How It Started
Well, now that I have all these lamp posts.
I thought I would play around with the lamp post artwork I just got to use for a previous image. I scanned through leftover images from previous projects, looking for a portrait to start with. While searching, I was drawn to this structure.
I tried a few different portrait images, but this one – I loved how the subjects landed on and around the yellow structure.
So I went with it, abandoning the lamp posts entirely. Partway through, I switched gears.
Hesitation.
Was this direction a little too nonsensical? So I returned to the lamp posts, using the same background and portrait images.
This one makes a little more sense, the entire scene.
After finishing this one, I went back to the one I started with, maybe with new eyes, and finished it.
Reflections About The Process
I noticed how I left what felt uncertain for something I was already familiar with. There is a comfort in what is familiar, what is clear. But the unfamiliar holds something hard to put into words. Maybe as we explore uncertainty, we sometimes step back into the familiar, temporarily, before we are ready to keep going. Both of these things are of value.
Reflections About The Images
Both images, to me, conceptualize distance within relationships. You can use the details in each image to consider the nature of that distance. What is more obvious leaves less room for the imagination. Sometimes this can be reassuring; it can offer clear validation of a felt experience. At the same time, in what is obvious, fewer questions arise, fewer opportunities to explore possible meanings you might not have been consciously aware of. Uncertainty is what can stretch you in new ways.
