Following on from my practical work from last semester, I thought it only appropriate to write one for my second semester too.
As I mentioned in my previous blog post about uni work, I've decided to continue Adaptation Charting for which I'm using the same method as before by saving my Snapchat story. This semester though I've thought about incorporating other forms of social media in order to see what my time in Lapland looks like through different forms, seeing how I present myself on different platforms. Indeed, the way I present myself may be varyingly different or there may be no difference at all. But regardless I'm excited to continue this project and see where it leads.
I'm also taking Independent Photography Seminar this semester. However, I'm not continuing my project from last semester as I had some other ideas buzzing around in my brain I wanted to try out and when in Lapland. I've decided to pursue two projects in this seminar which is quite ambitious for me but my creativity seemed to flow considerably when I thought about this course so I decided to take full advantage. As I hadn't learnt a new process in a while I decided to give it a shot by learning how to pixel sort. I've never been able to code nor can I say that I understand it very much but as I've investigated this more, I've been able to learn just enough to pixel sort my images and I'm pretty pleased with the results.
My second project is a somewhat typological. Since being in Rovaniemi, something that has attracted my attention a lot is the road signs here. I've always been aware that the road signs in mainland Europe were a bit different to home but something about them just gets me. My favourite sign I've seen so far and I suppose, the inspiration for this project was the beware of snowmobiling sign I saw on my way to uni. I'm pretty sure it hasn't always been there but anyway, realising that I might have not noticed it before made me look at the road signs a lot more often or rather, made me realise I'd been noticing them since August and I really wanted to document that. I find things like that really interesting, the colours and imagery that gets used but can be universally recognised by the general population, including those that wouldn't ordinarily see them is quite fascinating to me. So I am taking a lot of photos of roadsides, then I plan on whittling them down to create a small photobook. Something that excites and intimidates me. Before I went on the excursion I'd never put my energy into making a photobook, I've always been a prints on the wall kind of gal. So in a way this project is also an experiment, I really liked creating my photo book from the excursion, but I don't know if I like making photobooks or it was just a one hit wonder. We'll see.
As far as practical modules go, that's all I'm involved in at the moment but that's more than I'd usually juggle in my timetable at home. My other modules include History of Design and Architecture in Finland, a subject of great interest to me and whilst not practical, they're giving me the opportunity to learn about something I wouldn't get the opportunity to study in such detail at home.