the prescribed space. I was drawn to this theme because I only recently have finally gotten around to getting my P Plates. I now have discovered that weird joy you get when you actually make a good park and the smugness that comes with observing others’ bad ones. It is a simple pleasure that you happen upon by accident. There is no need to seek it out, it is simply found in the everyday, an underappreciated and everyday bringer of joy. In my use of the Ken Done effect I have tried to emphasise the exact point that makes the park seem bad in the same way that my eyes would see it, whether drawn first to the mistake or bigger picture. Image transitions are at times snappy and image viewing is not long but isn’t this how we view the subject in real life? A quick peripheral glance, a smile and then continuing on with our day, satisfied with the knowledge that at least we can park better than that person (the irony being that my own parking effort does at one point feature in this video, and it was not a set-up).

I decided to play on the everydayness of the theme by picking music and editing the photos in such a way that would create an ethereal, nostalgic effect. This effect juxtaposes with the subject which is mechanical, a product of the modern age and hardly a catalyst for reflexivity. Thus, I have edited the photos using vintage and vignette effects and played with the light to create a golden light. I enhanced the sharpness of the image to make the subjects appear distinct within their setting at the same time. The music chosen is ambient.

Music Attribution: Beatlove, “Sensation” October 10, 2012 via Free Music Archive, Creative Commons Attribution – Non-commercial – No Derivatives.

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