Can we live our photographs?
Every photograph tells a story.
Photographs are snippets of our lives we capture to relive some memories forever. Or get an direct sight into to what someone else is thinking through what they portray.
Since the inception, photographs have given us the possibility of storing our memories for long.
Do you think after all these years it’s time to take “photographs” forward ? Should we not only see those memories but also live them?
What if all of your captured memories, all those photographs in an exhibition come alive for you?
As a part of Howdu.ino I created some scenarios in which I have put forward some possibilities in which we can relive our memories in the near future.
Imagine yourself waking into a photography exhibition. The photographs however beautiful don’t talk to to. Does it ever confuse you what the photographer has tried to captured ? That one still sometimes doesn’t make meaning for you. At such a moment what if you had an option of encountering a multi-sensory experience which gives you the exact feeling/message the photographer has tried to capture. You get to experience the moment as it is, as it materializes in front of you.The wind in your hair, the rustling of leaves , the smell of those flowers you see its all there for you to experience. With the way technology is changing how we take photographs does it seem really difficult?
As you get to experience someone else’s perspective on their work, how about you record your own and share it with others as a moment they could experience? Every picture can have a unique meaning to different people and to share it as an experience would be such a rich exchange of ideas and possibilities.
One aspect of this story was presented as a performance with a slightly different context, the photo which means something to you becomes a moment you witness when you want it to be.
On a lazy Sunday afternoon, a girl is dancing to a serene piece of music in her house. Suddenly, she stops mid-step as her eyes land on the photo frame on her wall which has been there for some years now. Nostalgia seeps in. As she goes near it and lightly touches the frame, the mood changes. The frames comes to life. The dance of the leaves with the wind is felt as the elements rustle with a whiff of summer that it had been. For seconds she’s lost in the frame coming back to reality again as the moment passes by.
An interesting part of the representation was bringing to life the ideas using Arduino as a tool to convey the idea to enhance the props used. As we were starting out with Arduino, play of LEDs formed a basis for showing the interactions.
Later the story and and the act presented were open to suggestions of the class.
A range of interesting opinions came up. Could it be a two way interaction? How will the current trends be relevant in the near future and how do we take it from here? Could it be real memory than your perspective of the scene? How about future predictions acting out for you in present?
The range of suggestions and comments gave me the opportunity to look at the idea from various perspectives which will be useful as I refine the story and take it forward.
