Blog Entry 15: Shelf Space and Headspace â Framing the Final Narrative
As I reach the final stages of my photobook project, I find myself returning again and again to one particular image: a quiet close-up of a supermarket shelf, stocked with familiar bottles of Chinese condiments, stretching into a blur. Itâs not the most dramatic photo Iâve takenâbut for me, it captures the emotional core of the entire project.
This image holds several layers. On the surface, it documents a typical moment in an Asian supermarket in Hamilton. But with the shallow depth of field, the camera draws the eye toward a few recognizable itemsâsoy sauce, chili paste, green bottle capsâwhile letting the rest fade into softness. That visual effect echoes how memory works: certain objects stay vivid, while the rest becomes atmosphere.
When sequencing my photobook, I chose this photo to appear early in the book. It represents the starting point of my journeyâhow everyday scenes in New Zealand sparked moments of recognition and belonging. The photo doesnât shout, but it lingers. The gentle perspective invites the viewer to imagine their own version of home among the shelves.
What Iâve learned through this project is that belonging isnât always loud or visible. Sometimes itâs felt quietlyâthrough repetition, routine, and the slow rhythm of choosing ingredients for a meal. By returning to this image during editing, I found clarity about the story I was trying to tell: home is not a place, but a feeling, and that feeling can live in the narrow spaces between soy sauce and sesame oil.












