This work was inspired by the feeling of nostalgic childhood birthdays and family celebrations. One feature that truly plays to this meaning is the flash, simulating the feeling of having point-and-shoot cameras three feet from your face at each celebration. With this strong rooted memory in my head, it was important to me to capture these photos for others, to see if it triggered a similar sense of nostalgia, or to identify the emotions of my peers’ celebrations.
While they are often tagged as happy days, these celebrations occasionally have other feelings involved, often behind closed-off walls people don’t seem to share. The series should lead viewers to question their own connection to celebrations, as if they were the thirteenth shot. That being said, upon viewing, in what “celebration” would you award yourself a cupcake?
