Observations

Many women in their twenties seem mysteriously cold and bold. I have become interested in these personal qualities of theirs after I have gotten older. My little desire to peep into their lives and unravel their mystery inspired me to work on this project. I began looking for models whom would cooperate with my project through online bulletin board system and introduction by acquaintances. Women who were interested in participating sent me emails with their age, height and portraits. I met up with these potential participants and found them unexpectedly calm and incautious - they told me a lot about their work and family. They have different occupations - company employee, teacher, and art student for example. They seemed to have a strong determination but I also had an apprehension that they indeed didn’t know much. Meeting them in person however, did not change the impression I had of them from the beginning. I explained the purpose of this project to the 7 participants and passed them a trail camera that is designed to monitor animals. The camera does not need any form of operation - it automatically shoots pictures when it detects any moving objects without emitting any sound or light. Pictures taken cannot be viewed with the camera. The models moved around in their rooms with the presence of the camera and no photographer is present. They occasionally posed for the camera in the dark and at other times their daily lives were recorded. They did not know when the shutter is down and what kind of pictures were being taken - even when they have grown tired of being shot, the camera kept on shooting. When the camera was returned to me, they were more curious about the pictures than I was, as if they were peeping into others’ lives. I entrusted them with the whole photographing process. I wanted to exclude the photographer's intentions, techniques, and the mutual relationship between the photographer and the subject that would be present in the pictures. What is left is the subject’s self-consciousness and body that are not targeted to be seen by any specific person. This observation brought me some understanding: they are stuck in between the sublimity of their youth and the secular vanity, while the beauty of melancholy inside them disappears magically in time.