Analogue Project - A portrait of a memory

Photographic Psychology by John Suler

When I first came across the diagram which reflects the 8 mental states I started building on that topic. However, I did not realise at first that there is a connection between photography and psychology. Upon further inspection I came across interesting information which helps define my Major Practical Project.

Photography is psychology. Why? Because understanding the visual image is understanding the realm in which the psyche of the photographer and viewer intersect. Psychological principles about perception, emotion, creativity, personal identity, interpersonal communication, and human relationships help explain how we create visual images, how we share them, and how people react to what they see. Psychology can also help clarify the personality and social factors that shape the vocation and avocation of photography. - See more at: http://truecenterpublishing.com/photopsy/introduction.htm#sthash.criiFHYJ.dpuf

John Suler's Photographic Psychology: Image and Psyche is a brilliant series of articles which explains and explores the relationship between photography and psychology.
I have just realised that this project has undergone a form of subtle transformation. It is not longer focusing on others being absorbed. It focuses on myself as a human being and how I respond to mental stages. It is no longer about absorption, it has become personal, exploring my own mind. Even if I repeat myself, I would have never though that this would be the final shape of my MPP. I am amazed by how things have turned out.

How does the human mind react to a photograph?

To answer that question, it helps to understand the psychology of sensation and perception. "Sensation" refers to the immediate, relatively unprocessed experience associated with the stimulation of a sense organ like the eyes, ears and skin, or with a specific body condition, like feeling tired. "Perception" refers to the basic mental operations that determine how the brain organizes, interprets, and makes sense out of that sensory stimulation. However, it's impossible to draw an absolute distinction between the two, because sensation and perception are part of one continuous process. Some aspects of this process are biologically, pre-wired into the human brain, while others, especially aspects of perception, are learned through experience. We might even consider the mind as analogous to computers. Both its hardware and software programming determine how it reacts to the world.

So how exactly is our mind hard-wired and programmed to see what’s happening in a visual image? This section will help the photographer appreciate the basic psychological principles of sensation and perception that determine how we experience photographs.

Source: http://truecenterpublishing.com/photopsy/toc_sensation.htm

Photo Psychology

Photo psychology

Photo psychology or photopsychology is a specialty within psychology dedicated to identifying and analyzing relationships between psychology and photography. Photopsychology traces several points of contact between photography and psychology both through history and in the present. As a result, a fresh understanding of the origins of several current therapeutic and psychological testing practices based on the use of photography emerges. Photopsychology also provides a framework and appreciation for future developments, such as the full articulation of Reading Pictures—a profound new way of looking and thinking about photographs.

The three principal goals of photopsychology:
1. Tracing the historical interactions between psychology and photography;
2. Identifying past and present psychological uses of photography in research, assessment and therapy;
3. Proposing new applications for psychological uses of photography, principally "reading pictures". Photopsychology is being developed by Professor Joel Morgovsky, senior member of the Psychology Department at Brookdale Community College, Lincroft, New Jersey. There he specializes in Social Psychology and Positive Psychology. This Positive Psychology course he developed and teaches is the only one offered in higher education in New Jersey. He has been a fine art photographer in black and white, color and now digital photography since 1977 and serves on the Portfolio Review
Committee of the Soho Photo Gallery in New York City. Professor Morgovsky is a frequent lecturer and judge at photographic societies across New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania and is a speaker with the New Jersey Federation of Camera Clubs.

Currently he chairs the Committee on Psychology and Photography for Division 1 of the American Psychological Association. He has delivered four presentations to the American Psychological Association at its Annual Conventions on the subject of the psychological dimensions of photography. Included was a symposium at the 2007 APA Annual Convention titled Psychology on the Couch: Psychologists Analyze Photography; and a presentation at the 2008 APA Convention called Photopsychology co-sponsored by Division 1 (General) and Division 10 (Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts). An active and ongoing component of Photopsychology is a traveling exhibition of photographs by psychologists, Psychologists in Focus, which Professor Morgovsky created and presented three times, in three cities, most recently at Northwest University in Kirkland, Washington. The exhibition is scheduled next for exhibition as part of the 2010 Eastern Psychological Association Annual Meeting in Brooklyn, New York.

Source: Wikipedia.com

This text relates to my project because I have tried to explore the reason or the need to photograph certain objects and what that action represents.

From tea to toys

At first, I wanted to photograph cups of tea and then immerse the resulting images in different types of tea, matching the tea in the depicted cup. By doing so, I would obtain a different colour cast due to the type of tea used. For example, mint tea would have given the photo a green cast, raspberry tea would make the image pink and blueberries would provide a blue colour cast. My aim was to show that I like drinking tea even if I am not British.

My concern after shooting the images and developing the film was that the images might not be as strong as I expected them to be. I was running the risk of photographing cups in different places and angles which would have no connection between them.
I shot and developed the images with the cups of tea before going home in March. Thinking that I'd have more to photograph, I loaded the 3rd role of film in the camera and was ready to take the photos. I then realized that I had already shot all the frames I could think of. However, I still had the role of 10 shots in the camera and had to use before returning the camera. Instead of taking the film out and ruining it, I decided to shoot my stuffed animal collection which is here with me in the UK. I have 10 toys and 10 images on the film. It was perfect! I shot an image of each fluffy friend. That film wasn't developed with the other ones of the tea cups because of lack of time.

I then went back home for about three weeks and that meant I couldn't work on the analogue project because I didn't have the camera with me. Whilst being at home I got sick and ended up staying in the house for over a week due to chicken pox. That period of time prooved to be essential for all my projects including the analogue one. My Major Practical Project focuses on different states of mind which are associated with certain actions and objects.

This project is also related to the idea of objects as symbols. In this case, the objects are plushies, each of them representing a certain memory and event in my life. I relate to them to the extent that they make me feel closer to home, even if I am miles away. I couldn't imagine the place where I live now without having them alligned on my bed. I find their effect to be amazing because of the influence they have and their capacity to make me feel at ease with their "presence".

Every time I travel somewhere, there always has to be someone from the Fluffy Family with me. They create a feeling of security and confidence, but at the end of the day, I do realize that all this has to do with my subconsciuousness. These objects have the role of an emotional trigger which determines me to think of home, every time I lay eyes on them. I have had some of the toys with me sincer Year 1 and I received the rest of them as gifts or I bought them myself.

I shall talk about each of them later on in the critical journal. They each have names and represent something important in my life. I can honestly say that I love these animals and if I ever have to part with them for a certain reason, that would bring tears to my eyes. I am amazed by the level of attachement I have developed towards some pieces of fabric (because that's what they are, in theory).

The first role of film I shot with the plushed turned out to be out of focus and the images were blurry. I then decided to reshoot the images, using the same camera (Mamiya RB67) positioned on a tripod this time, I order to get the focus as shart as possible. After developing the film, I noticed that the images were sharp and then I began printing them.
I am aware that the minimum number of prints for this project is 6, however, I shall be submitting 10 simply beacuse they depict each fluffy member of the family and I cannot exclude 4 of them as that would be very unfair.
I didn't reach a suitable answer to why these toys are so important to but I am certain that it has something to do with the connection between photography and psychology.