OPA_080_ BEST DAYS ARE OVER.jpg
Honours.
I really enjoyed this image. As an older person myself, and having experienced a number of physical health challenges, I got a sense that this image has a story of age and usefulness that speaks across people, possessions, homes, animals and societies. I could picture this story through the use of tones to draw attention to just a small part of the scene and leaving the larger part of the scene in shadow and darkness. This aspect of the image resonated with me when I think back over a human life. For example, a good 20% to 30% is in growth before we reach the productive/useful part of a human life. This lighter tones in the image on the steering wheel, the dials and the gear stick reminded me a lot of times when we think we have control of our lives. Later we often find that what we thought was a life under control was just an illusion and turns out to me no more than a shadowy part of the whole of our life. For me this is wonderful symbolic story.