the paper airplane project
As those who follow my flickr page regularly have probably noticed, i recently did a school project involving a large number of paper airplanes. Months ago the idea of an empty trashcan surrounded by a mountain of paper planes popped into my head, and kept resurfacing until i just decided to use the idea for a “finished work” i had to turn in at the end of a 4-week course at school (im on my final year studing visual arts at Icelands Academy of the Arts)
Before thinking much about how i’d shoot the final outcome, i set about creating the planes, which turned out to be far more time consuming and boring than i somehow imagined it would be. After a week or so of spending an hour here and an hour there folding paper, i started feeling the whole thing was rather pointless if not downright silly. I decided to photograph the work process, and got a surprisingly good image from that, which at least made the trouble seem a little bit more worthwhile.
With a little more than a week to go before turning in, i still didn’t really know where or how i was going to photograph all these planes, and began losing interest in the project. I got a vague idea that it might be cool to get a real office to use as a “set” , but had no idea where i’d find an office.
At the dinner table one evening, i asked my parents if they had any bright ideas, and my dad suggests “why not borrow the office of the Minister of Education . It’s a school project and all.. ” My mom agrees that this is a neat idea, and i look at both of them like they’ve lost their minds, and say “right.. like she’s gonna just loan me her office to fill up with paper planes” and then my older son says “i dare you mom.. you’re not chicken are you?” and that did it.
I sent a letter describing the project to the Ministry of Education, and then patiently waited to get a “no, that’s not possible” response in return. After more than a day with no reply i started feeling like a downright fool, but then i actually got a call , from the minsters secretary, wanting more details about the project, and she says they’re considering my request. That was on a thursday. On monday morning, (4 days before i had to turn in the finished project), I still hadn’t gotten any response so i called just to make sure i’d have to figure out a plan B, but instead i was told that i was welcome to use the office that day.
My friend Sara came along to help, and we got these really weird looks from the lady working in the reception, had to assure her that we did indeed have permission to be there ( i don’t blame her really , we had 3 large bags, one of them an ugly black trashbag, filled with paper airplanes, two camera bags and a tripod, and i was dressed like a really fake looking “businesswoman” )
Anyway, i shot both film (slides film which i cross-processed) and digital, the digital version somehow came out better for computer screen viewing, but what i turned in was a print from one of the negatives, which im going to post here for comparison.
As you can see, this is not just a simple scan of the negative, however, i’m not going to disclose, for now , how i got that weird look to it. Feel free to guess, and i might explain it in a comment below. (It looks a lot better printed large and framed, you’ll just have to take my word for it)
Why there’s a disembodied head perching on the corner of the desk is a whole other story, which i’ll explain in a later post, a week or so from now.
“mom.. you’re not chicken are you?”
Awesome. This whole scenario/story was great Rebekka. Thanks for sharing!
Film version is definitely cool. Aren’t you glad you asked your parents? I never would’ve thought to do what he suggested (if was in your situation).