Proposal

Directions Within Photographic Communication – Proposal

Laura Parkinson

For this brief, I was instantly drawn to the concept of investigating why people take so much care of their old photographs, placing them in albums and frames without looking at them everyday. Photographs are there to relive a moment, a moment in time. I want to look at an alternative way of keeping photographs, by asking people to carry around a photograph of himself or herself, or a loved one, to look at the photograph when it has been battered and creased. I took the inspiration from seeing some people carry photographs around in their wallets, purses and handbags in the past, and how this tradition has fizzled out and become something I rarely see anymore.

I have mostly been inspired by the concept of why people take such care of their photographs, rather than being inspired by a particular photographer or artist. I saw an exhibition last year at Blackpool university centre, where a MA Photography student whose name I cannot remember, befriended a group of travelling gypsies, and studied their lives and how they are different from our own. He understood that they sometimes carried photographs of their loved ones in their pockets and wallets, and decided to photographs these, with the owner, as a story behind the community.

I want to take this concept, and cover it from start to finish. I want to take a photographs of himself, herself or a loved one, then photograph the image after it has been taken everywhere on there person for a week, and then photograph the person holding the image, in the formation of a triptych. When I first created the concept and final design of this brief, I decided against my initial idea of just solely photographing the image after the week. I believe that presenting my idea in the form of a triptych would give the viewer a much better understanding of my idea from start to finish. I want my book layout to be simple, no flashy colours, just plain white backgrounds that frame my images in the inside pages of my photography book, and then a traditional photograph album cover on the front, either leather or a similar scrapbooking material. This concept will give the book its original idea, and make the photography book look like a photo album, taking after the name of my book.