Week 38: Colonialism.

This week I did a fashion shoot in the style of Dazed and Confused, for some second year Fashion students. I am in adoration of fashion design students as they excel in professionalism and effort.

D.



The style was quite obviously Native American/Tribal, and they did a brilliant job of achieving the precise look they set out to create; keeping to that style with vibrant colours and also a modern spin on the placement of the garments that you wouldn't be surprised to see in today's top magazines. I applaud them for letting me be free with aesthetic ideas and poses, I feel we really connected throughout the entire shoot. So I guess this is a completely different post from whatever you have read previously, but I went back to keeping an open mind about photography and enjoyed fashion. So I thought if I enjoy a different type of photography I may as well enjoy writing in a different style also.

Song listening to right now: Shake That - Eminem

Week 37: Appropriation.

We understand photography as taking something from time, you "take a picture" and do what you want with it, it has then become the Photographer's possession. Humans do exactly the same (sic) with memories. Ere the invention of cameras, the only way to prove to yourself that something was real, was to root through the weaving web of electrical signals that have now become slightly numb, and seldom did this prevail.

After trying to deal with some issues I have been facing with memory this week, I would like to see this blog as being an archive similar to a substitute brain. Each post is, in turn, a photograph (even if it does not include a graphic representation, which it will), a week long exposure of my thoughts that will serve well as a memory; something I can fish out of the garbage bin that is my brain in years to come.

Thanks for your time.
Dan.



This photograph has no aesthetic power really, but is a reminder of memory to me personally. I see this image every time I walk to university. Not a lot of people will recognize it, but that is probably because they do not notice their routine. This photograph is a representation of my memory, both semiotic and aesthetic. Let's just say, there are a few grey-areas dotted around both my cognative state and the city I live in.

‘We shall take language, discourse, speech etc., to mean any significant unit or synthesis, whether verbal or visual: a photograph will be a kind of speech for us in the same way as a newspaper article, even objects will become speech, if they mean something.’
- Roland Barthes

Song listening to right now: Go your own way - Fleetwood Mac

Week 36: Givin' up.

The past seven days have brought me a feeling of utter delight and happiness. I am now driven, I can see direction finally, and I'm not giving up. If the events of the past week hadn't happened, this blog would be about giving up. However, I'm not ready hang up on faith just yet. Literal ideas of sadness have drawn me to the conclusion that life is both linear and random to a simultaneous moment. We show our faith by putting together pieces of a linear jigsaw puzzle, however, the way in which we choose these pieces is completely random and not driven by destiny or fate.




This photograph can be percieved as an indication of giving up on faith, my family's faith. I do not wish to pull away from this, and I won't try for a long time yet.

"Cut off the roots of your family tree. Don't you know that's not the way to be"
- Matisyahu Miller.

Song listening to right now: Unique Is My Dove - Matisyahu

Week 35: Faith.

This week, I have tried to put faith in certain things, but I don't believe in faith's existence anymore, I have become a man of Science.

Thank you.
Dan.




This photograph was taken for a friend's Fashion Design project. I think I may have faith in friends and family. This photograph shows my dedication to the faith of friends.

Song listening to right now: Concerning Hobbits - Howard Shore