This is actually a piece of gum that I found stuck to the concrete outside the Mary Graydon Center. As you can see, I really took the Photo Index Book’s suggestion of “ugly is beautiful” to heart. I though that this would be a great subject for “extreme close up” because no one really ever takes a close look at gross litter on the ground, especially when it’s been in someone’s mouth.
So I got the word “repulsion” and I immediately started taking pictures of trash, cigarette butts, chewed up gum– basically gross things. I even went outside looking under rocks for worms and I wondered why I couldn’t find any. Then I realized, oh yeah, it’s effing winter.
So then I decided to look my word up. According to Merriam-Webster online dictionary, repulsion is the action of repulsing : the state of being repulsed, the action of repelling : the force with which bodies, particles, or like forces repel one another, a feeling of aversion : repugnance. That made me think about repulsion less in terms of “ew gross” and more in terms of something that makes one jump back.
Then while I was making grilled cheese, I saw a bug crawling around in my kitchen. I ran to grab my camera, and I spent the next half hour taking pictures of the bug. Then I realized I had completely burnt my grilled cheese and almost set my house on fire.
Anywho,
Seeing the image of a bug can be slightly repulsive, but seeing it all up close and blown up like that starltes me every time I see the picture, and I’m the one who took it! I also think there’s something about the positioning of the bug facing down– I tried flipping the image around different ways, but they didn’t have the same effect as this where the bug looks like it’s coming down on you.
Judy Sellner 