Course Reflection

My initial feeling towards the course was uncertainty. I never took a service learning course and didn’t know what to expect. Likewise, I didn’t know much about aphasia and how the clients would behave. I must say that I was very surprise of how talented Bennett and mine client was at photography and her ability to perfectly frame the composition. The first photograph of the door and wreath was very impressive. I was also impressed by the other clients’ improvement in their photography and their ability to communicate with images. The last project about the narrative showed how they can really communicate with pictures quite successfully.

Overall, the course was a good experience and provided a different perspective towards photography. It is easy to overlook the simplest tasks that photography accomplishes. The course was also an eye opener for aphasia and taught me about a disorder that I knew nothing about before signing up for the course.

Independent Project

My project explores the relationship between text and the image (the written language and the visual language). Mainly, my project explores how we visually read text and how lighting, font and framing effects our reading. At the same time, the type of text, or font, totally changes our reading.

My first picture is a good example of how different types of text are read differently. The commercial text of Orlando Sentinel has such a firm placement, completely vertical in the composition and organized. On the other hand, the graffiti text along the Orlando Sentinel moves diagonally and appears more chaotic. Likewise, the graffiti text appears small next to the Orlando Sentinel and has a personal feel unlike the commercial text.

The second picture is a nice experiment with light and how lighting can totally change an image. For this picture, I put a newspaper over a window as the sunlight went through the newspaper. As a result, the newspaper has a transparent quality which allows for the text on the back to seep into the front. This transparency creates a chaotic feeling in which text overlaps other text and the viewer becomes oversaturated with all the information. This kind of portrayal connects with the subject matter of the newspaper in which people are flooded with news all the time. I feel the newspaper text helps enforce this connection.

The last picture is my personal favorite due to its subtlety. The picture is of an abandoned train in downtown. Yet, without me stating this, the viewer can at least tell the object is old due to the dust. What I like about the picture is the ghostly words written on the dust and the elegant motion of how they move along the train, fading away at times. The overcast lighting adds to this ghostly feeling that is created.

Beyond these three pictures, I wanted to create unity through design choices. The addition of red in all the pictures helped make the picture unite as a single series. I also sequence the pictures to move from warm colors to cool colors. The three pictures I chose have the same transition with the bright red of the first to the cool tones of the third picture.

Narrative

I chose the following three images because I found them to best tell a narrative. I had some other images that I personally preferred due to their aesthetics but their narrative was not as strong. Initially, I decided to have a picture of myself in bed and the clock to tell the narrative. I believed that the two images by themselves was able to tell the story. As a result, I had difficulties coming up with a third image that would fit in the narrative. I was exploring with photos of me getting out of bed, but I felt they did not fit with the style of the other two. In the end, I chose the window, because I felt that the light from the window would connect with the photo of myself. One of the concerns was whether the middle photo will fit with the other two. The middle one is the only photo with a person. However, I felt that the usage of the close-up and the prominence of the blue blanket over my face covered some of the human presence.

Independent Project

My project will be a series of 20 photos that will explore the interaction between the written language and the visual language. Mainly, how does words visually communicate something? I used a mixture of graffiti text, commercial signs and different languages. So far, I went to Colonial and took photos of signs, graffiti, English letters and Vietnamese characters.
Below I have two approaches. One is a more graphical approach in which there is no outside context. The other one is more reliant on the scenery. I know that people in the class liked the one on the left, but do you think that the series can have both styles and still seem unified?

Another question is about the readability of the text. Should the text be readable or should I crop the text? If the text is not readable, then the viewer must interpret the words based on the visual elements.

My last question is about one last image. This photo wasn't shown in class last time and I was wondering if it fits with the rest. I was thinking of comparing photos with text. In this photo, an old Vietnamese photo is next to graffiti text. What do you think? Does the style match the rest?

Client Interpretation

I will discuss how the Rollins students and the client at UCF described and interpreted the photograph at the top. In the classroom, the students described the photograph using some nouns: statue, photograph, papers. After close inspection, the tilt of the photograph in the frame was an interesting topic. The client used similar words to describe the photograph, also mentioning the colors, especially the gold shine in the frame. However, the client didn't noticed the tilt of the photograph until someone mentioned the tilt. A difference between the students and the client was the interpretation of the papers. The students believed the papers were bills while the client believed they were homework. Another difference was that the client focused more on the statue, trying to inspect the material of the statue.

The students and client had similar interpretations of the photograph as a whole. Both viewed the person in the photograph as an important figure and viewed the person as a lost family figure. The client mentioned her as someone that was loved. The shadows had an important part in everyone's interpretation on the photograph. After the obvious objects, the shadows were mentioned by both the client and the students. I believe both viewed the photograph as somber yet I don't remember their exact words. Among my three photographs, this one was selected as the favorite among the client and students.

Assignment 3: HOME

My first photograph is a picture of an old photograph of a relative. I chose this image because I liked the lighting of the photograph and how the gold on the frame reacts to the light. I also liked the juxtaposition of the stern face of the Napoleon statue and the smile of the photographed person.

The second photograph is a picture of Peruvian decorative figures. I was experimenting how flash affects the photograph since I mostly take my photos without flash. I was focusing on photographing small details around the house. I chose this photo because I believed that they showed a small aspect of my family’s culture.

My third photograph was difficult to decide because I was stuck between the one of the family portrait and the photograph of the stuffed bunny. I liked how I was included in the reflection of the picture as well as in the photograph itself. However, the lighting of the stuff bunny was very appealing and was more successful in creating a mood. So I decided with the stuff bunny because it just had a sense of a narrative and I felt the composition was more successful. I liked the balance of the green numbers on the left and the green of the bunny. If anyone is curious, the photograph is a picture of my niece’s room.

Practices of Looking

The myth of the photographic truth

One of the things that stand out in the reading was the skeptic eye towards photography as an objective truth. So often we see photography used to portray a specific position. The article mention the example of the Time and Newsweek‘s portrayal of O.J. Simpson. Time was accused of altering Simpson’s mug shot by making him darker and more menacing. A recent example of altering photography is the Iranian missile test in which Iran added an additional rocket to “enhance” the photograph. With the increased usage of Photoshop and digital photography, people are increasingly skeptical at photography as an objective truth.

However, photography—and images in general—still provide a way of communication. The subjectivity and presence of the creator in photography gives the images a more personal touch. Photographs are not just images that a machine created but an image someone else wants to share. Instead of reading the Photoshoped image of the Iranian missiles as “the truth”, we can read it as what Iran wants to share with the world. The image expresses Iran’s desire to impress the world with their military advancement and show off their power.