In this collection of images I explored the complex relationship between an individual and their home, or the locations that they connect to on a deeper than superficial level. I have found that I place great importance in location. And while traveling to new places is almost undoubtedly exciting, I still have trouble picturing myself living anywhere but the place that I have always called home. This project was first an attempt to create a tangible documentation of details that make this place so significant for me, because I thought that I would be leaving it behind when I went to college. While I held onto this goal, the project also evolved into an attempt to redefine places that had been tarnished by tense memories. All of the photographs I chose to include in the final product came from a small boat launching site on Jordan Lake. I was able to create a series that captures details and secrets that I love about the place, and through the mindful process of photographing I was able to rediscover it as a place that I love and that helps define a significant portion of my life.
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My final project focused on the relationship that my peers have to their favorite books, and to reading in general. One of the greatest aspects of English classes, and one of the joys of literature as a whole, is the innumerable interpretations and responses that one can have to a book. A book may be significant in someone’s life because it serves as a salvation, represents an important time in their life, or simply provides fond memories. Further, one’s relationship to a book transcends its content and includes how one interacts with its physical form. One may have no trouble breaking the spine, folding down corners, or scrawling notes across pages. The books that an individual chooses to fill their life with, and the way they treat those books, is unique and provides insight into their character.
Unfortunately, I do not think that people are provided with the encouragement or the opportunity to read as much at they would like or should. The importance of reading, and its relative absence from our lives, is why I chose to explore this topic. Initially I intended to shoot in the studio, but I found that subjects are more comfortable in more average situations, where they would actually find themselves reading. Thus I began to pursue that avenue, and it is successful because it provides details of another element of one’s relationship to reading: location. Through this series of images, I explored the messy state of mind that it is terrifyingly easy to fall into, and difficult to emerge from. This issue of messiness manifests itself physically, in the form of clutter and destruction, as well and mentally, in the form of anxiety and frustration. This theme emerged from an earlier exploration of revealing often unseen details about individuals, which I pursued with the use of dark scenes with strong lighting and powerful positioning of subjects and objects. While I continued to use these same technical approaches, my subject matter and message evolved to focus on issues concerning personal (and often perceived) chaos. I believe this new focus emerged because of my own experience with anxiety, and a pervasive struggle to see the calm in the chaos. Although I do not directly relate to each of the images’ content, I intended to include the broader message of feeling uncontrollable pressure, frustration, and inadequacy in this series.
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AuthorHello, my name is Alana Fiordalisi, I am a senior in high school and a photography student. Archives
May 2017
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