MAS110 Assignment 2: Photo Essay - David Rogers - 41815432

MAS110

Assignment 2: Photo Essay

David Rogers – 41815432

Theme: Letterboxes

Sub-theme: Age

Susan Murray (2008, p. 147) states that, ‘the meanings of the individual images and the collection itself are in the eye of the beholder’ when discussing images of everyday aesthetic. This is particularly relevant for my photo essay as I was originally photographing walls and trying to capture their texture in the attempt to capture the idea of everyday aesthetic Murray discussed. I found that the snapshots taken appeared romanticized and did not fit the notion of the everyday aesthetic. I took many more photographs framing mundane objects until I photographed a letter box. In my mind the appearance of the letterbox was quotidian yet it communicated a meaning through its age. I experimented with the camera using a number of different angles and settings and found I was able to abstract different meaning using these techniques when framing the letterbox. When coupling these photographs with the editing I performed in iPhoto I found I was able to much better isolate the letterbox and adjust the colours to emphasize its weathered appearance to try and further illustrate  the meaning I connected with. The theme of letterboxes was fitting as they are such an overlooked, neglected, unappreciated and yet integral tool in everyone’s life. In conclusion I found that the theme of letter boxes, particularly aged, worn, weathered and dilapidated letterboxes were particularly effective at communicating the meaning  that Murray described.

References

Murray, S (2008). ‘Digital Images, Photo-Sharing, and Our Shifting Notions of Everyday Aesthetics’, 

             Journal of Visual Culture, vol. 7, no. 147, pp. 132.