a. This series will include various backpacks from strangers. The photos are shot straight on using a telephoto lens that creates a magnified look. The colors will lean towards warm, with flash being used to create a flat, liminal look.

b. The hallways in our school were built too narrow for the student capacity, so students would pack in the hallways like sardines. Nowhere else to look, I would often look at the backpack of the person in front of me. Seeing the pins and ware and tare of their backpack gave me a glimpse into their personality as well as made me wonder about how the tears and stains came to be. Bags are things people carry through their day and as a result reflects a person’s journey and experiences through their day to day. I wanted to make people wonder about the significance of the things people carry throughout their day and how the items people acquire in their life reflect their journey through it. I used a telephoto lens in order to convey the idea of peering into someone else’s life, as if the viewer was looking through a peephole. I also wanted to make the bag and the items on the bag to be the focal point, so I used flash to eliminate difference between shadow and light to focus on the nature of the objects rather than the aesthetics of the photo.