Ryan Bimson

My interpretation of this photograph is that this man preparing a wedding or wake in an Asian country (Based off of the architecture of the building in the background). The photo does not give much away to suggest whether the event he is preparing is going to be mournful or celebratory. The man is wearing a red shirt and jeans, which seems fairly normal attire, however, he has his head bowed and his hands clasped together, reminiscent of prayer perhaps, in front of some kind of metallic monument. This could be a prayer for the departed or a prayer of luck for a newlywed or soon-to-be wed couple, but either way, his pose seems spiritual in nature.

Its hard to see anything within the gazebo’s that have been erected for the event, so it’s very difficult to discern through that what is happening in the photograph.

The building in the background is rather strange, seemingly 4 stories but small in size, perhaps some kind of hotel or restaurant where the after party for a wedding or a wake could be held.

The photograph seems to be taken without the man’s knowledge and, therefore, consent. This, when paired with the uncertain nature of the event that will be or has transpired here, could mean that the purpose of this image is to provide a discourse on the nature of life events and how the future comes upon us hard, fast and impossible to know. All we can do is prepare the best we can and then deal with the aftermath the best we can and scrape up the lessons with our hindsight to add to our arsenal for dealing with situations in the future. Perhaps, all we can do is pray, like the man here.

MED1011M – Independent Project Intentions Form

I was planning on attacking the photography project once the focus on production (In my mind, the more intensive part of the module) for script and screen had ended and post-production had begun. So there is not much here. But I have been playing my project over in my head, what it would be about and who it would target and what questions it would make you ask. Simply put, My project is the Entropy of Religion. Both the idea of it breaking into disorder and the idea of it slowing, dying and growing cold and irrelevant. I shall enter controversial territory by trying to include themes of natural and human disasters relating to the religions I photograph, the idea being Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, and Judaism. The mass shootings that Christianity might have inspired, the rape culture in India that may have been influenced by Hinduism, the traditionalization of the mutilation of newborn babies in Judaism and the Isreal/Palestine conflict for Islam.

I may try to bastardize and deliberately “blaspheme” against the work of Lauren Pond in my photographs by appropriating similar styles and subjects but with vastly different messages ( http://www.laurenpondphoto.com/places/no-need-for-other-worlds/ ). Another photographer I may reference in my work could be Viviane Moos and her documentative photography of religion ( http://www.vivianemoos.com/gallery.html?gallery=RELIGION#/10 ).

I may become hated by some people for my work, but in my opinion, the purpose of art is to provoke emotions via the questions said art causes us to ask. So if I am hated for my work, then I have succeeded, no?

This shot is probably my favorite amongst the pictures I took for #ULImages in the wild because it highlights the plagiaristic ideals of appropriation and looks at the idea that nothing in the art world is truly original and that, to an extent, every creator appropriates in one way or another. The fact that the image is of an image that is of an image and, to me, this is kind of a metaphor for the ‘dog-eat-dog’ world of capitalism and our world saturated with media as a whole. If this is a representation of the media that clutters our peripheral vision every day we leave our abodes, is it any wonder that the modern individual finds themselves riddled with anxiety and fear for the future? If, in the back fo their mind, there is always this idea that if you don’t fight for your place in the world then you will be consumed by it.

This photo I chose from the ones under #ULImagesinthewild because I find it contrasts quite well with my image. I find it quite ironic that the image is urging the observers to ‘Open their eyes!’ when it is taking its place amongst it subliminal cousins in the advertisement along the walls and windows of the high street. But perhaps that is the heroism of this image, in that it provides an obstacle to the complete brainwashing that our capitalist media-saturated society would like from us? It sticks itself beside hundreds of adverts that would have corporations drain us dry of time, currency and life whilst all this image wants from us is to ‘Open our eyes’.