Ad Buster

            For this image the message being put forth is that customers should really question where their products come from and how they’re made. When almost all customers see the Nike logo they think of their shoes and clothes. What they do not consider is the sometimes unethical practices of Nike such as using Chinese labor mills to produce their products and keep prices low. The intended audience is those who use Nike products and are aware that their products are made in China. This ad will then hopefully alert them to the fact that this reality does exist, it is not just a “Made in China” written on the inside of a shoe. The audience left it is those who do not know that Nike products are made in China, to them this advertisement will just seem strange having the Nike logo over top of people working on a table. Perhaps though it may make them curious as to what this image might say and they will go an investigate what it really means.

            The emotion exploited by this viewer is unhappiness and even disgust. Viewers will see this image and realize that the values that Nike promotes such as athleticism, exercise, and perseverance are all simply a façade for an organization that is exploiting workers overseas. This realization will hopefully shock the viewers to their senses and find alternative products that are ethically made, perhaps even made in America.

Personal Photography

For this project I chose to explore personal photography. The main inspiration for my style of pictures was Clarissa Sligh and how she incorporated text into photos and gave them a whole new meaning. The idea of punctum was something that I tried to accomplish and explore further. I felt that by incorporating text into these older photos it would breathe new life into them. The idea for this came from seeing all the older photos in the presentations and getting an idea of what the life of person in the photo was like.

Since I had the opportunity to present more than one picture I felt I could tell a story through my pictures. The pictures I used were from my Grandmother’s memorial slideshow I had made. When I looked at these pictures after this slideshow I had made all I could think of was the idea of life and death. Perhaps it was because that was the context that these pictures were presented to me, so I chose to try and convey the same underlying feelings of these photos to the viewer rather than having them be viewed at face value. To accomplish this goal of purveying the concept of life and death in these photos I took the route of Sligh and incorporated text into these photos incorporating quotes about life, death, and happiness. I only knew a few quotes about life and death so a little research was necessary to find powerful quotes to fully emphasize the meaning of this project.

The reason why I scanned these pictures was for my Grandmother’s memorial slideshow. The purpose of this was not to mourn death, but celebrate life. This was something that I also wanted to incorporate into these pictures. I did not want the viewer to look at these pictures and be depressed, I simply wanted to provide a powerful tool to convey the thoughts of life and death and their relevance to my family.

Documentary Photography

            For this project I documented urban nightlife within the city of Tucson. Although Tucson is not necessarily known for its exciting nightlife I felt that documenting what life was like at night would be a way of showing how cool some areas of Tucson actually are at night. Instead of focusing on people at night I chose more to focus on buildings and the surrounding places of the 4^th Ave/Downtown area. I really focused on the idea of city lights at night. Although light can be used in the daytime effectively I feel that at night light becomes so much more apparent and important in setting the mood and tone of pictures. This was something I tried to explore and used certain photographic techniques such as long exposure and bokeh to emphasize and show my exploration of this topic. The use of light and any post processing I did was used to fully emphasize my view of and feeling of the urban areas of Tucson that I photographed. My audience for this project would most likely be younger people who are interested in urban areas and what goes on at night. Although my project is not promoting a dramatic social change I am using it to show and document part of my life and of many other people’s lives that may not be apparent elsewhere in the world.

Photographic Perspective

9 Angles

Lighting

Texture

The first photographic element I explored was lighting. Rather than simply shine a light on the object and take a picture I wanted to see how the environment of an object affected how it is lit. To explore this I used long exposures and added no additional light other that what was present around it. The differences in each picture are quite noticeable on not only the object, but the backgrounds as well. At first glance some pictures may appear to be taken at twilight or very early morning except they were taken at the dead of night. Just moving the object around can produce amazingly different results.

            The second photographic element I explored was texture. I found it difficult to capture some the smaller details of my object, perhaps if I had a macro lens I could capture the minute details of my object. Nonetheless I made due an used lighting to my advantage to amplify any ridges or markings. It is interesting how all the elements can be used together to create interesting photographs