This project depicts four different pieces of produce placed in nature as if they were found. The idea of the images is to produce a sense of visual comedy between the grocery store fruits and vegetables and the natural surroundings. There is a lime growing from a cactus, a banana hanging in lush jungle, a potato found in the ground, and a garlic sprouting from the base of a tree. The fruits and vegetables, despite being placed in such surroundings, can never return to a state of being part of "nature" again. They are too genetically modified; too perfect, too colorful, and too ready for consumption. They were never actually able to be foraged in the wild; obviously, they were harvested on an industrial farm and purchased from the store. Thus, they end up sticking out and looking rather silly.

This series will center around the subjects of manmade vegetables, which are placed into naturalistic environments subtly. If pursued, I would try to find more lush areas to place them, and make them appear more subtly, as if hiding amongst the brush. I would also photograph them from further away. Each photo would be of a different vegetable.

The goal is to surround a processed manmade vegetable with a completely natural environment of plants and animals. It’s meant to be a more humorous concept - the vegetable is like a black sheep that will never quite fit in, even if it tries. It’s too perfect for the imperfect spontaneity of nature. No matter how organic and naturalistic it had been framed as by the label on its package, it was never truly picked foraged from the ground like the photo implies.

This series would be centered around photographing my shoes above grates and other deep industrial pits like manhole covers. It would either be taken from up close or from more distant - I’m still undecided. The shoes would be in the center of the image, although slightly unevenly, framed more as if theres an invisible figure standing there rather than a perfectly placed pair of shoes.

I want to use the photos of my shoes to explore themes of uneasiness in our modern industrial society. When I was younger, I was always deeply afraid of walking over grated pits; I would think of the worst possibilities - dropping valuable things in, or the grates collapsing and falling in myself. Though the shoes in the images will stand casually, with no real possibility of actually falling in, I hope to still imbue each picture with a sense of foreboding about their precarious position. A pair of shoes left behind, too, is often an omen of death or suicide, which is something I could further explore.

Each photograph in this series would be taken centered around the bell of a different saxophone. The instrument would take up either the bottom half or bottom quarter of the image. If it’s split into thirds, the divider at the wall will serve as a horizon line splitting the upper third and middle third. Each will be taken in one of the practice rooms in the school of music, which largely look the same, whereas the instruments will vary in size and shape - preferably, I’d get at least one photo of each type of saxophone. (soprano, alto, tenor, baritone) They would be done in monochrome.

Through this series, I want to give the effect of Sophrosyne - AKA visual business balanced by simplicity. I would highlight the polished body of the saxophone by making the image monochrome. I’d possibly push this contrast even further by focusing my camera on the foreground and letting the mock-horizon line of the wall become blurry. I also want to slightly give the impression of an actual beach horizon, with ground serving as sand, the dark divider being the ocean, and the dotted wall being the sky.