title. Out of Time
name. Louis Norman
right now. Third year studying Philosophy and English Literature at the University of Edinburgh
instagram. @louisnorman4
Can you describe the moment you wanted to capture?
There was no single moment, but I guess ‘Out of Time’ as a title reflects a few different ideas that were hanging over me when the photos were taken. With a prompt like ‘Millennial Pink’, it is so heavily loaded with modern and youthful connotations. These pictures, I think, all subvert that in a small way. Firstly, by being taken on a film camera, they belong to a time before the digital age, but among our generation there has been a movement back towards film photography; they’re not part of today but they also belong in a continuum that is very modern.
With the cherry blossoms, I liked the idea of removing any context from the photo; it could be a nebula or a coral reef, but you have this reminder of the modern world in the street lamp that illumines the blossom. The cherry blossoms are from the trees on the Meadows - old trees surrounded by students, taking on a different form at night.
I like the idea of taking the subjects in a photo out of time, removing references to any specific moment in time. A sort of middle finger to the idea that a colour can be commandeered by any group at any time.
Can you describe the moments you captured the photos?
I wanted the cherry blossoms to have a sense of alienation, almost weightlessness. The halo-ing effect of the light made them otherworldly and celestial.
Were you listening to music when you created this piece?
In one of those neat moments of thematic dovetailing, I think I was listening to ‘Pink Rabbits’ by The National when I photographed the cherry blossom.
What have you learnt since creating this piece?
If you listen to nothing but Sufjan Stevens, The National, and Mount Eerie for 24 hours while cramming, you start to hallucinate an old, bent-backed woman shuffling around the library telling you that everything’s wrong.
Where do you dream of living?
Tree house in the woods with a friend and a wolf.
What does pink remind you of?
The flower.
