i tie my boots up tight and i head straight to bed
For my final project, I documented daily life at the freshman smoker’s area. It is a family environment for students first away from home. At any time of day or night, you can walk outside and see people hanging out, playing music, eating, and smoking.
Through my photos, I conveyed the closeness of the people I have come to know well due to my frequenting the area. Since it is usually the same group of people spending time out there, a bond has formed over the course of the year that is comparable to that of a family.
Since I am a member of this close-knit community, my process was very simple. I brought a camera out with me, sat for a few hours, and listened to people talking. Since they saw that I had a camera, taking photos was very easy. No one changed their behavior at all or commented on the fact that I was taking their picture. Because of this, the photos were as candid as they could be, documenting the subjects to the truest of their character. Some people even waited until I was done photographing to ask if they could have some prints of their friends.
Through this photo series, I am conveying the sense of community that has been established as a result of a shared space. I chose color photography for this assignment because I wanted to have the truest documentation possible of the liveliness and activity that happens at the smoker’s pit.
