Artist Statement

For my final project I wanted to capture my biggest pet peeves through photography, because we haven’t worked with just simple photography yet this semester. I looked back on the short studies and focused on the future environmental collage and recalled my creative process. I remember thinking of issues that the world would be facing in the future. I found that focussing on an issue gave me the most variety so for my final project I wanted to focus on a present day issue. I decided to get more personal with my work and focus more specifically on an issue that pertains to me--my pet peeves.

               I decided to take all of my photos in black and white so that the viewer can focus only on the pet peeve without any other distractions. It also makes it so that there is something in common with every picture. The title to every entry is either a quote from a song or a quote from one of the people in the pictures that relates to the pet peeve. Clearly, I am no photographer, I actually don’t know the first thing about it, but that’s why the photos that I take are my own. The photos that I enjoy taking are ones that I stage by directing the people in them, but they are still supposed to look candid, like the ones in this project. This way I can also incorporate some humor into the photos.

               The photos of my different pet peeves are presented in a blog because this format allows me to open up myself. I can let other people see how my mind works without actually letting them in, I can let my walls down on the blog because it is my barrier to reality.

Influences:
http://awkwardfamilyphotos.com/
http://foundmagazine.com/
http://www.beforeidieiwantto.org/usa_other.html
Emma Pratte http://snapshotsandsonglyrics.blogspot.com/
http://candidphotographer.wordpress.com/

"I want to drizzle gravy all over my belly!"

I hate the sounds people make with their mouth when they eat. I hate seeing what people are eating white it's in their mouth. Please just close your mouth.

"You got the talking down just not the listening"

Guess what this pet peeve is: bragging. The sad part is these ones aren't even remotely staged. Welcome to the family everybody! Every time my dad's side of the family gets together we all dread the company of one of my aunts. The only topic she likes to talk about is herself and her genius eight year old daughter-- yes, they truly are better than the rest of the world, I will vouch for that. We've got the routine down, just smile and nod, boys, smile and nod.

Lois! Lois! Mom! Mom! Mom! Mommy! Momma! Momma! Ma! Ma! Ma! Mom! Mom! Mom! Mommy! Momma! Momma!..." "WHAT?!" "...Hi"

Were you a part of this conversation? No. Are you interrupting a very nice one that I'm already having? Yes. Well stop. I might have inherited this pet peeve from my mom, who we would always tap on the shoulder until she payed attention to us, but the only outcome was that she'd yell at us out of frustration. That's how I am now, I have very little tolerance when people come in halfway through a story being told and decide to ask a million questions about the part of the story that was already told. If I wanted you in the conversation then I would have included you. Please go away. Or when I'm talking to someone and then another person will just start randomly talking to me as if they didn't see I was already in a conversation. AHHH! It makes me frustrated just thinking about it.

"OOOHH my aching tentacles"

Necks, knuckles, backs, or any other joint in the body-- please dont crack them when you're around me. I absolutely hate when people loudly and abnoxiously crack anything in public. It makes me cringe and it sounds very uncomfortable. Of course, now that I tell everyone that they're going to purposely do it to peeve me. So, unless you want me to permanently crack whatever it is you're cracking...please refrain.

"Can you untuck your shirt?! Get the next size up next time."

My mom--

haha, just kidding I love my mom!

BUT, my dad....

yea, this one isn't a joke.

 Kinda self-explanatory.

okayyyy moving on...

"There's a cold kenetic heat struggling, stretching for the beat, never stopping with her hair against the wind, SHE'S A MANIAC"

Bad Drivers, a pet peeve that I share with approximately half of the world. When you're driving down the highway and someone actually has the nerve to go the speed limit, it's even worse when they do it in the passing lane. You have the right of way but that driver (of course she's a woman), pulls out in front of you and proceeds to go very slow. Or how about when the person in front of you is turning right but they turn so slowly they might as well be stopped. These are the occurances I used to deal with every day on the way to school, maybe it's a good thing I don't have a car at college. Anyway, this is my sister, a new driver on the road--as of October 21st drivers, pedestrians, and bikers need to fear for their lives. Your nightmares could very possibly become a reality.