4am Project: The Bodies Revealed Exhibition
On Sunday, garethness, my friend Anna and myself went to the Bodies Revealed exhibition in Birmingham to take photos for the 4am project. The concept of the project is simple - you go out at 4am and take pictures. The brain behind the project had organised a special event in Birmingham, though, and since we were here (and it was free) we decided to take advantage of it. The Bodies Revealed exhibit teaches people about the human body by using real, preserved human cadavers.
I took around 100 photos and was left with about 7 that I was happy with after minor editing (cropping and colour corrections). They can be found under the cut, partly so I don't nuke your friends page and partly because I understand that some people won't want to see them - they're very real, very human and somewhat disturbing.
These next pictures are from the foetal exhibit:
I really feel that this was the best picture I took. I spent such a long time trying to capture it, not for the sake of photography but for the sake of the tiny person in the glass jar. I don't believe in abortion anyway (you can all spam me with your "woman's right to choose" crap later if you must) but this really hit home - at only 14 weeks, this foetus had hands and feet and even a face. Considering that abortion is legal up to 24 weeks in the UK, this really scared me. I spent a long time photographing it and getting very upset because my camera wouldn't acknowledge the fine detail and show that it had a face, it caused me considerable distress. As you can see, I managed it eventually, and that's why I think this is my best photo of the lot.
I'm still not sure how I felt about any of the exhibit, what with it all being human specimens, but the foetal exhibit was particularly painful - with no disrespect to anyone involved, when I saw the photographers there clamouring to try and get the "coolest" pictures, it made me feel really quite sick. I guess that's why the organisers don't usually allow photography. These next two pictures are quite dark and lonely, as I try to show the darker side of the whole experience; they reflect my feelings about the "freak show" approach of some people I saw.
I can't bring myself to update about anything else alongside this right now, as I don't feel it does them justice. Let me know what you think.