Distant Flash: How Photography Intervenes with and Transforms Our Experience in Travel
Qinyan Liu
Focusing on the overlapped realm of photography and travel, this project is an exploration of how the practice of photo-taking is able to transform our embodied experience, not replace it.
Distant Flash (Photobook Set)
The core of the thesis project is this photobook set. The original resources are photos from my trips over five years and across five countries. Past as they are for me, for the viewers who never see them before, the photos create new experiences as they are being watched and perceived. Thus, the artifacts of photographs serve as the prompt for the active practice of photographing.
Interiors from Distant Flash
Under thoughtful curation and image processing, complemented by a range of literal and graphic materials, the photos construct a series of immersive ways of viewing, activating different facets of engagement in travel experiences. (Time, Space and Sociality).
“This Is My Little Island!”
A more act-oriented co-design project, which led to a virtual interactive map of the Little Island, New York City. Loaded on a website, the map pinpoints the locations of interesting micro scenery that various visitors found with a hovering preview of the photos they took, and allows for further exploration.
“This Is My Little Island!” Photo Resources
The initial batch of photos used for the map were resulted from the cultural probes that asked participants to take photos following certain instructions during their visit to Little Island. With different themes for each photo, the perspective of the participants as photographers were intentionally re-directed, encouraging them to practice new ways of photographing.
Distant Flash (Thesis Book)
