‘At the Cutting Edge’. That was the title of the major project for Unit 3, where we had to draw inspiration from two mediums (could be photography, film, a song, a painting etc) in order to create five images. Making sure not to just reproduce what had inspired us but rather combine the stitches of what we found inspirational to weave something new. Something stronger.
I knew right away what my inspirations would be! Music and film have always had a very strong effect on me, with certain sounds and sights taking residence in my brain; I often find myself listening to or re-watching the same things over and over again.
My chosen song was called ‘Caught a long Wind‘ by Feist. I had been listening to it constantly and the mellow instrumental elements and narrative of the lyrics really spoke to me.
I then chose a clip from the opening scene and credits of Terrence Malick‘s 2010 movie, ‘The Tree of Life’. I know that a lot of people absolutely hated this movie, but I adored it. I find it visually breathtaking and thought provoking and I think Malick is a cinematic genius.
However, picking my two inspirational mediums seemed to be the easy part..
This project was given to us directly after Unit 27 (Digital and Photoshop) and having found that unit so mentally draining, I couldn’t face picking up my digital camera again for a long time; I didn’t want to have to go back into photoshop! Unfortunately time was ticking on and I needed to get shooting. But I think fate was on my side, as having just had to suddenly move houses, I was looking through my things when I came across my Fiji-film Instax Mini Polaroid camera and within moments of turning it on and hearing the guttural growl of the lens opening I knew this was the camera I would use for my project.
I have had this camera for a few years now and have taken it travelling all around Europe. I think that the photos have a dreamy, gentle look about them because of the soft focus and as this project has a personal element to it, I thought it would be perfect.
Here are three examples of photos I have previously taken with my polaroid:
So using my polariod camera, and drawing on the inspirational elements of:
1) The song lyrics and meaning of ‘Caught a Long Wind’ by Feist’
2) The visual elements (vantage points, angles, colours etc) of ‘The Tree of Life’ by Terrence Malick
I shot five images to accompany a poem that I had recently written.
Here is the final product with my images and poem combined:
Anna Dunn Photography 