Aarons Lens

How Long Have We Been Distracted?   My final project, titled How Long Have We Been Distracted,  aims to encourage the viewer to come to terms with a crucial part of existential philosophy: that we are constantly running from the fact that despite how much we may ask the universe for a purpose, there is no response. Specifically, we run from boredom, as when we are bored, we begin to question such ideas, which can cause mental crises and anxiety(angst). However, this perpetual escape from boredom often alludes to humans for the majority of our lives. As we live in a state of boredom, it's like a fish recognizing it lives in the ocean without knowing fish live in the ocean in the first place: "Environments are invisible. Their ground rules, pervasive structures, and overall patterns elude easy perception (McLuhan, 84-85). The collage itself covers my project and consists of people partaking in such distractions or results of humanity's need for more distractions. However, in

 The goal of my project is simple. I want to make the viewer of my exhibition come to terms with the fact that above all else, they can not stand to be bored. This idea came from two passages from completely different books/genres.  "As soon as information is is acquired, it is very rapidly replaced by still newer information." Page 63 of The Meaning is The Massage "Boredom is the root of all evi l." Søren Kierkegaard  These two quotes, when put together I think form a very potent message that Kierkegaard himself states many times throughout his work; our new found access to entertainment has disallowed us from being bored. "We have now become aware of the possibility of arranging the entire human environment as a work of art, as a teaching machine designed to maximize perception and to make everyday learning a process of discovery. (68, McLuhan)" Essentially, we have reached the point where we expect everything in our lives to entertain us, and with such

 Honestly, for this project, I have no idea how I would approach it. I've never made music in my life and my only experience with music of any kind (outside of listening to it) has been the piano lessons I take at Lawrence. Because of that, I eventually decided to have two components to make a simple, disoriented piece of music. I used a looped audio of a train station in London, approximately 3 seconds long. Once that was imported and looped, I added a random piano. Because I don't really have any pieces memorized, the piano is mostly random keys timed in what I think sounds good with background noise. And, as I'm sure you noticed, there's a slightly messed up version of Marry Had a Little Lamb, the one thing I can play. Overall, it was a fun project that actually made me think about how I would approach it, which ended with a combination of two random sounds, something John Cage would hopefully be proud of. '"The highest purpose is to have no purpose at all.&

 The five photos I chose were taken over the summer and ultimately were chosen because they are some of my favorites, with no other deeper meaning. I think each photo in its own way portrays my goals in terms of technical photography. They use interesting framing, make good use of DOF, and always in some way have a subject that will interest the photographer. While no overarching narrative connects the five photos, I hope each individually provides enough intrigue for the viewer. A crow perched ontop of a repurposed Church in the Lake District, England. The church now acts as a travel center for tourists. A Piano worn down over time in a local bar. Discoloring may be due to the plants above, which expose wooden pianos to water damage. Highland Cattle photographed on a family farm in Stillwater, Minnesota. The two cows in focus are mother and son. Joey Stoplestad, captain of the Blackhawks Lacrosse team, a collective of multiple high schools. An island in the Lake District, England. The

 Throughout the week, I split my intent in my photography in half. At first, I didn't have a theme or idea as to how my photos would be connected, so I instead carried my camera waiting for a good composition. After time passed throughout the week though, I found a common thread through some of my favorites I had taken so far; there was a sense of indirectness between the subjects and my camera. Whether I chose to use a prominent foreground, or in many cases the subject's face isn't visible, I ended up dedicating the rest of the week to the style of "indirectness." https://www.instagram.com/aaron.lindeman.photography/ The other half of my photos were more of a copout than anything. Their photos of the moon are reflected in a fountain, and while they stay with the theme of shooting a subject indirectly, the reason I have ten of them is purely because I didn't have 20 unique photos. "We have now become aware of the possibility of arranging the entire human

When thinking about what to create for a one-minute film, my mind was mostly drawn to conveying my feelings about Lawrence and college in the short time I have been here. When going more in-depth about this subject, I was further pushed to film about the unfamiliar feeling that constantly nags at my head. I've found that no matter how comfortable I get in my dorm, with friends, or in my classes, there is a constant reminder through my surroundings that I am not at a place I call home. This feeling is what I try to convey through my short film. The short, scattered clips of Appleton are used to express the feeling just mentioned. They are not colorful, or shot very beautifully, and when put together create nothing to evoke powerful emotions. These shots, when put together with the audio of my piano lessons, work to create tension and a feeling of unease. The three repeating shots of a water tower, a train track, and a parking lot, along with the library and the airplane represent th