Reflection on Showcase

Video and photos by Natalie Leduc

The sociopolitical issue I addressed in my showcase was environmental preservation and I also questioned how we each define beauty. I was taking the stance that the natural environment is beautiful and worth preserving. I also wanted to question beauty because it is something I have been challenging in my work as a photographer. Through the process of creating this work, I realized the importance of adapting to one’s environment as an artist. I came into this trip thinking that I would be taking photographs that showed Ireland’s natural beauty. However, I did not realize how urban the area we were staying in would be and the difficulty I would face in attempting to execute my plan. This caused me to have to adjust my plan and switch around what I wanted to do for my project. As my project idea evolved, I actually got more excited for how it would turn out.

I integrated an opportunity for dialogue with the audience by posing a series of questions relating to my topic for them to think about while watching my video. They focused on how we each find beauty differently and how we as humans have impacted the environment with our constant need to build and destroy natural land. Some of my classmates told me that I did a great job or that they loved my images, but I did not really have a conversation with the other audience members after my piece. I hope that the audience was able to find beauty in the images I showed in my video. I hope that they felt as if they were there in the many places around the United States and Ireland that I showed. I hope that they understand how amazing our land is and how important it is that this land is preserved and respected. Throughout my short time as a photographer and especially in the past three weeks here in Cork, I have found that my definition of beauty is no longer black and white. I no longer define beauty only in landscapes but in cityscapes as well. My definition of beauty has changed.

While in Ireland, I had many discussions and brainstorming sessions with my classmates, especially Esther as she is a fellow photographer. On many occasions, we simply sat and talked through how we were each doing our final projects and helped each other brainstorm our concepts. I also had some help from Ericka, Castro, Ches, Tatiana and Rachel as well in the process of finalizing what I was saying for the introduction into my final project. If I had more time, I probably would have had more images in the video. I was pleasantly surprised to have found so many images from Ireland that mirrored images I had from other places in the United States. I did feel like some of the images I used from Ireland did not mirror their partner as well as others and I would have liked to have found a different image that fit better, but I ran out of time to go out and take better photos in Ireland.