figure 1.

To start off, I took these images over the course of two days. One of the days was during sunset in downtown Calgary, and the second took place in Canmore, AB during a hike.

The purpose of taking these pictures was to document my personal experience based on my perception and the aesthetics of love. Love can take on many forms-- which I came to realize quickly through capturing these images. This does not necessarily mean that I took pictures of couples in love, as we simply cannot assume that each person is attracted to the other in that way. However, I wanted to study how human connection is present everywhere in our daily lives, and how capturing it through the lens affects and involves experiencing/witnessing it in real life.

The main argument introduced here is this: through the use of cameras and technology, we continue to "spectacularize" the idea of "true love," by attempting to feel emotion via human connection-- whether it be through watching/fantasizing about the idea of love through technology or endeavoring to experience it first-hand.

figure 1: picture 1 (Calgary, AB)

In taking this picture, I aimed to capture the moon, the city buildings, and the rolling hills as a set-up and background for the two people who were walking up the path. By taking the picture and witnessing the two hold hands, I truly felt as if I were watching a Hallmark movie. It made me feel nostalgic in a way that many sunsets and summer nights seem to do. From the looks of it, they appeared to be young, and I wondered: is this your first significant other? Is this your first love? Are you two even together?

The reflection on the buildings in the picture and the careless nature of the two people holding hands and smiling combined, pointed to the idea of love-- the excitement you feel when you connect physically with another body, when the environment that surrounds you (the green trees, the orange hues) is just right, where everything uplifts your spirits.

There were so many possible conclusions to be made, but my main purpose here was to begin telling a story of how love ages (starting here with how young the two seemed to look), how it changes-- and what this love makes us feel, as we examined in class with Elkins and Marks.

figure 1: video 1 (Calgary, AB)

When I first took the picture of the two people, I immediately wondered, how would this look in a movie? How would it look if I videoed them instead, and how would this change/enhance the stirring of emotions in viewers?

Ultimately, I ended up using a TikTok sound overlayed with the video, and I found that it, in fact, did stir my emotions more. The spectacle became even bigger; I felt as if I almost wanted to be one of those two humans. I wanted to feel what it was like to be embraced, to feel human touch in such an affectionate way.

I began questioning this longing however because I assumed that they were touching in an affectionate way from the signs and the associations we have concerning physical touch and two humans of opposite genders. Perhaps they were fighting-- we will never know. I think the background in this video plays a huge part in my fantasizing about love and human connection.

Hearing my own laugh (in video 1) brought me back to the reality of what was happening in that video because I remember experiencing not only that longing, but a sense of happiness for the two people that I was watching. Of feeling content with the friends that I was with.