JMJ

This project helped me to be more attentive to my surroundings. I’m glad that I spaced the project out over a period of several days because it helped me form a habit of being attentive to what is around me. It was fun to just stop in the middle of my everyday life because something caught my eye. It’s a whole new experience to not only take note of something, but to take the time to document it. It forces me to pay attention to what I was actually observing.

For example, on Saturday afternoon while I was eating lunch with my sister and friend I was struck by the repetition of the shadows and light on the table. Further into lunch, the light being refracted through my cup of water cast a dancing rainbow of color onto the table. This assignment encouraged me to not only play with the light and observe it, but to also take the time to document the moment with photography. It was neat to be able to pause time so that I could see really take the time to see what I was looking at and recognize the continuity of the rainbow.

I believe my most successful images were not the ones I was looking for, but rather the ones that presented themselves in my everyday life. Light caught my attention.

This reminds of something one of the artists we listened to said: “Beauty moves us towards attentiveness.” This project showed me that the contrapositive is also true: attentiveness helps us to recognize beauty.