“YOU THINK YOU’RE SPECIAL? WELL SO DO I, WHY DO SPECIAL WOMEN MAKE ME CRY? DOES NOT COMPUTE. SOME DON’T COMPUTE. MUST BE SOMETHING IN THE WATER THEY DRINK, IT’S BEEN THE SAME WITH EVERY GIRL I’VE HAD- MUST BE SOMETHING IN THE WATER THEY DRINK, ‘CAUSE WHY ELSE WOULD A WOMAN WANT TO TREAT A MAN SO BAD?” ~SOMETHING IN THE WATER (DOES NOT COMPUTE) BY PRINCE

I often struggle with the ostentatious task of making nature into something transformative enough that I claim it as a photo of my own. I often find the trivial and lush greenery of the world to be much too idealistic for my tastes, something that is not nearly as thoughtful and mindful as the photos I usually post; so I tend to stray away from photographing nature. This is my enthusiastic exemption to such a guarded rule however. For most of my images, I tend to have a certain criteria I intend to meet with myself personally. The most essential of my criteria is that I wish to transform something conventionally boring and make it into something that drags out the soul of whoever may view my pieces. I want to show people what I see and the disheartening view of someone who is burdened with the isolating creativity of life. This is what I see in this image. I see something burdening, the lonely brand sticking out farther than the other but grasping at nothing but icy fog, the strange branch being desolate as it almost mocks the look of a hand reaching out for something indescribable. I truly intended to get this pressing atmosphere through my use of black and white in this image and I am rather satisfied with the odd nature of the image and the layers of focused and unfocused fauna. It is compositionally mildly deranged- something I am very fond of. The piece consistently brings an atmosphere with it, especially through the frosted spiderwebs and the fretful fog featured in the background. It is very crude and odd. Which is a direct allusion to the title and heading song. The song “Something in the Water (Does Not Compute)” features very technofunk tones but the lyrics and noise of the song itself is disillusioning and is rather insightful in it’s morbid and creeping nature. It is off-putting and unlike most of Prince’s more good-spirited hits which is why it inspired me so much. It’s a very offbeat song and the way he scoffs and screams in the song makes for something very inspiring and chilling as it can truly highlight misery incarnated. The image itself was touched up vaguely in Photoshop and the most notable change was the transition to black and white. Throughout this image, a very solipsistic nature is caught in the underlining tone and it makes for something that I believe can highlight nature in a way that’s more indictive of Tim Burton and Sweeney Todd rather than the alternative more kid friendly version. This image was dutifully created using the following settings: 1/100 secs, f/13, and ISO 800. Something in the Water (Does Not Compute) is meant to break stereotypical images of nature and I think it accomplishes exactly that.