Missing: Panopticon

In my study of the panopticon, I found that I was more interested in what people would attempt when they thought they weren't be observed rather than what they attempted while under surveillance. For this reason, I chose to photograph three different, but still interconnected, subjects: drinking, smoking, and partying. As a college student, these activities are something that I and my peers experience on a daily basis. Taking these photos gave me an opportunity to position myself behind the lens and observe the people and activities in a more detached manner.

The nature of my photo shoots displayed a definite progression from formal to informal. The first set of ten photos that I took, 12 Steps, was very contrived and staged. I helped the model pose and essentially fabricated the scenes in order to get the picture that I wanted. My model was also not actually an alcoholic, so there was a certain lack of emotional involvement with the focus of the shoot. The second set of photos, entitled Fixation, dealt with a real person with a real addiction while still being slightly staged. I basically asked him if I could photograph him while he was smoking and he agreed. In this set, I did very little handling of my subject. I think as a result of my distance, the pictures ended up with a more relaxed mood, rather than the structured feeling of my first set. As a side note, I chose to name this set "Fixation" because it is obviously such a thing for my subject, but also by the end I found myself enthralled with photographing the act of smoking. My final set, A Foni Sin (a play on a fraternity's name), was photographed from the kitchen counter of a fraternity house on the night of one of their parties. This was the most candid of my shoots. Subjects, either out of ignorance or inebriation, didn't know or question that they were being photographed. I played around with the shutter speed of my Nikon D40 to achieve the blurred effect. I felt that the look was cohesive with the atmosphere of the party and also drew the viewer into the space by making them an active participant.

Overall I feel that because of the progression of the nature of my sets, my project may lack aesthetic cohesion. Had I planned my shoots more carefully, there might have been a better sense of connection between the sets. However, I feel at the same time that the appearances of the photos are directly related to the environment in which they were taken.