Week 2 (tri2) - Beyond Representation & Experimental Imaging

We began today looking at our soundscapes from last week, here's some of the notes I got back...

Representation and Beyond Representation

At this point of the lecture we sat down and discussed our understand of what representation is and how it differs to beyond representation. Well, representation refers to how something is depicted or symbolised, often in art, media, or language, reflecting ideas, identities, or concepts. It's the way we portray and interpret reality or experience.

Beyond representation goes further, exploring experiences or concepts that cannot be fully captured or expressed through traditional representation. It challenges the limitations of language, imagery, and symbols, focusing on the unknown or ineffable aspects of existence. It involves attempting to convey the inexpressible, embracing ambiguity or complexity that eludes simple depiction.

Abstract Imagery

Our task today was to go around and capture some photographs that we can later on experiment with in post production. The goal was to create some thing abstract, meaningful, something relating to our soundscape from last week. I have largely focused on sharp angles, edges, symmetry.

Visualizing a Soundscape Through Architecture and Shadow

I began with something deceptively simple - an upward glance at the corner of a building, caught between two red brick walls on a grey day. I was drawn to the symmetry of the architecture, that almost blade like point where the building meets the sky. There was a kind of tension in it, something quiet and eerie. It reminded me of sound. Of echo. Of space.

I knew I wanted to transform it - not just as a visual piece, but as a companion to a soundscape I had been working on. The audio features distant, ominous dogs barking, echoing through some indeterminate space. Not aggressive, exactly, but unsettling. Like something is coming, just out of sight. I wanted the image to evoke the same sensation: tension, distance, the suggestion of something not quite visible but very present.

I started in Photoshop, using the original photo of the building as a base. First, I isolated the central triangle - the structure was too bold to ignore. I carefully cut it out, using the Pen Tool to trace the edges and create a clean mask. From there, I duplicated and mirrored the shape to create a more stylised, symmetrical form. With a bit of perspective warp, the building took on a surreal, infinite feel, almost like it was reaching or pointing toward something beyond the image.

Next, I played with contrast and gradient. I wanted the space above the building to feel like it was fading into fog - or perhaps pulling something out of it. A radial gradient, cantered at the peak, allowed me to control the light and guide the viewer’s eye. I added noise and a bit of texture to the gradient to avoid the flatness that digital compositions can sometimes fall into. I wanted grain, atmosphere, that analog unease.

But the most important layer was the hidden one - the "dog". I brought in a second image - a howling werewolf straight out of a moody fantasy forest. It’s a known internet picture that I thought would be a silly but also quite fitting addition to my photograph.

So I desaturated it, dropped it behind the gradient, and blended it using a mix of Soft Light and Blur. The result is subtle but it’s there, looming in the noise, almost like a figure burned into old film. A memory of something wild, distant, and unnameable.

In the end I ended up creating two versions - normal and inverted. I love the heavenly atmosphere the inverted image creates and it also gave me an interested idea for my soundscape, making the video into a "flasher". My lecturer encouraged me to look into some flasher videos.

Reflection

The final image feels like a moment between worlds: structure and chaos, silence and noise, past and presence. The werewolf isn’t just a monster here, it’s a shadow of something instinctive, something howling from a distance we can’t quite measure. The building becomes more than a building, it’s a gate, or a blade, or maybe just a place where the real and unreal meet.

This piece lives best alongside the sound it was made for. The barking dogs in the distance aren’t just auditory - they’re architectural. They're hiding in the walls, in the fog, in the noise between lines. And maybe, if you stare long enough, you’ll see them too.

Experimental Video

Ultimately, I have ended up scrapping the flasher idea. I spent quite a while experimenting in Premiere, trying to find the right rhythm, the right kind of flicker. But no matter how many iterations I went through, it just wasn’t working. The calm, spacious nature of the soundscape clashed with the frantic pace of the flashers. It felt conflicted, like the two pieces speaking entirely different languages.

So I let it go. I stripped everything back and settled on something simple - just the still image as a cover. And in doing so, something clicked. The quietness of the image paired with the distant, echoing sound found a kind of harmony. They complemented each other not through motion, but through stillness. In the end, I’m glad I let the work lead me rather than force it into something it didn’t want to be. The soundscape and the image now sit together comfortably, just like I have envisioned.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Xg-_ugZ6EY