Uni Module 3 – “Postcards from…”

If you’re lucky(?) enough to work with me, you would have seen these letters with postcards dotted in various places throughout last week (and probably next week too). I had handwritten 5 letters and left them at the end of the desks and in the kitchen along with 16 postcards to initially gauge peoples reactions to what had been left around then obtain feedback on the images / project itself.

The seeds of the project are from 1800’s where rich men would wander around and explore their local area.. Why rich men? Because they had nothing but time on their hands as they didn’t need to work, men could wander wherever and whenever they pleased; Women although also had the free time, had to accompanied at all times.. locally because travel was then a necessity; it was expensive, impractical, time consuming and messy, by far a luxurious hobby that befits an upper class gentleman.

This project goes back in time where people would take the time to handwrite letters when you wanted to tell someone something, or send them a postcard (or in this case 16) when you’d want to highlight a place you went or something interesting. This project is a sort of play on that. I have photographed something that has caught my attention that most people would just walk by and ignore. I’m showing you this image in the same way I’d show you a nice castle, spectacular cathedral or beautiful beach scene postcard. Does it catch your attention too – are you too busy to notice anything particular, odd, funny, or are just not interested? What do you see when you look at the images? Do you see the same things I saw? How do they make you feel? Do you want to join me in exploring any of these places (if so, which ones)?

Traditionally there would be a short hand written message on the back of the postcard – I made the conscious effort to not write anything as I don’t want to influence the viewer by my choice of words or how I’ve written something – but you do have a map of where I walked (yes genuine map of where I walked when I went away, I did ALOT of walking. It’s the best way to explore a place!). The date was when the photo was taken to substitute a stamp – another thing that has almost died out due to the lack of letters being sent.

The images / postcards are to be viewed in no particular order as each one should be strong enough to stand on it’s own; you as the viewer can decide which order you’d like to view them in. However, the order shown in the video is my preference and simply because I had to have the images in a sequence to “hand in” the project.

I’m inviting everyone (you don’t need to know anything about photography to give your honest opinions – so no excuses 😉 ) to give their feedback on my project. The display method, layout, the thoughts, the images etc. Open feedback that I can use in my write up (even if you think it’s a load of rubbish, over thought, you don’t understand it or you’re just too busy to really have a look – I can work with anything)..

If you got any questions or like to know more, please let me know..

Display from work

Letter, Postcards, feedback forms and bribes to get your attention (I mean chocolates)