For this project, I initially found it challenging to establish a concept that was open enough to allow experimentation and development, yet focused enough to remain cohesive. I conducted an experimental photoshoot to see what stood out to me, what worked with the brief, and what I felt could be developed. After reviewing the photoshoot, I noticed that themes of absence were naturally coming through in my images. This led me to develop absence as a central theme of my project, allowing the work to evolve organically from the photoshoot itself.

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For this project, I wanted to actively challenge my instincts and work against my usual approaches in photography. Carrying out an initial exploratory shoot allowed me to experiment beyond what I would typically choose to photograph, moving away from preconceived ideas of what I "should" be documenting. Instead, this process encouraged me to respond more intuitively to what was present at the time, observing what worked visually and conceptually without forcing a narrative. This shift in approach allowed unexpected themes to emerge that I wouldn't usually think of, and informed the direction of my future work.

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This project explores the idea of absence and how meaning in photography is constructed through perception rather than objective truth. Absence is not presented as emptiness, but as evidence of something that once existed. Without traces of presence, absence would simply be nothing - therefore, this body of work focuses on what remains after a person, action, or moment has passed.

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I intend to experiment with both physical absence, such as empty spaces, and sensory absence, where something feels missing despite the image being complete. Through this, I want the work to question whether absence exists because no one is there, or because someone once was. The spaces and remnants become sites of interpretation rather than documentation.

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Photography is not an objective medium and therefore, I want the work to acknowledge that seeing is not the same as knowing, and that the viewers bring their own experiences, assumptions, and emotions to an image. Meaning therefore shifts depending on the individual, positioning the viewer as the storyteller rather than a passive observer.

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Visual techniques such as negative space, light, shadow, focus/blur, double exposure, and depth of field are elements I intend to experiment with to suggest presence without directly showing it, or without showing it in complete clarity and detail. Negative space to create a lack of balance and closure, reinforcing the absence of answers. Double exposure and low opacity imagery to reference the relationship between 'then' and 'now',  allowing both presence and absence to coexist in a single frame.

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Time also plays a crucial role in this project, as the intended imagery often depicts the aftermath of an event rather than the event itself. By focusing on traces that are temporary or fading, the work highlights how absence is shaped by time and memory, rather than by what is immediately visible.

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Ultimately, this project is centered around inviting viewers to question what they are seeing and why they interpret it in a particular way. Rather than offering fixed narratives, the work will encourage uncertainty and personal interpretation, demonstrating that absence can be more informative than presence, and that photography constructs meaning as much as it records it.