Tibeau Ferguson
CR #1

My essential question is “How can I depict brutalism through photography?” There are many things I don’t know about brutalism, which I am finding out through this project. My project has changed throughout the past couple weeks, and for the better. For example, my original idea was that I would be taking the train to Boston, New Haven, and Washington, D.C. Now I am just focusing on brutalism in New York City. Brutalism is something I have always wanted to focus on, and this is the perfect time for me to do this research on it. Since brutalism is such a new topic for me, I have to do a lot of research related to brutalism that I have not done. All of the websites I have visited and books I have read have given me a lot. I am interested in researching deeper into the topic and am motivated to go take more photos of these buildings and make them unique.
Uniqueness is very important to take good photos. Especially with brutalism, repetitiveness in photos, and basic boring photos does not work well. One main aspect I want to focus on is being unique and being personal. Even though taking photos of buildings that don’t change is challenging, these brutalist buildings are unique. This has led me to believe that my essential question is perfect for what I want to do with this project.
Some other areas that I would like to explore that I don’t think are possible are the interiors of these brutalist buildings. Some of the interiors are very weird and almost spooky to look at, even though a photograph. Due to COVID-19, I will not be allowed inside random buildings, even just to take photos. Although this is disappointing, I still have a lot of buildings I am photographing, and some I have not photographed.
Overall, I think that even though there might be a lot I don’t necessarily know about the topic, I believe that I can still have a very impressive functioning final piece. We could know very little about going into a project, just because we wanted to learn more. I don’t think that knowing everything is the key to a good project. I think that the key to a good project is in the effort put into executing the project.