My montage project depicts my boyfriend’s
hometown of Greencastle, Pennsylvania throughout the seasons, because every
time I visit, I am confronted by an entirely new landscape. (I am just your average Floridian
unaccustomed to seasons that visually impact the landscape.) This winter, I was introduced to snowman
building, and I took it upon myself to document the snowman’s lifespan. While the snowman is a playful sentiment to
man’s interaction with nature, it also symbolizes the larger concept of the
relentless progression of time. The
viewer can watch the snowman literally melt into a new, warmer season. The colors used throughout the montage are
symbolic of their representative season.
Winter, characterized as being barren and still while nature sleeps, is
represented with a neutral color scheme that appears black and white at first
glance, were it not for the subtle browns of the trees and bricks. The only punch of color is a cardinal on a
snow-flecked tree, foreshadowing the vibrant color scheme of the upcoming
seasons. The photographs from this spring
and summer contain saturated greens, reds, and yellows to symbolize nature’s
rebirth. A decaying rust-orange leaf
represents autumn, as the cycle gears for winter once more. My montage can be played on loop and still be
understood, perhaps no one could identify the beginning or the end after a
while, to imitate the never-ending cycle of the seasons. The snowman reminds us that we are temporary,
and nature will run its course without pause.
The birds that appear throughout the winter scene seem to be watching
over us, friendly and all knowing. Yet,
they disappear with the snowman, taking the privilege of time with their joyful
spirits, to mirror how we often feel nostalgic when reflecting on the past. While I was piecing these images together, my
mind kept wandering to a line in a Robert Frost poem: “So dawn goes down to
day, Nothing gold can stay.”
Rough sketches and mental notes... and my really nonphotogenic carpet
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