Working on the process
There are no moral phenomena at all, but only a moral interpretation of phenomena.
Friedrich Nietzsche
From the brainstorming session, it became apparent that:
1) Format and tone: black and white or ‘turned down’ cold tone would suit the theme. I thought that the most suitable tone would be a very light hint of pink/ magenta, possibly with a hint of green in leaves. I felt that the ‘cold tone’ format would not only help from the technical point of view but also from the conceptual – as pink/ magenta tones are often associated with summer, warmth and innocence.
2) Environment: the pictures would need to be taken indoors, on a tripod.
3) Process would need to be conceptualised: the theme is full of contrasting images and ideas (life-death; dark-light; warm-cold) and these ideas would need to be reflected at all steps of the process. Every single decision related to the process, has potential of communicating the theme’s concept.
4) Light and Contrast: strong contrasting light would strengthen the sense of contrast between the seasons and the stages of life etc, and would convey the feelings of unsettledness, anxiety and vulnerability. I decided to make some images with strong light and possibly use chiaroscuro to reflect that. These images would need to have a feel of summer, a hint of lightness and sun, and a bit of a free rebellious summer spirit (not wanting to go, not letting go, not fitting in the box). At the same time, I felt there was a need to have some images included in the theme that would be executed with more plain or flat light. These images would need to be more formal, even rigid or constraint (possibly within a frame, ideally a box). At the same time, there need to be some sense of softness about them, some quiet, turned down beauty – these images are about starting to accept and let go.
5) Form: I wanted to include internal square frame at least in some of the images (wine box, also a coffin, also a restriction and a limitation). To convey the feelings of anxiety, tension and unsettledness, and the sense of approaching unknown, I decided to use non-traditional, perhaps even uncomfortable angles and fill the rest of my frames with black spaces and shadows. To communicate the theme’s key element, duality, the formal square/ rectangular shape of the frame is in contrast to an array of shapes and forms of the ‘summer memories’ included in the frames. They aren’t fitting in easily. There is some spikiness and some roundness, and some strong contrasting shapes included together. There is mess, and there is order. There are some shapes and forms that are there to annoy the viewer and to make them feel pushed out of their comfort zone, out of order, ‘not right’. There are others that are more in harmony with each other and the surroundings.
6) Texture is important in this theme; in terms of texture, each image is purposefully different. There is something special about the texture of the dried flower petals and how they keep the shape despite the fact that the water and the life juice have all evaporated. The cabbage leaves have veins that resemble human blood vessels. The shrivelled leaves of the cabbage plants against the texture of the wooden box, the spiky discomfort of the poppy dried stems sticking out of the box – these textures are all important as they create the feelings and make the viewer look deeper and ask the question ‘why’.
