Project 52: Print
Beautiful Beasties is an international assocation for proffesional pet photographers. Within this network there is a creative project called 'Project 52' and for 52 weeks a theme is selected and each photographer photographs their interpretation for the theme. This weeks theme is 'Print'. This theme is about how we have presented the finish products of photshoots of our own pets.
Printing photos provides a visualisation and keepsake of memories rather than just having them in a file on our computer, but printing photos of our pets may also have health benefits. Studies have been conducted by Stoeckel, Palley, Gollub, Niemi & Evins (2014) on the brain response of people looking at images of their pets. Looking at images of your pets activate areas of the brain involved in reward and emotion that is also activated when people looking at images of their children. The study participants also reported excitement and pleasant emotions when looking at the images.
I have just oved into my new house and my room wouldn't be complete without some photos, I haven't even been in my new house for a week yet, so I dont have any hanging photos yet. But here's one of my photos I placed in my intial set up when I unpacked.
I've decided to put the photo on my desk as a relaxation tool. Normally my desk is an area which can become stressful when I have assignments or paperwork so I'm going to try making it more inviting this year. On my desk there is the computer screen, a peace lily, a flower from my partner, a photo of my old dog and cat and a view out the window. There's not much more you can add to a desk to make it more inviting and relaxing.
With Valentines Day this weekend I decided to make my own little project and create a Valentines Card for my partner. Here is a photo of his desk 2 hours from my house, with his matching Peace Lilly, carvings from the village we travel to, my flowers for valentines day and the card I gave him.
The second image is taken by a camera phone and is unfortunately a lower resolution.
The card reads 'i know you want to get me a puppy for Valentines but can't, so here's a photo for you instead. Love you lots xx'. The card demonstrates how we can use photos to evoke emotions or share ideas with gift cards or announcements. I would love to see how people have used photos of their pets to announce something to friends and family.
To check out different ideas of photo presentation from around the world, click on the links. Next up is Cincinnati pet photographer, Suzi Pix Photography.
REFERENCES
Luke E. Stoeckel, Lori S. Palley, Randy L. Gollub, Steven M. Niemi, Anne Eden Evins. Patterns of Brain Activation when Mothers View Their Own Child and Dog: An fMRI Study. PLOS ONE, 2014; 9 (10): e107205 DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0107205 - See more at: http://thinkinc.org.au/puppy-love-mothers-brains-show-similar-responses-to-images-of-their-children-and-dogs/#sthash.eIQFVHV0.dpuf
