For this project I hated the idea of taking pictures of Portsmouth's shipyard because I felt it was already done. With this in mind, I went hunting in the night for neon signs–buzzing, bright, and awake. I love looking at neon signs because they are often a spot of color against a mundane backgrounds. They also remind me of cities and how someone will always be awake at any given moment in a city, even in the middle of the nighttime. There is also a tacky aspect about neon signs; purely used for advertisement there seems to be nothing artistic about them at all. I thought I was going to have all 7-10 prints of mine be neon signs in the dark, truly. However, without a tripod my picture selection became limited as many of the pictures I took were just kind of...terrible (for lack of a better term). I ventured towards downtown Portsmouth with the idea that I would just try and take more pictures of neon signs, but then I didn't do that. Instead, I walked across the bridge that goes to Kittery, Maine and became so impressed with the lights and views the shipyard over there had to offer. I liked what I saw but was not in love with my pictures. Feeling discouraged, I left.
The next day, I went back at around dusk which was a totally serendipitous circumstance because as I got out of my car I noticed a beautiful sunset was taking place. I got so excited, I could not stop taking pictures! It was really a lovely moment and it reminded me why I love photography so much and also why I know New England is the prettiest part of the United States. So I took some pictures, and eventually decided to use them despite my initial apprehension about taking pictures of a shipyard. When I began editing them, I started in color. I boosted the exposure on most of the pictures I took in Kittery, and totally upped the clarity and vibrance. The colors I saw in these photos were amazing me. It was a nice reminder of that moment. But then, just for fun I decided to see what they would look like in black and white and I actually liked them better. So much so, that I continued to edit them in black and white. I tried to up the clarity and contrast as much as I could so I could show the small details of each scene that initially made me want to use the picture in the first place. For example, in the second black and white picture I fell in love with the texture of the rust on the bridge and the contrasting puffiness of the smoke clouds billowing behind it. In the fourth black and white picture I really wanted to bring out the exposure of the lights from the boats reflecting on the water. I love the amount of light in this photo because it isn't quite nighttime but it also is not daytime but to me it feels like both in the picture.
Eventually I decided that the theme of this collection of photos was that I was (still am) trying to explore the different avenues and capacities of capitalism and work and what we (as people in eastern seacoast New England) value as hard work and how that validates our existence and how it keeps us going. There is certainly a difference between the four photos of the neon signs and the four photos of the shipyard but I link them together in this way.
No comments:
Post a Comment