Left Overs

The clutter that crowds our desks, drawers and shelves can shine an interesting, intimate view into our personality and lifestyle, bringing with them a clutter of subjective memories, experiences and uses. These objects, seemingly left over and cast away, can begin to accumulate to paint a more complete image. As this accumulation spirals it becomes expansive and overwhelming, presenting us with an excess of information that can confuse and disorientate. It is through choosing to focus on the details or looking at the bigger picture that can drastically alter one’s perception of what is in front of them.

INSPIRATION

99 Cent - Andreas Gursky (1999)

Borrowing elements of neoplasticism, the use of framing, colour and angles in Gursky’s photography captures this element of the sublime. A seemingly never ending array of stuff and things that can seem overwhelming upclose but ordered from a distance.

A TIme and a Place - Darren Jones (2011)

At a glance this cluster of personal objects seems ordinary enough. However, as your gaze wanders the bizarre elements reveal themselves. Through still life conventions Jones has explored the how story of these everyday objects can be revealed through composition.

Coffee Boss Can

This coffee boss can sits on my desk at home in a growing collection of left-overs. A momento of my travels, the can now sits sorrounded by pens and markers I no longer use. Unused Prescription

Left-over medication from some tooth pains I had in 2017, this prescription now resides in my bathroom draw below an accumulating pile of junk and toiletries. The Last Tomato

In the darkest corner of the fruit bowl sits this old tomato, growing wrinkly and sad. As this module has progressed the tomato has continued to grow wrinklier and sadder. The Junk Drawer

Whether it be in the kitchen or by the front door, a house isnt a home until it has a draw full of junk. Digging into this draw I pulled out a big red rubber band and a AA battery.

FINAL RENDER

In my scene lights played a strong role in the composition I had in mind. Amidst the accumulation of left over items I wanted to leave details that would be noticed the longer one looked at the image.

I tried to create an emphasis on the “everyday” items of the medicine, batteries and rubber band. In doing so the “bizarre” details of the rotting tomato and the Japanese coffee are noted after the intial glance. This was further explored using diagonal lines with accents of colour at common vertices. The rubber bands bright red and its elastic bend help aim the viewers gaze towards the tomato and the can.

Through aligning sight lines with the horizon running in the background theres a clear linearity however the framing and angle of the camera appears disorrientating. This is in hope to give the sense of a larger picture. The cropping of edges alludes to more leftovers lying just beyond the frame. Causing the spectator to question the bigger picture while still considering the details of what is seen...