– Home –
– [Six Images] –
– [Notion of Home] –
– The brief and what home could mean –
This brief is about capturing the notion of home in a series of six images. This idea of home must be coherent with a style of photography that is best suited to a sequence that employs the same standards as one another.
Home could mean many things to different people. It could mean being secure, safe, happy, busy, comfortable so on and so fourth. “Home is where the heart is” – this is a humble saying meaning it is more than just a place, it is the idea of being safe and with the people you love. Instead of the black and white meaning “Home is the place where one lives permanently, with a member of a family or friends”, the notion of home dives deeper into the meaning.
I stumbled upon a very interesting article which talks about home being embedded in human consciousness. – http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/the-definition-of-home-60692392/
“When did “home” become embedded in human consciousness? Is our sense of home instinctive? Are we denning animals or nest builders, or are we, at root, nomadic? For much of the earliest history of our species, home may have been nothing more than a small fire and the light it cast on a few familiar faces, surrounded perhaps by the ancient city-mounds of termites. But whatever else home is—and however it entered our consciousness—it’s a way of organizing space in our minds. Home is home, and everything else is not-home. That’s the way the world is constructed.”
Home has always been an important part of human history, we have always found somewhere to ‘inhabit’ this is part of the human cycle. We are like animals, we find somewhere to ‘nest’.
“And there’s something more. When my father died, my brothers and sisters and I went back to his house, where he’d lived alone. It wasn’t only his absence we felt. It was as though something had vanished from every object in the house. They had, in fact, become merely objects. The person whose heart and mind could bind them into a single thing—a home—had gone.”
This part of the article rings so true. Just because you are in the home of someone you love, does not mean it is home. When he says ‘ It wasn’t only his absence we felt. It was as though something had vanished from every object in the house’ – without meaning, objects become objects, and places become places. People tie us to places and things, as do memories. Without them, they just become a mere sceptical in our memories and everyday lives. Painful memories take away the meaning of ‘home’ and what they once mean to us.
It talks briefly about homesickness – Why do we get homesick? I believe we get homesick because the things that remind us of home is not there in our everyday lives, may it be your mother, father, sister, dog, a certain smell etc. they are the things that make us feel at home. You could live in a house in a different part of the country and feel homesick because where you grew up is the place you call home. It is about being familiar.
In some films I have seen, I have heard the term “It’s not much, but it’s home” is used quite popularly. This means it is not the belongings we have that make it home but the company we keep and the objects we keep. Typically, I would have heard this in an apocalypse movie. However, the one I know of is Harry Potter – Ron Weasley says it to Harry when he first goes to The Burrow for Christmas. Harry instantly loves it because it is welcoming, homey and he is surrounded by people whom he cares about and who care about him. That is the notion of home.
During the lecture, we got introduced to Hans Eijkelboom. Personally, I do not understand his work. Eijkelboom did a project called ‘With My Family’ – he went around people’s homes and created a series of ‘family’ images. He would knock on their door and ask if he could take a portrait. Each image is very similar showing the connectivity is his work. I suppose he is suggesting how the idea of a home and family can easily be replaced and structured differently.
— Photographers with similar styles – Photographers I find interesting —
While looking through the web, I found this website – http://twistedsifter.com/2014/01/creative-photos-of-everyday-objects-brock-davis/ – All images were taken by a photographer named BROCK DAVIS. He is mainly situated on Instagram and has over 100,000 followers. Although it has a tone of objects on it, I found it quite fascinating how each object had a different meaning on it. This image for example;
The image is just an apple with a bit of parsley stuck on the top of the core stick, but yet it looks like a mountain and a lonely tree. With my images I want to be as creative as Brock Davis, I do not want to produce just standard images I want to get up close and personal with each meaning and object. Just like this image does. I could do this by cropping or structuring my images in a certain way. I want my idea to be about the representation of home. The representation of places and things. For example; we associate trees with a forest and a shell with the beach. I feel people may understand and relate to these things, they may not have the same pre-conserved idea as I do but at some point something would have been associated with a place or a smell etc. therefore I feel this idea is suitable and fits many purposes.
More examples from Davis’ website;
– Will and Matt Burrard-Lucas –
As I have such an interest in Wildlife and Nature photography, I was really impressed when I stumbled upon Will and Matt Burrard-Lucas. They are from the UK and they use innovation and new technologies to achieve fresh perspectives in their work. Although Will is the main photographer and the main inventor of the camera called ‘BeetleCam’. This is a remote controlled buggy with a DSLR mounted.
The BeetleCam story began back in 2009, when I started thinking about how I could get unique, close-up, ground level photographs of African wildlife (without risking my life). To achieve this I built BeetleCam; a remote controlled buggy with a DSLR camera mounted on top. I travelled to Tanzania and embarked on the first BeetleCam project resulting in groundbreaking photographs of elephants and buffalo. However, I lost a camera in an encounter with a lion and BeetleCam was almost destroyed.
I returned home and published “The Adventures of BeetleCam”. The story quickly became popular but I wasn’t entirely satisfied… just imagine what I could get with a lion-proof BeetleCam!
I am passionate about wildlife conservation. I have partnered with a number of conservation organisations around the world, donating my time and images to help them with their fundraising activities.
http://www.burrard-lucas.com/beetlecam – http://www.burrard-lucas.com/about
There work is really inspirational. Here is some of their work.
— Idea Process —
To me the idea of home is about things that mean a lot to you, it is about being safe, secure and happy. This could be animals you have grew up with, places you have been, objects, scents so on and so fourth. Most of all, it is about the memories we make. We need certain things to attach and associate memories with.
– Ideas of animals/objects –
Animals – I want to take pictures of my dog because he was brought for me as a therapy dog. When I was eight I was attacked by our Rottweiler, and ever since I have been terrified of dogs. However, Barney was there as a therapy pet to help me move past it, we are really close and I have so much love and appreciation for him. Therefore, I want to incorporate him in my Home brief.
Candles – For as long as I can remember, our house has always had a candle lit. They feel homey and they always smell nice. The one candle I can always remember is the Cinnamon and Apple smelling one being lit at Christmas, I absolutely hate the smell but it would not be Christmas without it. The smell brings back memories of when it is Christmas time, and this makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
Books – My mother has always encouraged me to read books. As I never did well at school, I struggled with the normal academic things. However, reading has helped me improve my knowledge, academic ability to a level I cannot explain.
Idea of places;
Fields compared to London – I was born and raised in London, but in 2000 my family moved to Lincolnshire. The change from the busy city life to the quiet country life was very strange. I want to show the roots of where I was born to where I am now. Although where I live now is home, my roots are also classed as a notion of home also.
Hunstanton Beach – This beach is where I went on a second date with my partner. There are a lot of memories here, not only as a child but now. It means a lot to me and my partner because this is where we had our first kiss and where he proposed.
I want to create this images in a series of a timeline, from when I was born to now. As there is no physical theme or resemblance, I will edit a time/date onto the image. As no one is really going to relate to the images, I will try to make them as aesthetically pleasing as possible. I want to focus on the minor details but include landscapes. Each idea is going to be a representation in some way.
In the end, I decided to go with nature and object/animal theme. This is all about the things that make me feel safe, secure, happy and bring back memories. Each image is a representation of home to me, these are the images I need to choose from;
These ten images are as follows (in order);
Therapy dog – Sandringham forest – Candles – Christmas – Lady Birds – Winter holidays – Hunstanton Beach – Sandringham Forest – Summer
Each of these reminds me of something in particular. In the final images, I explain a little about each one.
In 2000, we moved from the city of London to the countryside. I remember being fascinated with how much there was and ever since I have taken a camera and captured as much as I can…
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