JPG: Stories: The Project: eyes } world { hands [revised version]

The Project

eyes } world { hands [revised version]

The transcendental eye (364 people, one eye!)

By Dirk HR Spennemann

10 Dec 2008

Look into a person's eye and you'll see yourself. Their eyes are like mirrors, reflecting the world around you. The aim of the eyes } world { hands project 2008 was to document these eyes that see and reflect the world around me and the hands that shape it.

Each day of 2008 I photographed the right eye and the hand(s) of a person around me, be they friends, colleagues or strangers. The images were taken whereever I was on that day. While the majority of images are taken I and around Albury, where I live and work, some of my work took me to number of countries and locations, ranging from wintery Alaska to the tropical Pacific and the dry and hot central Australia.

The range of professions represented in these photographs is vast. While reflective of the interpersonal contact of an individual throughout a year, it encompasses all walks of life, from A (academic) to Z (zoo photographer), from high (flight attendant) to low (diving consultant), from high-tech (IT specialist) to low-tech (happy camper), from past (archaeologist) to future (futurist).

Ambient light (natural or indoors) was used throughout and the majority of the images was taken with my standard set up, a Nikon D80 (since July a D300), with a 18-200VR, thus limiting macro-like close-up options.

All images have a square format as this allows me to create a monthly mosaic posters and a number of other meta products. The main product are the monthly eye superimpositions, where I create an average eye of the month. The final image was a superimposition of all eyes shot during the year. It has a soft, sensuous quality and represents, in effect, the global eye.

The project has been challenging but also rewarding, as one meets a wide range of people from all walks of life.

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