This work focuses on two main themes, firstly, the unseen, which means simply things the camera cannot photograph, such as the psychological states, emotions, feelings. Secondly, the text that accompanies each image shows that the unseen can be interpreted in many different ways by different people. These images have been photographed within walking distance of my home during a period when the Covid 19 virus reached pandemic levels and everyone in England was advised to stay at home and only travel if absolutely necessary. This was a difficult time for many people, including myself, so I chose grey days to make my work because to me this portrays a sombre mood.

Green, brown and grey colour theme is evident in all images, as well as nature. People are almost absent in the work, another representation of the lockdown enforcement period where isolation and distancing was encouraged. Each image has strong shapes and form such as image 1 where the tunnel leads the eye to the light at the end, a very literal interpretation can be made and then interpreted into feelings of needing to stay positive during the Covid 19 lockdown period.

The images were captured within the “Square Mile” of my home while out on daily exercise walks during the Covid 19 Lockdown period. It was during these walks that I would often reflect on my feelings and thoughts around this unprecedented time we all found ourselves in. I would see these emotions represented in what some would describe as banal natural surroundings. Each image represents a personal reaction to an emotion or psychological state I felt during what was a difficult and uncertain time for me. My work was inspired by the work of Eugene Smith which I researched and this can be found here

The emotions or psychological states which I personally think are revealed (the unseen) in this body of work are : hope, journey, strength, resilience, growth and restriction.

The wording that accompanies the images gives a “third effect” (John A Walker – Context as a determinant of Photographic Meaning), this contextualization of the image now shows that my reaction to what I see in nature is not necessarily the same as someone else, or simply “everyone is different”. For example, image 5 in my work has been interpreted as “social distancing” by someone else, I saw it as “growth”, which shows that people interpret the unseen in images in different ways. This concept is referred to as the “mental context” or what Ernst Gombrich calls “the beholder’s share” which means that people have differnt relations to the same image according to the different places they occupy in society, such as gender, race, nationality, class, age, education ( (John A Walker – Context as a determinant of Photographic Meaning),

Shallow depth of field has been used in images 4 and 5 to isolate the subject, I kept the background simple and chose the grey and brown colours to support the subject rather than compete.

Image 1 composition was important, the entrance to the tunnel needed to be at the edges of the frame so it gives the impression that there is nowhere to go but through the tunnel. I chose a tunnel that is not particularly attractive because this depicts lockdown life. Lockdown life is becoming a metaphor which people now relate to, which we never did, nether had to before 23rd March 2020.

Image 3 shows the rough texture of the tree from a close up, looking upwards perspective, so composition was important here and up close shows the age of the tree in the bark clearly.

Image 6 shows bears in the window, this was used as a universal symbol across the globe during the lockdown restriction period, it was a symbol of hope similar to the rainbow displayed in homes during this period. These bears to me feel like a typical representation of being restricted and locked in the home.

Lastly image 3 was a common sight for me as I walked near my home during covid and it constantly made me think of the unknown times ahead. I chose an image without blue sky for visual reasons but also for what a blue sky represents, which is often happiness. I composed the people in the frame as distant and with no connection to me to represent self isolation and lack of human contact during this time.