I chose to photograph a clear container with compartments that slide open and store materials. This object was on my desk holding clothespins and scraps of paper, and I decided that it would be interesting to put other small objects inside the compartments and photograph it in different situations. As I began taking photos, I noticed the unique way light reflected off of the layers of clear plastic and how, in combination with the materials, it distorted the light coming through the plastic, and added dimension to each photograph.

In the first four photos, I put small mementos and meaningful trinkets in each compartment and hung it from a tree to get different perspectives as it rotated and reflected the sun. I experimented with putting LED lights inside and found the reflections and the light that traveled through the container very fascinating. I attempted to display both the functional qualities of the object as well as its adaptable physical qualities. The transparency of the plastic and the way it distorts the objects behind or inside it made it easy to place on a shelf full of color or a wooden framework and focus on the distortion or refraction of reality the plastic portrayed.

I liked that this container was both versatile and rigid in structure, but also that it reminded me of a capsule or a looking glass in which the layers of its contents define it and give it meaning. I felt that these ten photographs embodied the reasons why I chose the object, and also captured a tendency I have to create art that is related to preserving memories and building onto the layers of the past that make up our existence.