I am interested in places and the different things that happen within them through time. I’m especially interested in parks because I want to understand why people go to them and what they are doing in them. As people living in 2024, we can get pretty much everything we need indoors, in controlled environments. So why do people outside? What do they do there? And what about the other forms of life in those spaces? Do we interact with other species outside? How so? How do people and animals move through the same space?
Faced with these questions and this typology capture assignment, I want capture a single place from a single view over a period of several days. The place I would like to do this is on a Schenley Park trail. The stretch of the trail that I would like to focus on has a stone bench which has called my attention before. Once I saw that someone had left a laptop on the bench. The next day, the laptop was gone and a note was in its place. I was running past it and didn’t stop to look at the note. I’ve been wondering about that bench and the things that happen around it since then. So, this spot is my intended subject. I am only beginning to think about the set up of my capture system. I’ve outlined some thoughts (with images) below.
What tools do I need?
How will I set up the capturing system?
option 1: mount camera to stake spike tripod?
option 2: tie camera to nearby tree
How might I assemble my recordings? I’m interested in the idea of different things happening in the same place through time. Since I read Watchmen as a teenager, I’ve been haunted by the idea that “things have their shape in time, not space alone. Some marble blocks have statues within them, embedded in their future.”
One of my favorite examples of illustrating a place through time and the life and actions within it comes from Richard McGuire’s Here, a book I think about often.
I wonder if I could juxtapose videoclips in a similar way to show this space through time. I wonder what events I might capture and how I could tell their stories.
How could I make my capture plan and system more interesting?
