First off, let me share my photos:
Fire:
Literal:
Symbolic:
Air:
Literal:
Symbolic:
Earth:
Literal:
Symbolic:
Water:
Literal:
Symbolic:
Some of these were harder to find than others, and for two I actually had to go back into the archive of pictures I’d previously taken. These were Fire Literal and Earth Literal. Fire Literal is the image of a sunset I took during the Fall near Stockton, New Jersey, and Earth Literal is a cute, little slug friend I found back in Summer.
For Fire Symbolic, I turned to my own physical wunderkammer to photograph a WW2 grenade. Don’t worry! Even though the pin is there, the part in the middle that actually ignites has been removed, so it’s completely harmless. To the left of the grenade is a piece of Trinitite, sand from the Nevada desert that was melted into a grainy, glass-like rock during atomic bomb tests. It is also harmless; the amount of radiation given off by small pieces of Trinitite is negligible. The can behind the grenade is a (still-sealed) can of drinking water from a 1950s bomb shelter. To the left of that is a WW2-era war ration booklet, and next to that is a lantern used by political activists of yesteryear. Sorry, I know not all of these are symbolic of fire, but I just couldn’t resist sharing anyway (my ‘kammer is my pride and joy).
Air Literal and Water Literal were both taken on the Kean University campus. Air Literal is steam rising from a grate, and Water Literal is the stream that runs through Main Campus by the Center for Academic Success.
Air Symbolic is a pen sketch that I quickly digitally painted over. It’s an imaginary creature I made up called a Miasmid. I imagine that Miasmids are corrupted Air Elementals.
Earth Symbolic is a picture I took in the Stroud Mall in Pennsylvania. Yes, that is a mall kiosk for a cemetery. I guess nothing completes a shopping experience like shopping for one’s own burial plot… I felt this cemetery kiosk embodied Earth because of the whole “memento mori” aspect. Shopping malls are often created with a purpose to make shoppers forget about the outside world, like little consumerist microcosms. This kiosk reminds shoppers, whether intentionally or not, that no matter how much humanity blocks out or sterilizes the world, we’ll all one day return to the Earth in one way or another.
Water Symbolic is a photograph of a painting of the Jersey Shore (Holy Baudrillard, Batman!) This particular painting hangs in the back office area of the Delaware Valley Family Health Center, where my late mother worked. When she passed, her coworkers got the painting to memorialize her because she loved the Jersey Shore so much.
This assignment was definitely unlike anything I expected, but it was fun. For some elements, I had a few pictures to choose from. For example, I was tempted to use a candle flame for Fire Literal, a sketch of another elemental monster for Earth Symbolic, and a picture of a coffee cup for Fire Symbolic. I decided against the candle flame because I just thought the sunset was more visually appealing; I decided against the sketch because a cemetery mall kiosk was too bizarre not to share, and I decided against the coffee cup because I wanted to share some of the contents of my wunderkammer. Yes, #selfindulgence again on that one.
February 1, 2017 at 3:36 am
That steam grate on campus has been pretty effusive lately, no? Good one for the literal.
The grenade puts me on edge, even with your reassurance that it has been deactivated. The war paraphanelia in your curiosity cabinet is intriguing, and a perfect representation of fire interpreted.
I paused at the mall kiosk. And then I saw the vender sign, I thought, could that be? And then I read on and you confirmed that reality to my horror. Imagining shopping at the mall and swinging by to that kiosk to square away a plot in the ground for your “…too sullied flesh”. Talk about a jarring truth serum? Consumerist microcosm indeed.
Everyone of your “#selfindulgent” choices was a perfect spark of thought :). Writerly sparks….
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February 1, 2017 at 10:34 pm
Yeah, that steam grate makes me wonder what’s bubbling underneath it. Maybe Kean has its own underground society of alligator men… or maybe our campus plumbing just needs to be examined. Or both?
That kiosk was one of the most bizarre things I’ve seen in a mall, and I knew people would never believe me if I didn’t take a picture. It also emphasizes the idea of the “dying mall” that I love so much.
I’m glad you liked my photos and the sample of contents in my ‘kammer.
Thanks for commenting!
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February 1, 2017 at 6:23 am
Nice choices! Quirky and intriguing!
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February 1, 2017 at 10:30 pm
Thank you very much! =)
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February 1, 2017 at 10:39 pm
I can tell each of the photos really meant something to you. You weren’t just looking for the elements you were actually telling a story. Maybe one day, it will turn into a bigger story.
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February 1, 2017 at 10:43 pm
Thank you so much! Part of the reason I love to collect things, even if it’s just photos, is to tell their stories.
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February 2, 2017 at 5:47 am
Everybody here took the good comments 😉 Seriously, I am very pleased and impressed with your imagination here, to skip the easier one to get it done versus the morning meaningful choices (like the sunset and the mall).
I am rather intrigued by the WWII memorabilia, but will wait for that story, as well as man/bomb made rocks. Glass is a fascinating material, because it is molten material cooled so quickly that it did not have time to form normal, orderly, crysyalline structure. Technically it’s has liquid properties (hence the old colonial windows that blob out at the bottom).
Sorry, my Geology hat slipped in.
Great work
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February 2, 2017 at 7:28 pm
Don’t be sorry! I like learning more about that kind of stuff. I have a number of rocks, minerals, and fossils in my collection, so I’ll be sure to include them if they fit other prompts.
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