Jonathan Tams

After researching photography, specifically analogue and direct photography for my thesis, it only seemed natural and logical to continue in this vein for my research project. The topics I primarily researched revolved around how Romantic tendencies are reshaping contemporary photography. Similar to photography, the field of graphic design is immensely oversaturated with images. As the ease with which it takes to create an image increases, the value of the image seems to decrease. Most images, and by extension, most photographs feel inauthentic to me, and as a graphic designer I’m driven to research exactly what authenticity and value mean in the current era.

At the same time, an interest in the limitations brought about by artificial intelligence in digital photography led me to research the fundamentals of photography, namely, time, perspective, and the perceived blending of realities. As I started working on my research project At The Outside In, the pandemic hit and I had to figure out a way to continue the project. This led me to the camera obscura, an ancient method of projecting the outside world through a small hole in a dark room or possibly cave. The camera obscura led me to work mainly with negative-less direct photography.

In this era of the Coronavirus pandemic it seemed fitting to blend the outside world with my personal, quarantined living space, while trying to forgo the notion of in- and outside. On the one hand I tried to grasp a sense of freedom and on the other hand to bring to light the claustrophobic feeling quarantine creates. Because this project is site specific, it’s likely it will quickly morph into another project, driven by the same conceptual premise and interest in techniques, but with vastly different outcomes. All of these interests, which I’ve developed through the medium of photography and graphic design more broadly, are very near to me.

Finals-werk: Obscured Obscura

Deze pagina is voor het laatst gewijzigd op 3 november 2020

Sta jij op deze pagina? En heb je een opmerking? Mail naar de redactie.