Just Out of Reach
Image Description: This is the cover page image. It is used to attract viewers’ attention. It is the only image that does not contain an animal. It is also different in that it is the only image that is primarily black and white with the subject in colour.
What the Series is About:
This series features farm animals photographed from behind a fence. The idea behind the series is that the animals are just out of reach. They are unable to reach out from behind the fence, and people (for the most part) cannot reach in.
This series is meant to reflect today’s society. The animals situated behind their fences represents people forced to social distance. The fence is the restrictions that have been imposed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the pandemic, society has been changing; new rules and regulations are being added and altered all the time. In every photo, the animal is looking out their fence. This was to create a feeling of them reaching or looking towards something unseen by the photographer. This was done to depict people looking and reaching towards a ‘normal’ future closely resembling the pre-covid world. This ‘normal’ future is one where people are not forced to maintain a specific distance or are required to wear face masks.
Why I Chose to Work With Animals:
This was a fun piece to photograph as I love to photograph animals. Animals are fantastic subjects as they are both fun and challenging to work with. They are challenging as they often do not respond to direction and can be hard to pose. But they are also insanely fun to work with, as most animals are such sweethearts. You never know quite what photo you are going to get. Animals can slightly change the position of their ears or the tilt of their head, and you have gone from a happy, fun picture to a sadder or more upset-looking picture. It is astounding what a slight change in position can do to the expression of the image.
What I Learned:
Something I learned is that even without having a specific goal in mind often times a lot of images I take end up being similar enough that they can be made into a series. I learned that while it is good to have an idea of what you want, sometimes the random images you capture you windup liking more than the planned or staged images. I also learned that all the animals are very curious about the shutter sound of the camera and wanted to investigate it.
Image Description: The goat (Skyline) is looking out through the fence. You can see her nose is reaching just outside the fence. However, she is unable to pass the fence entirely. This is done to demonstrate how society is currently functioning. Society has a handhold on pre-covid life, but is unable to rid itself of the rules and regulations imposed because of COVID-19.
Image Description: This image is very close to image 02. The goat (Celeste) is sticking her nose through the fence.
Image Description: The following images all follow similar ideas as that of image 03. The goat (Helia) is peaking her head over the fence. It looks as though she is using her leg to try and pull herself over the fence.
Image Description: The horse (Rubi) is peaking her head over the fence to check things out.
Image Description: The horse (Scout) is sniffing around, testing what may be on the other side of the fence.
Image Description: This is the image where the mini donkey (Cara) is looking out her fence. This is the image to me that most represents the class of people who continue to be very cautious. You can see that the gate to the fence is slightly open, depicting the relaxing of rules and regulations. You can See that she is still behind the gate, she is uncertainly peering out through the gate, watching what is going on before her. To me this mirrored people who are watching the rest of society with the relaxed rules to see what happens and how things go before relaxing a bit and creeping outside their fence even the slightest.
Image Description: This image is of a goat (Celeste) mid lick, making it appear as though she is sticking her tongue out. This image was included as I wanted to include a funny image. This image is being used to represent that though there may be barriers we cannot surpass we can still have fun. It is a reminder that even with the rules and regulations covid-19 has created there has still been many fun moments.
