"Common Feelings" Flickr Set

Robert Frank's book, The Americans, contains his thought-provoking photographs that were very controversial during mid-century. It was his photographs that inspired the ones that I took for my photography project in Digital Processes. His photos comment on aspects of American society, including iconic American symbols such as the american flag, restaurants, the automobile, race, etc. He wanted his photos to speak for themselves, which is why he did not care to create a description for the photos in his book. Frank's photos revealed his critical yet true view of American society; he took photos of real life without the glossy, made-up idea of the American dream.

Drawing inspiration from Robert Frank's photographs, I wanted to capture elements of daily life and commons emotions that we all feel. Either through the subject matter of the editing, I wanted to evoke a familiar feeling, even if that feeling is scary or haunting at first. We have all felt loneliness, nostalgia, fear, defeat, chaos. I wanted to capture those feelings in photographs and make them come alive. Regardless of the emotion the photo evokes, I want the photos to be relatable. I want viewers to be able to see the photo and relate to it in one way or another. Many of the photos incorporate line and light, more specifically the photos of interior structures. These photos were not meant to evoke a strong darker feeling such as the others. I wanted these photos to serve as a contrast to the others. They should be pleasing to the eye due to their symmetry versus the dark and/or nostalgic mood you get from the other photos.

Here is one photo from the set titled "Fond Memory" which is meant to evoke feelings of nostalgia via both the subject matter and editing.

"Fond Memory"

I posted the photos in a set on my Flickr for all to see. My experience of using Flickr for this project was more or less straightforward and I find it to be a decent medium for photo and video sharing.

Robert Frank's photographs clearly resonated with Americans due to the controversial yet honest opinions they revealed. My photos aim to convey the darker feelings we have all had.