BLINDED BY THE 'LIKES'!
Social Media! Now there’s a subject! I don’t know about you, but I have a kind of ‘Love/Hate’ relationship with it. Social media can be the provider of so much good stuff and inspiration but, on the flip side can be a source of a lot of nonsense, time-wasting, and, in today’s world, seems to be all-consuming. But, like anything, it’s how you use it right? Although, it seems so many people crave that dopamine hit that social media validation and the digital world can provide, simply through the tap of a screen. But, are we simply becoming blinded by the ‘likes’, comparison culture, and our own sense of self-importance… (He says, writing a blog about himself and his own sense of self-importance! The irony isn’t lost on me.)
SOCIAL MEDIA: GOOD OR BAD?
Now I’ve pulled you in with that grand opening statement and modern-day anthropological quandary, I’m not going to answer it! I’m going to sit on the fence and say, as I did in the opening paragraph, that social media has its pros and its cons. Let’s face it, the 'is it good or is it bad debate' is a hugely complex topic and one that would take more than this blog to answer. So, instead, I’m going to tell you how I used this concept as an idea for a creative shoot.
BLINDED BY THE ‘LIKES’!
I had this phrase going around in my head for ages. Reverse analysing and it’s a song title from my youth, that I’ve made an obvious tweak to. And what a tune! The Streets - Blinded by the Lights. As we’ve spoken about before, we’re a product of the influences that we’ve grown up with. Meaning, that every idea is often just a remix of those things. Anyway, I digress! Back to the concept…
The idea put simply, was that we’re slowly being blinded to reality by social media and the digital world. So, after what seemed like hours of cutting out by me, and with the help of the incredibly talented make-up artist, Gaby Hunt, we covered our amazing model, Sophia Sparrow, with a multitude of ‘likes’ and social media logos. It’s at this point, I want to say a massive thank you to Gaby and Sophia for indulging me with this concept, and for all of their efforts to create the shots. The images below show Gaby doing her final touches before the shoot and the final image we selected, ready for digital manipulation.
CONSUMED BY THE DIGITAL WORLD?
The final image was always going to be digitally manipulated when I envisioned the concept for the shoot. I experimented with all sorts of different techniques and filters in the tests. But, always found myself drawn back to the pixelation, for obvious reasons in relation to the project. I worked on how much, or how little these layers or filters affected the image, as you can see below.
It all felt too obvious! Too clean! It’s an abstract idea, so I wanted to push the abstraction to its limits and for the piece to not be so obvious. For the viewer to draw more of their own conclusions about the concept/idea. So, I pushed it until it was abstracted completely, to the point where, if viewed up close it becomes simplistic blocks of colour. The shape of the anguished face only becomes more apparent the further away the piece is viewed from. Some of you reading this might think I went too far but let’s face it, some people lose themselves so much in social media that it seemed fitting to lose sight of the final image.
RBSA PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBITION.
Whatever you think about the final image and the concept behind it, I thought it worked well, so I decided to enter it into the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists 2023 Photography Exhibition. Now, having already had one piece in a previous RBSA show this year (EXHIBIT RBSA), I didn’t expect to get selected for a second. But I was!
So, if you love art and photography, and are in the Birmingham area, be sure to go and check it out. ‘Blinded by the Likes’ is being exhibited at the RBSA from the 3rd of March 2023 alongside some other fantastic photographers that I’ve linked to here. It’s incredibly humbling and I’m very grateful for another opportunity to share some of my work in an exhibition. That’s two since January!
BE BRAVE AND KEEP CREATING!
I’ve spoken about Imposter Syndrome before, and about how one of the ways to combat it is to just 'Fuck the Fear'. Have courage, and do the ‘thing’ you might be nervous about anyway. I didn’t think that this image would be selected for this exhibition but I did it anyway just in case it was! And look what happened there!
To be creative takes courage. It takes courage to express the things you’re passionate about and to get past the limits of your comfort zone. It takes courage to put your creativity out into the world – to open yourself up to being potentially criticised. But we have to be brave and take a gamble sometimes. Yeah, you might be criticised but you might also find people love that ‘thing’ that you do.
I probably should be closing out this blog with some insightful diatribe about social media. But, love it or hate it, and remember I do both, as I’m sure you do sometimes, it’s here to stay and it’s the way of the world. So no diatribe! And, ironically, I’m probably going to have to promote this blog on social media to get anyone to actually read it. Unless of course, you’ve come through to the blog from the newsletter! Which reminds me, if you haven’t already, consider signing up for the Creative Nowhere Land newsletter below. That way you can stay up to date with everything going on here.
Anyway, I’ve rambled on enough. I hope you've enjoyed hearing about my own self-importance ha ha! Until next time…