Monday, 19 October 2009

Priorities

Its difficult to predict what life throws at you. The university bubble burst after about a month of finishing. The questions of what do next, photographically and in terms of ones life. The ambition to carry on taking photographs to the standard of which I want has to wait. Money needs to be saved to enable me to buy the cameras of which I want to take my photography further. After a few weeks unemployed wondering what the future holds and with a rather depressing recession looming over everyones head the time to get a job happened. Low and behold I found one, photographically the only thing I can think of is Anna Fox's work named work stations 1987-1988


I wrote about her in my dissertation, paying particular attention to her immaculate eye for colour and use of light particularly in the offices in 'Workstations'. The photographs were shot deep in the Thatcher era that shows a very dark and changing Britain, one that was not afraid yet stumbling in going forward. A time where consumerism low and jobs were even more fought after than what they are now. This is very much like the Britain of today, in fact I would go as far to say most of the world right now. A job is hard to come by, faith in anything to do with politics and money is very low. A happy face is few and far between from one stretch of the eye to another.

So it goes without saying after a little stray away from my point, I am working in an office, I had never done it before it has to be done at some point in my life so I thought I would get it out of the way. In many ways its everything you would expect; non succulent and brain numbing but underneath all that lies a happy unit of workers. We all know no one really wants to be there but its the money that gets them there and keeps them there for sometimes a short but mostly a long period of time. You have those that are happy their day to day routines, some that are succeeding where others don't, there are those vying for a higher place on the so called hierarchy of the job and of course the people in charge. All eager to be top dog. To photograph this is very very appealing, to catch the thoughts, the wasted moments whilst waiting for the next task or call, to capture even the most normal every day things like a chilling water machine. It's a dream. But how to photograph differently to that of Anna Fox?!

The obvious choice would be to simply shoot anything and everything but how do you ask about such a thing> I think it might be a bit early after just a month to ask permission. At least for the moment it's a start for the brain being active with a photographic mind :)

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