I've finally had a chance to scan some of my polaroids from my final year major project and i wanted to share these with you; these are from the first of several shoots which will contribute to my final exhibition images. The theme of my project is post natal depression, by working with real subjects i hope to inform the viewer of the emotions that some mothers experience; my work explores the home and personal possessions which will act as portraits of the subject and their story will be told with text that will accompany the images. With my first subject i studied the area and looked out for moments that could conjure feelings of sadness and isolation from the viewer. My motif is space and colour so i began to think about the 'less is more' theory with these images using blank spaces as narratives for the state of mind of the sufferer; i wanted people to relate with the images so i tried to photograph everyday moments, still lonely scenes which we walk past everyday but never really absorb into our minds. These are things like an empty washing line against a blue cloudy sky, a the sun casting shadows across a blank wall or a light switch swinging across an aqua blue wall.
I decided to shoot my project using polaroid (or Fuji FP100c Instant film as i prefer the format of the image and the honest colours) I have always been a huge fan of polaroid, i love the fact that each shot is a one off, this had me thinking about objects, i felt that a polaroid shot is more like an object, something to be treasured; this ties in with the nature of my project and i feel polaroid lends itself to it really. I have imagined this project being shot on polaroid from the beginning, so it was great to see that its working well for me!
Here is a selection of my favorite images, these are the ones which best communicate the theme within my work and they summarize my experience with my subject. Hope you enjoy looking at them; i will have more to post soon!
