Dasuni Choudhary Photography

Narrative Panorama Artist Statement 

The story of this panorama is a girl eating dinner alone at a big fancy table. The table is extra long because it symbolizes how the family she lives with is big so there are people that she could eat with but none of them are there. The family she belongs to is obviously well off, but they are too busy to actually spend time with her. Work is a priority in this household which did them well because they have a big house and nice things, but that leaves no time for family. This girl is around high school age so she needs family to share her experiences and her life with her parents. She has more than enough money from them but as they say, money cannot buy happiness. So she sits alone at dinner time, in her big empty house and feels so alone because there is no one there to give her the love and attention she needs. This story was inspired by my friend because she goes through this lonely life in which her parents put work over her so she feels like she has no one. Of course, she has loving friends, but friends cannot be there all of the time. She needs her family but they do not make time for her.

This panorama was shot using a film camera. Using film is something that does not allow for many mistakes because there are only so many frames in one roll of film and you cannot see the pictures immediately. Therefore, one must take the time to set up the scene appropriately and take all the shots that could possibly be needed. Also the lighting and angle needed to be taken into consideration. On digital cameras, panoramas are much easier because you can see the picture right there and math the next one accordingly. And on iphones you just press a button and the camera can capture the whole panorama at one time. But with film you have to remember what angle you shot the previous one at and how much light was in the scene. Matching these things up to the best of you ability allows for the panorama to look like one consistent scene.

There were some problems that occurred while shooting this film. One was that my pictures did not line up as well as I wanted. I wanted the table to line up perfectly, but the angles were slightly off so they did not math. But I found a simple solution: adding white spaces in between. The white spaces in between each picture get filled in by our brains so it does not feel like anything is missing. And I personally likes how the composition looked with the spaces. Also while printing these images in the dark room, it was difficult to match the contrast of each image. Each image in the panorama had to be processed through the chemicals separately so it took time to get one perfect one, let alone five. My prints were nowhere near perfect but, in the end, everything did work out and the panorama did some together in order to convey the message I was hoping for.

The title of this panorama is “Abandoned” because this young teenage child is alone when she should be looked after and cared for. She has the resources at her disposal, but no amount of money makes up for the lack of motherly and fatherly love. She is being left alone with only this big house to comfort her. But these materialistic things do not make her feel happy and safe- only her parents do. Finally the image of an abandoned house juxtaposes this house she lives in, but it reveals how she feels on the inside.