Appropriation

IMAGES IN THE WILD

Appropriation is the art of creating new and intriguing work from images that already exist in the world. Photography and photographic images have changed human perception. It is the idea of one’s perception being different from the truth that attracted me to this art; how with a single image you can fool someone’s belief of what stand before them. While walking through Lincoln’s city centre I passed a vacant store whom’s walls had been canvassed with a forest scenery. Towards the centre of the street stood a series of bushes and small trees, that in my mind were just waiting to be combined. It became apparent through my lens that as passers by came and went, that their strolls could easily be mistaken as ones being carried out in a woodland area. I stood patient composing my shot and waited for the perfect pedestrian to align with my vision, soon a perfect lady came along. I timed the shutter to perfection to allow  for her figure to be presented in the centre of the shot. After capturing such image I enhanced the contrast between the subject and its surroundings, with a sign standing next to the woman, I attempted to create the effect that this lady with a sad look on her face had taken a walk in a glorious forest to find some clarity in her life as she searched for answers. To reinforce the effect of the woodland shining light on this lady’s life I edited the suns rays shining through the trees. The final product is one that I have shown to peers and asked where they believe the photo was taken, to which each person answered that it must have been taken in a forest. Thus proving how by appropriating a simple store canvas that a person’s perception can be greatly altered.

IMAGES FROM THE WILD

Whilst producing my own appropriated image from the wild, I was also able to view appropriated image creations from my peers. With the hashtag #ULimagesinthewild attached to any images of the kind on Instagram, from this I could see how others interpreted the task and the variety of possibilities for its production. One particular appropriated image caught my attention, from @conordodge. He had cropped an area of advertisement for an alcoholic beverage or tobacco I believe, and once refined displayed a man in vintage style clothing holding a wine glass. It is an image that could easily be mistaken for that of a dated illustration from a victorian dinner party. I believe this appropriation was conducted to a high level as it left me questioning ‘who is this man?’ and ‘who is he toasting with his wine glass?’; questions asked due to the fact I had completely forgot what the original image was. This therefore evident of the power of this particular appropriation, @conordodge has truly created a unique, new and interesting image of his own.