In December, aerial photographer Alex MacLean gave our school and class a presentation about his work. One of my favourite concepts that Mr. MacLean integrates into his work is the concept of time. He told us that time is a fourth dimension, and by integrating time into a photograph you can turn it into a 4D piece of art, rather than just 3D. He also told us that it's important for us to photograph whatever we feel passionate about and keep them in sets. This one photo by Alex MacLean is one of my favourites. It doesn't necessarily display the fourth dimension , but this photo stood out to me moreso than others. Seeing all of the houses that are so similar is almost haunting, and reminded me of the song Little Boxes by Malvina Reynolds. The song speaks about everyone living in little boxes that are all the same, which this photo truly conveys. We may not see it, but our day to day lives are not much different from the lives of the people around us. This photo is a good example of this concept, because all of the houses are so similar and barely distinguishable from one another.
For my Alex MacLean series, I focused on the "fourth dimension" that he mentioned in his presentation. While trying to figure out how to integrate the fourth dimension of time into a series of photos, all that came to mind was light, illustrating the time of day. I thought about what other non-traditional ways could illustrate the passing of time, when I thought about my decay series. The decay of old buildings creates a sense of passed time, which you can obviously see by the peeling paint and rotting walls in most abandoned structures. I couldn't go seek out an abandoned place so quickly, so I thought that an old cemetery was another good and accessible place to illustrate the concept. Lichen growing on headstones reminded me of the passing of time, since lichen grow on old stones and begin to consume certain, older stones, like the second in the set.