Here's a Thought..

Object

ob-ject | noun

1 a material thing that can be seen and touched : he was dragging a large object/small objects such as shells.

Photographing objects has always been involved in my work, both art and photography. This was what led me to discover the works of Raphael Dallaporta and his series of projects which were mainly focused on objects and the story behind them. I looked at this work earlier on in my course in the post named 'Dallaporta', and produced some of my own responses using everyday objects from around the house and a home made studio. Lighting plays a big part of an image, creating an atmosphere or outlining a focus point. In this series lighting is used in an advertising style which produces a seductive aura that surrounds the object. This intrigued me to think how deep this theory could work, thinking about the everyday objects I used and the story behind their use.

AntiPersonnel

"We now learn that hundreds of types of land mines exist and the variety of design, appearance, shape and design is incredible.Because Dallaporta has photographed these objects in the way an advertising photographer might render a shampoo bottle, he glorifies these objects and yet appears totally neutral in his approach. It is a most clever trick, so much so that we hardly notice he has done it"

Martin Parr

With the concept of an exhibition in mind, the found objects we have collected from various locations could also be presented in this way. The objects that have been collected are everyday objects, however some have a more significant value when put into a derelict environment. They become evidence of life or even traces of a story of someones life, as many of the locations were in use by squatters.

Hidden

As an example of this, I also found a project titled 'Hidden' by Dallaporta that had a similar input. The objects photographed were objects that had been confiscated by customs at an airport; all had become a method of smuggling illegal drugs into the country. The subtleness of both the way the object had been hidden and the information given by the photographer work well together.

The information about the drug next to the image adds another level to the image, a conceptual level that immediately changes your opinion of the image. Again, the way the objects have been photographed creates this image of high value, which I feel will be important to get this point across in the exhibition as normally they would be dismissed as everyday objects.