After loosing my way with the
direction of my concentration, I think I have finally come to purest
explanation of my focus. The idea of chaotic consumerism is overly present in
our daily and fortunate lives. When entering any vast space of people and goods,
the want, desire, and need for these items is apparent in facial, body, and
linguistic expressions. My goal is to capture the franticness that comes with
the overwhelming amount of choices that are present in markets, stores, and
towns. However, it is within the wide spaces, I want to maintain the human
form. For if that figure isn’t there, I believe the importance of the overpowering
consumer driven world will not be depicted clearly.
I have already collected a large
amount of images that expand on this concept and focus of chaotic consumerism.
Stretching from an Asian Market in White Plains to China Town in Manhattan, I
have greatly explored the traditions of a specific culture that also blends and
emphasizes the world of human and material. With shelves fully packed and the
faces and silhouettes of the individuals that are not only the buyers but the worker
as well, the full perspective of this specific scene can be depicted in a
well-rounded form. 
I believe that the use of a wider
lens with each of these pieces has aided in creating this description of
chaotic consumerism in the pictures I have been making. As I began to use this
lens in China Town, not only was I able to capture the environment of a filled
place of business, but the individuals that encompass it. The most recent image
that I have taken that falls into the category of my concentration is an
untitled piece that was taken during a mass at St. Peters Church in Manhattan
while under construction. With the use of the wide-angle lens I was able to
enclose the details of the church’s environment as well as the hundreds of
individuals that sat side by side. Even though this composition is incredibly
different from my other works and will be very different from my further pieces
that fall under this focus, this piece makes an excellent addition to the
collection due to it not only holding the silhouettes of so many unknown faces,
but also how religion has always been and will remain as a consuming concept of
our human lives.
As I scrolled through American
Suburb X, I recognized an artist that has been the inspiration for the recent
pieces I have been making. I have also discovered two new artists that have
given me some inspiration and guidelines to follow in my capturing of the
chaotic lives we live. Andreas Gurksy’s work, though all photoshopped to
intensify its expansive and wide feel, has been my source for attempting to
create a broader vantage point in my work. The leading lines he displays in his
pieces are also characteristics that I look for to create additional
description in my pictures. The other two artists collections that I came
across come from Fred Herzog and Joel Meyerowitz. The images taken by these two
photographers display a clear representation of what street photography should
consist of. The unknowing or all knowing individual set in the daily setting of
the hustle and bustle city life we reside in. The most inspirational component
that I took away from these two artists mostly came from Herzog’s storefront
connection. This is an idea that I would like to see if my direction of chaotic
consumerism could follow. By viewing the individual either behind the glass or
looking in, the outside and inside perceptive of the consumer world can be
captured.
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