“Iceland Landscape” by Lenny K Photography is licensed under CC by 2.0
“Garbage Truck [distant perspective] 1m40s” by rimidaL is licensed under CC0 1.0 Deed
I did a little bit of traveling a few years back and one of the places I visited was Iceland. One of the things that was so incredible to see aside from the many spectacular views was how clean everything was kept. Not one piece of trash could be found anywhere! I don’t even remember there being any litter in the cities.
I present a site at a waterfall that I got to see and contradict its beauty with the representation of what you wouldn’t expect to experience at such a place. For me, this both enhances and changes its meaning when combined together, by pointing out how the landscaped has managed to be untouched, and pulling me away from the actual expected experience.
I can say for certain that the audio is not at all what I expected, which I think is great. Although I half expected to you to say that there WAS a bunch of trash everywhere which is why you paired it with this audio. I’m glad that wasn’t the case. I love a nice, clean city.
The image of the waterfall on it’s own is very serene. It’s a very calming and beautiful landscape. The garbage truck audio takes me to awful Monday mornings where I’m rudely awakened by those exact sounds. They’re very contrasting feelings, so it’s interesting to see this paired together.
Something kind of silly when I think of waterfalls is in cartoons when people are kayaking and they don’t realize they’re heading towards one. Some sort of audio that portrays that panic and frantic paddling could be another option.
Agreeing with Lena, I did not expect you to pair this audio with that beautiful image. I do love how they contradict one another though. Iceland is a gorgeous country and I’ve heard about how clean and safe the cities are, a perfect place to experience solo traveling in! The colors in that photo are very vivid and makes me wonder what time of year this might have taken place. My guess is summer since it’s so colorful and the sky is clear. I imagine winter looks pretty much the opposite of this.
If I were to change the sound, I’d probably put the sound of some birds chirping in the background with the waterfall, or even just calm spa music. Those would encapsulate the feeling of what it is like to be there in the moment.
I think this audio selection and pairing was unexpected, yet fits very well together with the image of a waterfall. The audio of a garbage truck brings everyone back to being woken up by one early in the morning while the waterfall is peaceful and beautiful. I have always wanted to visit Iceland, so I’m glad to know its a clean well kept country! I also agree with Natalie’s comment about adding a sound with birds in the background, or even people speaking at a low volume.