The Three Corners of Reality

By Karolina Rupp Photography

There are three layers to our mind, the good, the bad and the grey areas in between that influence our understanding of things and our reality. We can't escape them, they are part of us inherently.

This photograph, taken on 120 film with a medium format camera, explores exactly that concept of being caught within our own realities and that everything is subjective essentially. We are fixed in that position, and still are trying to think outside of the box and explore even more profound topics just to realise over and over again that the moment a new thought is explored it becomes a cliché. We never stop discovering things but once found, place them neatly into one of the three corners of reality. It is the restlessness of blindly searching for answers to everyday questions that freezes us in time until the hunt is over, for now, and the collection of thoughts and ideas within the mind has been expanded once again. This process continues throughout life and only ends with death, this library we carefully construct through everyday living, that helps us to survive and cope with the reality we are living (in). To draw the concept closer to the photograph, it is necessary to explain the visual elements within this image. 

Firstly, a woman is portrayed a little blurry in the just off-center of the composition with the sleeves of her jersey rolled up, ready to run and explore. Behind her head three different types of walls meet, which represent the three corners of reality by having different shades of grey as one of their properties. These walls hold her within the composition and thus shows her being stuck and caught in her own reality. On the left a door can be recognised which demonstrates the human need to escape and think differently every now and then, but also to show that it is not used (it is closed) for a reason. On the right towards the back of the composition of this photograph random objects can be seen. These show that not everything is explored within our thoughts but at the same time if you would move closer you would know what these objects are, which reinforces the concept of the cliché as mentioned above.The setting was chosen as it is a familiar structure, our reality we live in. The fear of knowing what is out there and the subjective interpretation of the latter is shown through the closed eyes of the woman. Also having to fight your way through this reality, but doing so with closed eyes (eyes are closed towards ideas and things of others because they can only be subjectively perceived and thus become one own's thoughts and ideas) plays a role within this composition. In addition, the woman is a little unsure of her position within this/ her reality which is another reason her eyes are shut as she is essentially hiding away. Through that feature, the viewer of this photograph has the ability to judge and see but the subject decides to not perceive being observed in order to protect herself, like many do within this reality.

This photograph of mine will be exhibited at the end of the year. Watch this space for more details. 

SINcere

It is interesting to note that once you believe you have found a certain theme for your blog things run smooth. But suddenly you are not sure anymore of what to write. This happened to me. These odd thoughts and things I normally bla out on here seem to have moved to a different space. Not one I chose, to be exact, I can't find it yet. But by sitting here and typing I am recalling things I wanted to share, not the wonderful ones that just scream at you but the more subtle creatures in my head. This in itself is a thought I had, the one about the creatures. 

Today I was in a conversation that triggered a thought. The discussion was a funny one, me having to, as a result of joking around, make coffee for the other person as a way to 'pay' for my "sin" I just committed (obviously the word sin was used in a funny manner which refers to me making a joke about the person I was talking to). The important part here is that if I would not know what coffee is, would that mean that I am unable to pay for my sin because I have no reference to the demand!? I know this is very far fetched and turns the humorous event into something serious, which not as some may believe is the topic of religion, but rather human interaction. To take it further, as was added by the person demanding coffee, if you don't know how to say sorry, can you be sorry? The 'how' here does not refer to a situation such as the inability to speak or a fear of the consequence of saying something and so fourth, but to truly not knowing the concept in a form of expression. To clarify, imagine you have never heard these words before: 'I'm sorry' etc, would you be able to feel sorry because you don't have a verbal connection to it? Does the association of speech with concepts make them real? And if yes (if you could feel sorry) would it be connected to the words 'I'm sorry' or would other words be used? (Obviously language plays a role I'm not going to go into here)

The point of this little exploration into space was to take something completely out of its context and question its validity through that. At the same time it also explores connections made that might or should be analysed further, here the verbal and emotional, or at least reconsidered with regards to its authenticity. Ok fair enough, it probably is and was discussed for centuries. For me though it should be taken into the arts (again), in my case photography, and explored.

I will leave this post with another thought I picked up along the way that might fit as the inverted version of the above:

"You can be sincere. But you can be sincerely wrong."

Fashion Shoot

I recently did a fashion shoot.

Here one image I'm quite happy with.
Thanks Priscilla for being such a wonderful model. 

By Karolina Rupp Photography