The initial intention was to define creep as the time that strides slowly. I had wanted to capture these in queues. Whenever people are lined up alone in queues, (be it for the buses, taxis, or in foodcourts) they wonder why time creeps by so slowly: some look at their watches impatiently, some sms their friends to 'look' busy, some yawn while slouching over the railings ...and etc.
picture 1: This is a window to reality. This is a scene we often witness at bus interchange. It is night, people are feeling tired after a day at work and are waiting for the bus to arrive so they can get home to shower and rest. From the commuters' body language, they are leaning against the railing and they look bored. It's almost like a window to show the boredom of waiting in life.
picture 2: The is an abstract view of a queue. This is part of what bounds a queue- the railings. Under the yellow lightings, it seeks to reveal a sense of time, since such artificial lightings is only available in the night. The chains of the rails are creeping downwards. The whole composition is supposed to evoke feelings of waiting in the late, empty night.
picture 3: This last picture has something to express. Over here, creep works two ways. The first reading is pretty much creep as time procession at an indefinitely slow rate when people are in queues. In the second reading, the creeps refer to the queue jumpers who inconsiderately cut the lines of the other people.
However, I think i failed in capturing the emotions that show the bore and impatience of people. It was even more difficult to execute when it seemed a little inethical to shoot right at people's faces while they are bounded in their queues and seeking their permission for an upclose shot was almost impossible.
Thus i came up with the second plan.
The dimension of creep I am exploring is the chill of 'murder and perversion' in a broad sense. The subject, the mannequin, was found in the dumps behind an alley at Chinatown.
Realism
The first picture is a window to what the eye sees when a person walks pass the rubbish dump. Over here, the creep element is only felt when one looks at the picture carefully. If you notice, there is a mannequin's body jutting out of the rubbish dump. When I first spotted the mannequin, it immediately came to me that it resembles a murder scene which we always watch in detective shows on television. The creepiness the audience is supposed to feel is that of the savage killing and the perversion to the extent of dismembering a women's body.
Formalism
The second picture is a formalistic view of the mannequin. This shot is zoomed into the hangars that extend from the stacked mannequin. In this photo, the meaning of creep is not hair-raising, as that shown in the first photo. Instead, it is simply using the metallic of the hangars to give notions of 'cold' and 'chill' that is usually associated with the feelings of creep. There is no direct meaning. It is only borrowing the metallic to associate feelings of creep to chill.
Expressionism
The final picture is shot to express the perversion of gaze. For this shot, I moved the mannequin's body into the rubbish dump. I lay the body in an alluring position to express a 'deadly attraction'. Deadly: creepiness due to notions of death (body in a 'coffin') Attraction: body of a woman, a perversed gaze of a creep. This pleasure of looking also termed, scopophilia, has been discussed by Laura Mulvey. In the photo, the angling of the camera lingers on the curvatures of the female body. This angling is such that one would immediately divert his or her attention to the naked mannequin. The intention is to speak of the relationship of power by putting audiences in a superior position to the object of gaze.
Problems encountered while doing this assignment is that I had too many ideas about one subject. Comparing to my classmates, like Gerald who worked on the idea of beauty creeping away, and Hui ling who focused on showing the creeping nature of smoke, I learnt that mine seems to have a broader definition, which might have complicated my message.
Comments that I received from the class is that the over treated colors of my photos looks a little distracting. I had thought of this as well. However, I went ahead with the large contrasts because I wanted to show intentionally the juxaposition of the mannequin and the environment.
From my classmate's presentation, I also learnt that I should have kept the realistic photo more natural and 'snapshot' like.
For my realistic shot, I realized that I had unconsciously framed the photo in the rule of thirds. Interestingly, Gerald did the reverse. He made sure that sihoulette of the building and the trees at the sides, breaking the rules of third. I think Gerald's shots were technically well taken as well. The colors contrast in a nice manner, they don't look artificial. Also his pessimism about the beauty creeping away is portrayed quite nicely throughout the photos.
Huiling's concept of smoke is also interesting. I particularly liked the expressionalism shot. Instead of just talking about the creeping motion of the smoke, she goes on to discuss how it diffuses in the air and cause second hand smoking. And the photo also almost gives a feeling that second hand smoking is so subtle: you don't really realise it, as shown by the group of people who seem unaffected by the old man's act of puffing his cigarette. In fact, I have heard of reports that say that second hand smoking can be more deadly than first hand smoking!
Hence, for this assignment, I rate Huiling: 9.0 and Gerald 9.7. Against Gerald's grade, I give myself a 8.7.
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