A new Mass Observation, and it’s time for change.
This theme resonated a lot with me; over the last six months or so I have experienced a lot of changes – familial heath issues, moving home (and county) and going from full time employment in a job I’ve done for more than a decade to semi-retirement – and it seemed apt!
Name: Postcard Cafe https://postcardcafe.wordpress.com
Location: Eyre Lane, Sheffield
Note: Street art has the capacity to change our experience of the ‘everyday’ and to lift it from the mundane into something more cheery or thought-provoking. With it’s unapologetically bold, challenging and provocative faux official statement about social and political change this piece of billboard art does just that.
Name: CKPonderingsToo
Location: Burnham-on-Sea
Note: Once I had set the theme for this month’s Mass Observation post, I began to appreciate how wide-ranging an idea ‘Change’ actually was. I’ve not taken a lot of images of late, so with camera in hand I went out exploring. While I was photographing without the theme in mind, when I reviewed the images, this shot leapt out at me. It sadly represents a lot of society at the moment – endings, closures, etc. – and highlights that not all changes are for the better.
Name: Doctor Ken, Gin Sop
Location: Glastonbury
Note: Walking along Glastonbury High Street one afternoon, I noticed this heart-shaped stone. It was only as I looked more closely that I saw it had been broken, and had been propped up next to where it originally lay (you can see the shadow it left on the pavement to the right). Anyone who has had their heart broken knows it is a huge wrench, a massive change that, often, we have had no control over.
Name: Cap Does Craft
Location: Desktop!
Note: With the theme of change I considered many images. One that I thought of was the ‘change your batteries’ pop up that appears occasionally on my desk top computer but thought it may not actually appear before the submissions were due. Then of course it did appear, because computers know what we are thinking! I had my little pocket camera to hand and took this shot. I thought it was a light-hearted way to interpret the theme and then I changed the batteries!
CKPonderingsToo 
This is a great theme and I particularly like the images and commentary by CKPonderingsToo and Doctor Ken.
The Chinese take away shot gets a big thumbs up from me. It is nicely composed and well delivered with the selective colour. It’s a great shot that stirs exactly the feeling about change that is suggested in the notes. I was able to project a bit of hope into the shot when I considered the name of Dragon Rise. Perhaps this take away was just one incarnation of a business run by the owner and maybe the dragon will rise again in a different guise and new business elsewhere…
The broken heart image is again nicely delivered with a tight crop on the subject enough to offer a bit more information about where it had been placed and for the viewer to consider how it was broken. It is also a heart made of stone and often it is said someone might have a heart of stone as if it belongs to someone whose heart cannot be broken or is at least made of tough stuff! Perhaps the broken stone heart is a reminder that all hearts have their vulnerabilities and that change can come when we least expect it. It’s a simple but evocative image.
I like that all four images look at the theme of change very differently. None of the subjects are cliches of change and are stronger for that. Great stuff.
I am looking forward to the theme of the next project.
Thanks for the inspiration
Best wishes
Mr C 🙂
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Than you, Mr C! Yes, I think the four images really work well together, and thank you for your input! 🙂
Richard
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Some pretty creative interpretations, I like it (especially the batteries one!).
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They’re pretty random but still connected! 🙂
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