Mingzhen Bai

"Instants"

Section MS15, Sarah Akigbogun

Keywords: photography, sound music

This project is Based on objects associated with "home", it explores the different results and feelings brought about by different locations and different imaging methods.   Items related to HOME—Polaroids—Memory   As a matter of fact, I have never left my home country, so I was excited and nervous before embarking on the journey to the RCA. This meant that I would be living in London, and I needed to make a "home" in a strange place. Probably because the environment was so unfamiliar, I brought along a lot of Polaroids in addition to the necessities of life. These captured some of my moments with friends, family, and myself. I think when we feel lonely and afraid, seeing familiar people, even if it is a static 2D picture, can still feel close and get spiritual comfort. Through photos, we can retrieve many moments of memory, perceive the new environments with memory, and create a new home based on the relationship between memory and the new environment.   Polaroids—Imaging mode—Advantages and Disadvantages   I think the Polaroid is a unique tool in terms of photography because you can get physical images instantly. Because of this, the body film is also different. In order to transfer and press the cartridge, the body has a pair of stainless steel rollers, and the positive and negative film base is rolled through the pair of rollers. The photographic paper required is a very special material, which is embedded with thermally stained crystals. A Polaroid photograph consists of a light-sensitive substrate and a bag of liquid that makes the exposed substrate appear. When the door is opened, the substrate is sensitive to light. As the camera "pushes" the photo out, it cracks the potion pack to make the substrate develop. The fast output meets the fast-paced lifestyle of modern life. Not only can you get the photos directly, but you can also immediately wrap them or give them to others. Each photo is unique and cannot be changed. However, the Polaroid also has a lot of drawbacks. Polaroids are un-editable, unreproducible and inconvenient to carry, and so less popular.   London—related Polaroids—Home   I hope to connect my past life with my present life through the restoration of past scenes and the reproduction of actions. What can other media do when exploring the same subject as the Polaroid? How can they make up for the shortcomings of the Polaroid? I selected photos from the many photos taken in places China, which constitute my basic life: a place to live, a campus, a cafe, a flower shop, a park, a playground and a kebab shop. I will look for these types of places in London and recreation the original Polaroid. All external elements are variables in this project, such as climate, physical location, language environment, social groups, etc. All inner elements are invariants, such as taste, habit, personality, hobbies, physical condition, etc. So the invariant applies to any variable. I want to minimise the variable.   Polaroids—Photo—Video   The final hope is to present three different forms: Polaroid, photo and video. I believe that each recording tool has its own special purpose, and I want to explore the differences in how they are presented. The principle and disadvantage of polaroid - based imaging. Mimicking the Polaroid imaging process, while turning a still image into a moving image using, different photography tools such as mobile phones and SLRS are used for the shooting, depending on the final desired mode of presentation.