"Secrets" Photobook.

In my Photobooks and Installations class, one of the assignments we had was to create a book that dealt with the idea of secrets. Before I heard that we needed this requirement, I was already planning to do something based around this abandoned mental institution/village ('Letchworth Village') down by where I live in Orange county. So after thinking about secrets and the institution, I came up with the perfect idea..abandonment and the secrets it could hold. Here is this large facility where 1000s of people were held with disabilities such as epilepsy and mental retardation, what kind of stories and secrets happened here that are forever locked away within the walls. I went and took various shots from within the facility...both exterior and interior shots. After looking at all the photos I had collected, I decided to create a narrative to make the book that much better. I told the story of a former patient gone mad and went on to do the unthinkable at the facility. I went even further and took the story and created a police "case file" based on the incident. With the help of a few friends, my idea and story came to life.

Here are the images of the project:

(These photos are actual photos from the facility I used to make the story a bit more "real.")

(There are 13 photos that went through similar a "wear/tear" technique to make them look old/destroyed.)

I took every piece of paper and photo I used and soaked them in coffee to give them a damaged, destroyed and antique look. The way them came out was EXACTLY how I planned it to look.

*A second, follow up case file is going to be done for my final project-Photos to come*

This would make for a great, long term lesson plan. It would allow the students who do it to create a narrative from and area or subject that interests them. The project has students moving away from a traditional "2D"idea of writing and creating a story and instead has them creating a tangible, 3D piece. 

Something like this is also very beneficial for those who might want to go into set designing because with this piece, it shows they can create an interesting prop that they have personally created.