Natalia Salkewicz Final Project Proposal

1. CONCEPT / SUBJECT 

In keeping with the theme in most of my previous assignments, I will continue to explore my relationships with my friends, family, home, dog (can’t believe he never made it to any of the final 4!) and all of my immediate surrounding. Like so many of us, I am spending ninety percent more time at home than I normally would due to Covid 19. Yes, it has been really boring at the beginning and it took time embracing it but the silver lining being forced to slow down and pay closer attention to what is already existing in my life and appreciate it deeper. This final project will have a diaristic effect which will capture the special, playful, joyous and even sad moments of being a woman, mother, wife, friend and an amateur photographer.

2. TECHNICAL APPROACH (INPUT)

I will be shooting using my Nikon D70S with a 24-120mm lens. I enjoyed exploring new concepts each week and would love to incorporate most of if not all the technical concepts in this endeavor. I discovered that if left to my own devices I would limit myself with outdoor shots with limited depth of field. Outdoor shooting with its favorable lighting always provides a safe haven while indoor shooting is more challenging for me as far as finding the right lighting in the moment but also in post production. I intend to explore new avenues and incorporate them with my existing passions. 

3. TECHNICAL APPROACH AND SPECS: (OUTPUT)

For this project I envision everything in color, especially having the color being one of the intertwining factors among the photographs, subjects being the other. As far as the output I would like to create a modern scrapbook style photo album. Something rang to me after watching one of the science shows with my kids ”what is coronavirus and has anything like that happened before”. We discovered photographs of people from the 1918 Spanish Flu and just like today both adults and children, teachers and doctors alike all were wearing masks. I think the old fashioned documentation provides a visual perspective of the current situation with similar circumstances at a different time. My hope it will bring solace and cheer for happier tomorrow. In keeping with today’s virtual preference, I would create a website with the same content.

RESPONSE FROM REBECCA

Natalia,

You articulated your inspiration and goals very clearly.

I agree that you should be inclusive and democratic in your technical approach. As we discussed earlier, I think that what would be helpful for you is not a rigid set of rules, but rather a list of starting-point “shots” that you want to make, where you do whatever it takes to get the shot that you want, and hone technical skills in the process. A still life that shows the objects/tools you use most throughout the day (whatever they may be), a well-articulated image of the interior of a specific room, a set of portraits, a shot where you lay out all of the face masks in your house, a series of images of your backyard…these kinds of goals will help you to shoot with consistency and discipline, and likely lead you toward new things. I also think that several images you’ve already made this semester could likely make their way into the project as well.

For me, the crux of the project is stated in the first paragraph, when you mention “the silver lining [of] being forced to slow down and pay closer attention to what is already existing in my life and appreciate it…” In this way, the pandemic is your catalyst but not your subject. For this reason, I’m not sure that the historic images would connect to your work directly, since the project you describe is personal and diaristic rather than photojournalistic or concerned with documenting the pandemic per se. I do think that researching and gathering images from the web that portray historical pandemics, and seeking connections to your own images from today, will be a satisfying and valuable experience for you, but I don’t think that this particular (relatively short-term) project requires the direct connection being drawn between the two. Still, let the work guide you, and be open to discovering connections, themes, and directions in your own work that emerge naturally through the process. Exploring your immediate landscape might be a valuable exercise here. Maybe make a brief list of places (in your home and your town) that play into your experience of the moment and try to photograph each one.

We discussed Sally Mann…certainly her Immediate Family series is a crucial project for you to know. Take a look at Elinor Carucci’s personal work, including her documentation of home life, her mother, aging, and illness. (*Note the way in which she is able to be both poetic and frank, and to document her life unflinchingly for a very honest brand of beauty.) Look at Tierney Guerin’s The Mother Project and David Hilliard’s long-term documentation of his father, who passed away this yearn (he has also documented his mother and her husband/community in Florida). Cig Harvey also makes poetic images of her home, herself, her children, and her immediate surroundings (and her dog!), in series like Blue Violet, You an Orchestra You a Bomb, You Look At Me Like an Emergency, and Gardening at Night. Pay close attention to the ways in which Harvey’s projects are not overdetermined or rigid in terms of genre, but rather combine still life, landscape, and portraits, usually unified by color palette and other elements of style.

Happy shooting,

R