For this assignment, we had to choose a “bad” photo. I made something that seemed unfocused or just not quite right, and turned it into something more intentional. I picked a photo of a zooming motion-blurred hallway. At first glance, it’s nothing too special. The image is blurry and there’s no clear subject to focus on. But that’s kind of why it works. Hallways are the spaces we pass through without really seeing. In that way, they’re just as much a part of everyday life as anything else. You walk through them on your way to the kitchen, the bathroom, the bedroom. Sometimes you stop there without knowing why. You were in your bedroom and remembered you had to do something real quick. You proceed to step out into the hallway just to then stop and pause. Huh? What was I doing again?
After I added the vintage effect, the hallway took on a sort of dazed quality. The colors got warmer but not in a comforting way… more like the way things look when you’ve been staring at them too long without blinking. I kept the text simple: “the mess can wait. healing can’t be rushed.” It’s not meant to be dramatic, just something a person might think to themselves as they pause without knowing why. The hallway doesn’t really seem to lead to anywhere, as it just exists, stretched and blurred like your brain when you’re overloaded and trying to remember what you got up for in the first place. That blur wasn’t planned, but it started to feel intentional the longer I looked at it.
I didn’t think much about it at first as it just looked like a mistake. But over time, it started to feel like the blur was doing something on purpose. It softened the hallway, made it feel less like a place and more like a feeling. I found this article that talks about how blur in photography can symbolize uncertainty, memory, or even emotional weight. That made me think differently about what I’d captured and the significance of blur if I had taken a motion-blurred image for my photo blitz. Maybe the blur isn’t just visual noise; it can be part of the image that makes it feel real, like a moment you’re trying to hold onto, even as it slips away. The blur could be symbolism for forgetfulness. That’s what I like about this assignment as it gave me an opportunity to let imperfections speak.
I think that’s what makes the photo work, even if it’s technically a bad one. It doesn’t say anything directly, but it sort of captures the blur of being in motion all the time: mentally, physically, and how sometimes you just stop in the middle of it, blank. And maybe that pause is where things quietly start to heal. Not because you figured it all out, but because you allowed yourself a second to stand still. No answers, just space.
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