Blog Assignment #8

The photo above was taken in the summer of 2007 during my vacation to visit out-of-state family. The photo was taken because my aunt is holding the graduation gift she was so eager to present to me upon my arrival. Since 2007 was the year of my high school graduation, my family wanted to surprise me with something that would be, in her terms, “helpful in purchasing college necessities.” In composing the picture, I wanted to take the picture as my aunt was holding the money walking down the steps. When I was shocked by the amount of money she was holding, my brother asked her to “mean mug” the camera, which explains her facial expression as I took the picture. My background knowledge affected the photo because I knew she was anxious to give me something so my camera was present at all times. Once she told me to wait until she returns, I had my camera aiming at the steps she was about to walk out. This gave the photo a much different angle than if she were standing in front of me with the money in hand.

If my aunt was to take a picture of my reaction, she may have caught my large smile sitting in a white chair in my grandma’s backyard. Her angle would also be facing downward since she was on steps that were uneven with the ground. As for a caption of the photo, I can imagine my aunt saying these words to fit the description: “You know you want this money!” The only assumption I believe my aunt would have about me is that I’ll be very surprised by the gift she’s presenting to me.

Honestly, this exercise will not change the way I take photographs while traveling, how I represent others, or what I assume when taking the pictures of other people. I take pictures to remind myself of places and people I’ve seen in the past. Another way I can represent others in photographs is by taking shot-by-shot images where pictures are taken at rapid fire all within a short period of time. For example, if I set my camera to take multiple pictures within a five second span, I could easily record 5-10 pictures within that time frame. This could show different angles of what is taking place within the picture. I could also take video of the scene as someone else takes picture and then compare it. This will give the viewer different perceptions of the event from an image and video standpoint.

Blog Assignment #7

Metaphor In Film: Affliction

Affliction is the culmination of a truly brilliant film released in 1999. It stars Nick Nolte as a small-town cop who begins to fall apart as he puts together the pieces of what he believes is a string of murders taking place within the city. His mother dies, forcing Nolte to spend more time with his abusive, alcoholic father. The more time spent with his monstrous father (and the more subsequent events that occur in his city), Nolte becomes similar to his father whose temper, violence and love of drinking begins to take a toll on Nolte’s life. Nolte feels he’s become afflicted with his life (hence the title).

The scene begins with a violent outburst that Nolte brilliantly represented from a nasty toothache that he cannot seem to ignore. Getting worse and worse throughout the film, this climatic scene showcases the removal of the tooth with a pair of pliers and a bottle of scotch to a wash down the blood. This dramatic scene is designed to symbolize the internal pain and suffering Nolte experienced over the years. The pain and suffering that had been bottled up within him for years had finally been relieved. The neglected tooth represented a downward spiral in his life to the point of relief once it was removed. I feel the scene also represents how instant solutions, such as pulling the tooth with pliers instead of proper treatment, can be worthwhile at first, but could lead to more problems in the future. Though the scene ended the movie peacefully, Nolte's life was still stressful with or without the toothache.

It's an impressive scene because it leads to one of the most horrific self-mutilation acts within the movie, but Nolte determines that pulling the offending tooth is the only thing that helped him feel better. Unfortunately, he and his father are shown in the final shot watching a boxing match on TV, silently sharing a drink, which symbolizes a mirror image of one another. Nolte had become his father.

Warning: This scene is kind of graphic with a lot of swearing.

Blog Assignment #6

Google has become one of the largest businesses in the world. Google began in 1996 with Larry Page and Sergey Brin developing it as a research project for their PhD at Standford. Google first produced an image, the one above, when Yahoo! was the prominent search engine on the internet. The original logo was designed using a program called GIMP, which was a free graphics program to create computerized lettering. The exclamation point was used to mock the Yahoo! logo, but they ended up going with a logo without it.

Sergey Brin explains it best:

Google ended up with the primary colors, but instead of having the pattern go in order, we put a secondary color on the L, which brought back the idea that Google doesn't follow the rules.

Google ended up using the same logo for 10 years until recently changing it to look more “modern” to the average searcher. The new logo was first tested in November 2009, but was officially launched in May 2010. According to Google, it follows an identical font to the previous logo, yet features a distantly-colored “o” in place of the previous yellowish one, as well as more subtle shadowing of the letters.

Google has become an iconic image over the years because of its simplicity, but has been criticized for its stand on spam. Though Google strongly believes in spam and identity protection, it’s ironic how Google’s Gmail platform is one of the most spammed email clients on the internet. The image to the left is a perfect example of Google’s attempt to protect against spam because instead of blocking actual spam emails Gmail has decided to add its own network to the spam folder. Is Google trying to block itself? I highly doubt it, but it just shows that no matter how much they talk about protecting the average user they must first make sure they’re protecting their brand. Obviously technology encounters many bugs in the programming, but the least Google can do is make sure people see emails from their own network.

Blog Assignment #5

Photography has created an environment of imagery is which parts of the war were broken from context and mixed together to enact a form of surrealism.  In Regarding the Pain of Others, Susan Sontag argues, “That our capacity to respond to our experiences with emotional freshness and ethical pertinence is being sapped by the relentless diffusion of vulgar and appalling images – might be called the conservative critique of the diffusion of such images” (109). Sontag is not correct in assuming that an ordinary snapshot creates some form of aggression when you look at the images of the actual effects of violence. Sontag was once criticized for not providing photos of knowledge, but the appearance of knowledge. For one thing, every image (in print and media) creates a thousand words in the mind of the viewer. There’s no immediate visceral impact. Documents and photos do not simply showcase combat consequences. They are part of the rhetoric behind war. The “good taste” of editors and other positions of power in the choices of these “moving images” shadow a number of concerns and anxieties of public order and public morale. For example, Clint Eastwood’s “Letters from Iwo Jima” represents something rare in the history of war movies - an event that one of the country to empathize with the director to tell a story from the perspective of a former war enemy. A more impressionistic approach of imagery in the movie emphasized the unbearable psychological pressure caused by prolonged labor, deprivation and bombardment. The claustrophobic element is obviously required, but Eastwood makes it possible to breathe through the movie with action engaging characters. Eastwood’s choices of images are used for strategic purposes as the photographer's role is more ambiguous. Because of the density of the historical references to the war, the way that we would prefer not to imagine the war is a task that is painful because the stirring images can only supply an initial spark of fear.

Blog Assignment #4

With Facebook, I'm able to share and express my feelings towards different forms of media and subjects through one exclusive, customized, and personal profile.

Facebook has allowed me to share media that is unique to my business to a much larger audience than I could achieve in person. For example, if I find an interesting article that may help other business owners in the same niche as me then I link to it on my Facebook profile. Though I only allow my "friends" to view posts submitted by me, it gives the information much more exclusivity amongst those I'm connected to daily. Since I post at least one article or video related to marketing daily, it gives my profile a professional look and creates conversation amongst other marketers. Another example how Facebook helps me showcase my business savvy is the integration of other social networks into my Facebook profile. Since I can connect other social profiles, I can show my audience how diverse I am with social networks. This not only engages my audience into more conversation, but I'm able to show them how business-minded I am with my posts.

Because of Facebook, I'm able to transmit my sports interest to "friends" with the click of a button in order to gain conversation into the subject. For example, whenever I find an article, video, or image related to the Miami Heat I post it immediately to my profile. My posts are only viewable to my "friends," but it's targeted to friends that enjoy basketball. Though the excessive amount of posts on the Miami Heat may be an annoyance to some, I am posting information I enjoy to read. Another example of how I express my fanaticism of the Miami Heat to my audience is through the "Heat Fan" tab in my profile. Because I've customized my profile to show my love for the basketball team, anyone that views my profile will know how much I enjoy the sport. By establishing this portion of my persona on basketball, I'm able to post whatever I want on the subject because it's expected from me.