Monday, February 1, 2010
Coming to get you... - Warner Nielsen
The occupation that I chose to document is one that most people see in only black and white. And the feelings most people have towards the workers in this job are as varied as the colors; people either hate the person doing the said job, or they do not mind them. Such is the life of a traffic officer at BYU. I chose not to show their faces to help protect their anonymity but also to protect their self worth (maybe you can catch a glimpse of them lurking in the sacred parking lots of BYU campus seeking to destroy the lives of unsuspecting, innocent students). Each photo captures how pompous the officer appears to be as he writes a ticket and how glorified she looks as she sits in a booth restricting the visitor parking to none other than...visitors. In reality, these photos show how mundane and repetitive the life of writing tickets and maintaining parking privileges can be. The progression from crisp, clear images to a final blurred image represents the focus that is required during a hard days work of indulging in others pain, to a mixture of drudgery and regret (for the student) as the officer finds yet another ticket to write.
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Awesome post...thanks for the enlightenment.
ReplyDeleteBrilliant! I am impressed by your creative correlation of images to text. The progression of shutter speeds representative of "a hard days work" is just TOO good! Also, the composition of your photos is very strong. Excellent work...Love it!... Well done!
ReplyDeleteknb
I like the idea of black and white, because their world really is based on polarity of morals.
ReplyDeleteI like how these photos are almost voyeuristic-- it's more like we're following these people around than sharing their perspective. It adds to the idea that this job separates the worker from everyone else, and that it's hard to sympathize with the person who gives you a ticket.
ReplyDeletegood use of black and white choice. I like how these photos have a distinct feeling that carries throughout the whole essay.
ReplyDeleteI like your use of black and white as well - one suggestion is to have more of a constant focus in your photos; some are out-of-focus, and some are sharply focused. If you went all one way or all the other that would make your essay more uniform.
ReplyDeleteAs someone who has gotten a parking ticket on BYU campus, you gave me a new view of these enforcers. I also liked the choice of black and white, it mae me FEEL how boring the job could be.
ReplyDeleteFirst viewing - I questioned the inclusion of the last photo.
ReplyDeleteSubsequent viewings - Brilliant progression of your theme. It really almost feels like you're spying on these parking cops, and as the night falls, things get hazier and hazier. It was an amazing effect for me once I realized that there was in fact a person in the last photo, and when they jumped out of the picture, I instantly appreciated it more.
I'm not sure if I can identify *why*, but I quite like the last image. Perhaps it's that I know that there's a person and a car, and the image has been reduced to the most basic of thematic elements.
I really liked your theme. I thought you had a really powerful opening statement and your photos directly reflect that. They flow well, and present a pretty solid essay.
ReplyDeleteIf i were to suggest anything, i'd say that you might have tried varying the angle so that it wasn't always eye level. If you would've done that, you could've toyed with themes of power, weakness, etc. that go along with law enforcement.
Great choice of theme. Love the Black and White. I especially like the text on the GPS screen in the car. Its looks like your camera just had slight troubles, otherwise it would be amazing.
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