The Book of Hearts | Hacking minor

The Book of Hearts
Zaid Murtaza

Results from first prototype in dec 2021
Previous
Prototype
Name: Zaid Murtaza
Student: 0967750
Major: Advertising
Minor: Autonomous
Hacking 2022

The Book of Hearts
Exploring the emotional weight of a photograph
Willem de Kooning Academy in Rotterdam

PHOTOGRAPHY
A CONSUMABL
What if you could only take a photo when
you’re anxious enough?
I research this with my camera attachment
that responds to your emotions.
It changes the way you make photos by
taking the control over the shutterbutton.
How?
By sensing the psychological sweat*
which happens in response to emotive
stimuli like stress, anxiety and pain.
Simply said: Measuring how much you
sweat from your hands. It uses this information
to decide wether it triggers the
shutter or not.
Why?
Analog photography thought me that
useful restrictions can feel liberating.
The extra time you put in everystep of
the process makes the endresult taste so
sweet, even if the journey had some bitter
moments. I want to encourage looking
for increasingly bitter paths that lead to
emotionally invested images you’ll want
to look at for years.

HAS BECOME
E TO OTHERS
Let me rant for a sec
We live in a cyber age (or the Information Age);
we’re growing rapidly, yet we mindlessly adapt
without consideration of the pain we are experiencing
from it. To me, this is the same as driving with
your eyes closed because you’re scared to see what’s
ahead. Our cameras keep getting faster, forcing us to
take pictures that we’ll never see after we’ve shared
them. In our current world we encourage behaviour
that gets the attention of the masses while it discourages
the less profitable ones. What if experiencing all
of these emotions make life as attractive as it is?
RATHER THAN
EXPLORATION
OF ONESELF

Emotional attachment
To use this attachment, you first
measure your current baseline conductivity
by putting your thumbs
on two sensors (see image below);
based on this, you can set any number
higher than your baseline as the
‘discomfort bar.’ From here on out,
the attachment will only take a photo
once you’ve reached that level.
If you get used to what originally
made you uncomfortable, the
camera will stop taking pictures. At
that moment, you’ll have to raise the
bar with the black dial on the side
of the attachment.

Heartfelt photos to relieve some of Phill’s pain.

Phill wanted to try out the camera, but ironically enough. My painkillers (photos)
must have been so effective on him that he only managed to take three pictures.

Part of 2022 prototyping process
Understanding
my old
code
Testing
Prototype
Remaking
first
prototype
my self
Learning
soldering
Testing
servo
and
battery
3D
moddeling
with
Sjoerd
first time
3D printing
Admiring
3D prints
putting
everything
on
baseplate
Testing
hinge
mechanism
Fitting in
3D box
Gear
used at
metal
station
First
time
working
prototype
Teesting
prototype
Public
reaction
test

Public
reaction
test
Public
reaction
test
Public
reaction
test
Developing
film
fixing
movable
servo
Public
reaction
test
result
Public
reaction
test
result
Public
reaction
test
result
Public
reaction
test
result
Public reaction
test result with
Marvin Kunz
Co founder of
techlabs
Studied
Behavioral and
Data science.
Also writes language
based Ai’s.
I also interviewd
him for this project.

Special thanks to Phill Luland