This body of work explores how I experience State College, Pennsylvania. It captures the ways that I perceive this ever-changing and ever-moving town that I have called home for the last four years. What happens when I allow myself to create layered images that express what I actually see when I view the world around me? What happens when I show others how I piece together my surroundings, in both the moment itself and as I experience memories of the moment?
Creating multiple exposures in-camera and through post-processing has allowed me to explore my thoughts in the present and to investigate my memories of a moment. This was my last fall at Penn State, and this has stirred up many feelings in me. I have often felt overwhelmed by all the activity that happens in this college town, and finding a way to “paint” scenes in the ways that I perceive them has been a creative outlet I didn’t know I needed.
As a photographer, I get the amazing privilege of being able to freeze time. However, I often only capture one moment at a time, and I have come to realize that one subject and one fleeting moment doesn’t cover how my brain is constantly overanalyzing, overthinking, and processing the scenes around me. This project has allowed me the freedom to push the limits on what makes sense, because more often than not, the ways that I see the world confuse even me. Finding a way to express my “inner world” by piecing together scenes around me through my camera has been incredibly cathartic for me.
Ultimately, my intention has been and will continue to be to express myself in ways that fit who I am in a given moment; in order to allow my audience a glimpse of the inner workings of my brain. These layered frames have allowed me to acknowledge my thoughts, memories, and observations, and I invite viewers to experience how I see the world…
All at Once.
