Proposal 1: Motels

Purpose



I am interesting in exploring the trash left behind by people staying at motels as well as the cleaning crews that restore rooms to their ‘natural order’. I want to photograph the room after the customer leaves it and as the cleaning crew is working. Motels seem to be anonymous places, with an almost identical set up- beds with polyester comforters, cheap carpet, a bedside table with a bible inside, and mass market paintings, in this artificial environment events play out and the ‘aftermath’ in the form of stains, trash, and personal belongs can tell stories about the past inhabitants.

Techniques

A.   A. I will be using a Nikon D40 to capture the images, and I will exhibit the images as prints, at the present time I do not see the benefit of a slideshow but I will record the ambient sounds of the cleaning crews for possible use.

B.   B.  I am unsure what kinds of beautiful objects I will be able to find in a cramped room, where valuables are not laid out lest they be stolen. I would like to pair the realism of the trash with small moments of beauty, the glow of the light or organic patterns that form by accident in the bed sheets or a clump of hair in the drain.

C.    C. I do not yet have access to regularly photograph this project. I would need to ask permission from the motel’s manager and the cleaning workers. This could present a problem if the cleaning workers are not legal residents and fear their names or likeness used. A question I have is when the rooms would be cleaned, if checkout is during the afternoon then would cleaning always occur around the same time, does my schedule permit me to leave school and document this time, or does cleaning happen throughout the day depending on whether people have late checkout. I have all day Sunday to photograph, and after 5 the rest of the week.

Significance:

People feel a sense of anonymity in motels, and it allows them to act in ways they might not normally act. A motel is a place you do not have to make your bed, but I want to photograph the people that do. The significance of the project is to show a place ‘in between’ its normal use and the dialogue between worker and room.

History
: 


This is the very beginning of the project for me.  

Plan of Work: 



I will go scout out motels along Miracle Mile and Oracle and speak with the managers about the project and what kinds of access I can get. I initially want to begin with three or more motels and continue the project with one or two that have the most consistent material or subjects. I will speak with the cleaning crews and get their permission to be photographed. For the next four weeks I will only be able to photograph mornings on Sundays, as well as Monday through Thursday after five pm. After that I will be able to start shooting mornings three days a week as well as evenings.

Expected Results
:

I would like photographs of trash, the bedroom and bathroom, as well as portraits of the workers.  I anticipate 20 prints that explore the relationship between people and their work space. Their job is to clean up as best they can, the indication of past inhabitants. In a way, the room is second hand in that it is intimate to a person for a time (just like a shirt that was worn by someone else), however it is also not personal property but

another realm where we let ourselves forget all the other people that slept in the same bed and all the unseen acts that occurred there- from the most mundane to the most vile.

I fear feeling like an outsider to the cleaning crew, my Spanish is not good enough yet to communicate completely.

Budget:

I do not anticipate any costs outside of gas money to get to the motels, and the cost of rubber gloves used in inspecting trash, I do not think the budget will be a concern.