Sunday, August 23, 2009

introduction

Welcome to Poetry, Photography & the Image, a blog created as part of a summer 2009 Independent Study Project at New College of Florida.

My project involved an investigation of the works of philosopher Roland Barthes, who wrote several essays and books about the art of the photography and the philosophy of the image. I incorporated his work into a study I created to observe cross-generational perspectives through photography.

I created a list of ten basic themes and sent this list, along with a disposable camera, to several participants. Each participant was instructed to take ten photographs, one of each of the following:

1. water
2. sunshine
3. words
4. technology
5. the color blue
6. jewelry
7. reflection
8. food
9. music
10. grass

Participants had complete freedom to represent the images and ideas on the list as they saw fit. Their photographs, they were told, could be acts of personal or artistic expression, or simply snapshots of objects that belonged in each category.

This blog will display the results of this project. Participants ranged in age from 5 to 75 years old, and they sent in photographs from Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Illinois and Nicaragua.

water


Female, 48, Florida


Female, 19, Illinois


Female, 52, Nicaragua


Female, 22, Florida


Female, 6, Georgia


Male, 45, Florida


Female, 75, Florida

sunshine


Female, 19, Illinois


Female, 52, Nicaragua

Female, 22, Florida


Male, 45, Florida


Female, 48, Florida


Female, 6, Georgia


Female, 75, Florida


Male, 13, North Carolina

technology


Female, 48, Florida


Female, 6, Georgia


Female, 22, Florida

Female, 75, Florida


Male, 13, North Carolina


Male, 6, Florida


Male, 45, Florida


Female, 52, Nicaragua

jewelry


Female, 52, Nicaragua


Female, 19, Illinois


Female, 6, Georgia


Female, 22, Florida


Female, 75, Florida


Male, 13, North Carolina


Female, 48, Florida

reflection


Female, 48, Florida


Female, 6, Georgia


Female, 75, Florida


Male, 5, Florida

Female, 52, Nicaragua


Female, 22, Florida


Male, 45, Florida


Male, 13, Georgia


Female, 19, Illinois

grass


Female, 19, Illinois


Female, 52, Nicaragua


Male, 13, North Carolina


Female, 48, Florida


Male, 5, Florida


Female, 75, Florida


Female, 6, Florida


Female, 22, Florida


Male, 45, Florida