Jessica Bunyard's abstract photographs are made using a procedure involving narrowing the distance from which the photo is taken and adjusting the focus, and the photographs are then used as 'scores' for live musicians.
Bunyard's process is counterposed to the practices in contemporary photography, taught in schools practiced by professional photgraphers, where images are taken in the highest resolution possible. High resolution images are the commercial 'bread and butter' of industries like fashion and advertisment. Commercial images usually have the highest clairy, so that perciving the subject requires a minimum of the viewer's attention.
Photographers using digital manipulaton to create commercial phtogoraphs adjust the sharpness and shadow to bring out details, or occasionally touch up to enhance some and decrease others, rather than decreasing the overall presence of detail. Unfocused details are usually only occasioned by accidental movement, and are occasionally used to show such action, but more often photographs blurred to the point of abstraction are not sellable.
Photography is so often credited for its realism that it is often used as a proof to legitimate an argument or attest to the facts in jurisprudence. Abstraction is thus more common in painting, and in Bunyards soft, planetlike, alien worlds one sees more resemblance to paintings or to images taken by satellite than to commercial photogarphy. Bunyard says, "My practice explores the interactions between music and art, using colour to unite the two. I take abstract photographs which are not created or manipulated on a computer, this forms a large part of my solo practice. I have also formed The Sculptural Orchestra, this seeks to create a dialogue between artist and musician in a performance environment. The Orchestra members play metal sculptures using my abstract photography as visual scores. This creates an active role for the audience as they judge whether what they hear, is right for what they see.
"All of the pieces are untitled. I don't want to fully describe the process as it gives too much away, but my work explores the link between art and music and involves sound, photography and performance.