An Offence Has Signs

This work was created through a brief from college which started with three heading choices which were; Barriers & Boundaries, The Nith and Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder. I chose Barriers & Boundaries and from that I thought of everything to do with traffic and roads. I started off taking my pictures of signs at night not really knowing where the story was going. Then I took the daytime ones on a pretty terrible day. I got my shots and as I was walking back to the car, of course being in Scotland it started raining which meant I had to run up the hill so my camera didn’t get damaged (I also don’t run for fun, so my mum was hysterically laughing at me when I got back into the car). My next task was to process the images and return to class to work out my sequence of the photos. Another part of the brief required me to have a posed group photo with three people. I didn’t have a idea for that part that I really liked so I thought I would just continue with the core photos and when it came to having a discussion in class I would be inspired by something. So along came that day, I had printed my photos in smaller versions to be laid on the table and moved around to get my sequence. A lot didn’t make the cut because they didn’t fit the story or just that they were black & white but the colour version was better. My lecturer made the sequencing a group exercise so we could all discuss our thoughts and our own taste. So my small photos are getting all mixed and changed and then my lecturer asks “What is the theme and feel with these photos?” and I was answering but not getting what he wanted me to say. He then says “I think they are very dark and moody almost like a crime drama” I then say “Well that is all I watch”. I then realise that is my influence and now I have my group photo idea. The idea for the group photo was an ambiguous crime scene full of questions. It started with pulling up to the harbour and parking with a boat in sight as I had a previous photo that would tie in with it. I then thought we could have two people looking ominous in a boot of a car; where they are either preparing to carry something out or getting it ready for something going in. Then I wanted to add the other person looking like it was a mistake what they had done (or hadn’t it is ambiguous) and then it all connected and made sense, it was an idea I was finally happy with.