Week 5 Professional Photographer's Challenge: For Art's Sake
Angels of the Forgotten
by Meghan Aileen
Week 5 Professional Photographer's Challenge: For Art's Sake ~Angels of the Forgotten
This project has sparked a lot in me so far and we are only on week 5. I am rethinking the focus of my time. It has already showed me how much I miss making images, reminding me I can speak through them. It has also showed me I need to make some changes so that creating becomes more of the priority again. This is scary and exciting so stay tuned for some changes coming soon and more about that!
This week I was inspired by the dilapidated buildings all around me here in Middle Tennessee, by their history and their value to us. I love that there are so many homes, barns, and even city buildings that maybe somewhere else would have torn down and replaced with a shiny new building, but not here. We seem to cherish our rust, our rough wood, and our broken bricks. We hunt for it and value it. It is just awesome. I drive by this house almost every day. When I was shooting this image the old man who owns the land came out to see what I was doing. We stood in the heat and talked awhile. He grew up on this land. His family had been there for almost 200 years. We talked about how the road used to be dirt, and what it was like before the mall in town was put in. He lives up on the hill in a newer house now, but kept all the older buildings on the property as they are and have always been.
I am calling this image: "Angel of the Forgotten". Sometimes it seems to me like there are Angels protecting these places. These buildings don't seem like they should still be standing but they are. The world around them moves on, becoming what the consumers of today dictate that it should become. These buildings seem to stand still in time, representing something long gone, reminding us that our time is not the only time, that here were generations before us and will be many after. They remind me that I need to treat the world around me accordingly, to preserve it for those to come; to make things that last and to reuse what we already have. The front porch of this home is held up with stacks of precarious bricks. The wood is rotted and boards falling off, but it stands. It houses our history, generations of family life, of community and homesteading. I can document it for those of tomorrow in my own way, with my own vision, and I am grateful for that.
Week 5 Professional Photographer's Challenge: For Art's Sake
Angels of the Forgotten
What do you cherish around your local area? What is your favorite thing that you drive by regularly? I think it is part of our responsibility as photographers to document our local areas in the time we are living. It is important for the generations to come to see what it was like now. I hope you find something that inspires you this week in your town and make some art...for art's sake. :)
Hope to see you next week!
xoxo
Meghan Aileen
Edited with:
Vintage Natural from the Memento Photoshop Action Set
1600 Film from the Nostalgia Textures Set