Backyard View...

            My final project is titled Backyard View. The series of photographs depicts the yards and surrounding areas of people’s homes. Most of the photos focus on the upkeep (or lack of) of back yards and the objects that occupy them. The concept first came to me when I was riding the train into the city. Passing through local towns in surrounding urban and suburban areas, most of the view from the train window is the backs of homes. Most of the homes had yards with cluttered corners and piled spots, some looking like an attempt at organizing. Most of the time yards hold a collection of random objects. It was interesting to me at first when I imagined these cluttered yards as the fronts of the houses. It occurred to me how people really have no concept of how their yards look from a farther outside perspective. I assume in their minds, their yard is private and people only see it when they want it shown, and no one would notice from the street. Or maybe people just don’t realize how cluttered or unkempt their yard might look because they see it all the time. When you’re always in or around something it is hard to notice the changes over time. Looking at these yards from an unusual angle or perspective made it all stand out so clearly. Sometimes that new perspective can be a photograph. Seeing something in a photograph can reveal more than your eyes notice, or reveal something you may have not seen with your own eyes but lets you relate to the content. For example, my own back yard is represented in this series and not until I took photographs of it, did I notice that my home fits into that same category of strange clutter. I guess I initially found the subject matter interesting enough to capture because I can relate in some ways to these homes. And the ones I can’t relate to, I find intriguing and am curious about the owners after seeing the unusual glimpse into their lives.