The eye expects to see colour and the idea of playing with its absence, or creating unexpected Flat White objects became interesting to me and this is what I chose to pursue for my second experiment. I started by brainstorming a number of scenarios in which I could conceal colour from objects that would normally have colour.
First off, I decided that I would like to experiment in both natural and urban environments. To conceal my objects, I purchased a number of all white materials with which to experiment – fabric, rope, elastic, paint and bandage. My starting point was wrapping white fabric around a tree trunk and branches. I tried a number of trees in Centennial Park and a couple of locations before settling on one. I was satisfied with the result. My next experiment was in an urban landscape where I borrowed an orange traffic cone and wrapped it in white cord. I liked how this defeated its purpose by camouflaging it somewhat and softening its impact. My third experiment involved me spray painting a petrol container white, returning it to the petrol station and photographing it next to a white petrol bowser, once again softening its visual impact. From these three scenarios, I decided that of all materials I had tried, aesthetically, I preferred the use of white paint on my objects. This became the path that I would take for further experimentation.
I then spray painted a number of objects white and decided on my three favourites – a rock, some garden equipment and a garbage bin, none of which one would ever expect to see as white objects. I wanted to use the idea of flat white as a contrast (like I had done with the tree) as well as camouflage (like the traffic cone and petrol container).
I started by placing my white rock on a cliff edge at Tamarama and took a number of photos, including or excluding the sky and water. In this natural setting, I found the most dramatic image was my painted white rock photographed against other rock. Moving then to an urban environment, I placed my white garden rake and broom against a white wall with only a touch of grass at the bottom to give it a softened sense of place in an urban environment. I wanted it to have both natural and urban elements. My final photo is of my white garbage bin (which would of course be so impractical and therefore unexpected), placed outside a white residential garage. This urban object was now camouflaged in a very urban environment. In this experiment, by concealing colour from objects in natural and urban environments and by using either contrast or camouflage, I aimed to elevate both object and image from ordinary to unusual with an aesthetically pleasing result.
