From Home to House

When thinking about the them of 'Passion and Obsessions' there were various ideas for me to think about. I decide to investigate an idea I had about collecting objects, thinking of my Grandad's house which I used in my previous year. It so happended that he has been recently moved into a residential home due to age, meaning his belogings were being sorted and organised into three catergories: Bin, Charity shop or Items of personal value. He was a keen collector of watches and pens, always offering me a pen whenever I visited. But because his belongings had been removed there was little left on this initial idea I had. But it occured to me that there were objects still in the house that held value to this place he once called home. This house was his mother's home and so has been in the family for generations. I made an effort to capture some sort of homely atmosphere in this what is now a construction site.

While searching for inspiration as how to go about this idea, I came across a photographer called Oyvind Hjelmen on a blog site I use called Lens culture. His project 'House that was Home', looked at a family home that was being emptied and sold. He was interested int eh objects which once held value in this home, a collection of personal items being thrown out. Each object had some sort of story and this intrigued him, his photos often showing boxes or rubbish next to items that had not yet been sorted. This dynamic helps narrate the story of the house being cleared out and the for the viewer there is a sense of personal value yielded upon them.

I liked this idea and similarly had this in mind for my project. However, with so little in the house it was less about the objects and more about creating this sense of homeliness or stories behind objects being thrown out. I used light in many of the photos to help me do this as it helped create atmosphere in the photo; especially in 'Glare' as unknown to the viewer it was taken in the toilet. However the warm colour of the walls and way the light highlights objects creates a sense of warmth which is normally lost when a home is sold.

"Disciples, Grandad's House"

"Collection,Grandad's House"