Black Thursday

I will be doing my photo essay on Black Thursday. I want to show in my pictures how wrong it is for people to be shopping on Thanksgiving instead of spending time with their families. I believe that every store should be closed on Thanksgiving because it is a holiday where people should spend some quality time with their families. Since, in today’s world, people have little time to spend with family anymore so holidays like Thanksgiving are needed to reconnect with the people who love them. It makes no sense why people cannot wait for black Friday to shop. There is nothing that is that important to buy that they have to miss time with their family.

There are a few subjects I will be showing in my pictures. One would be people shopping in different stores. I want to show the rush and craziness of shopping on black Thursday. Another would be pictures of how many cars are in the parking lot of the mall. I want to show just how many people are ditching spending time with there family and shop instead. I also want to get pictures of people waiting in crazy lines to buy different items to show how ridiculous it is that people are waiting in lines for almost an hour just for one a select of items.

The overall “feel” I would like to show is disgust. It should disgust people how there are so many people who feel like buying items is more important then spending time with their families. It should bother everyone how these people are forcing stores to be open and employees to miss their thanksgiving with their families to work. It should also give a saddening feeling that people have to miss thanksgiving since there are so many people willing to shop on thanksgiving. If no one shopped on Thanksgiving then no store would be open. Since the stores would only be loosing money instead of gaining it.

I will be using my camera to take the pictures because my camera is known to take blurry pictures. The blurriness will be used give an effect to make things seem weird and messed up. I might also take the pictures in black and white to give it a contrasting feeling. It will make the picture stand out more then if it was in color. Black and white can give a creepier feeling. Some of the pictures will be taken at different angles to show how wrong it is that people are shopping on thanksgiving. All of these aspects will be used to give that message that Thanksgiving is a day that is supposed to be shared with their family, not in a store.

Photo Essay Proposal – Technology Influences

In thinking of a subject for my photo essay assignment, I stumbled upon several different ideas. In a society that seems to be evolving around social media and pictures, I had a variety of ideas pondering in my head. As a result of this course and just life in general, I decided to choose the topic of technology. Of course, there are numerous opinions and spectrums that evolve around technology as a subject. There is no question that technology has taken over our culture and is becoming a form of communication more than ever. Just as you read this blog post, you are using technology. It seems as if people cannot function unless they depend on technology. The use of images and photos seem to be a good depiction of this. For my photo essay, I’ll be focusing on the effects and dependencies that technology has on our society and the masking image it portrays. Because technology is such a vast subject, I’ll be focusing on the negative and positive aspects of it. It is no surprise that people often look at technology as negative at times. In reality, technology is often used for many beneficial aspects also. Therefore, I’ll also be putting a positive light on technology and capturing its most useful moments.

I’ll be using a variety of subjects to get my point across throughout this photo essay assignment. Some subjects include, still images of devices such as cell phones, laptops, technology corporations and medical devices. Although most of my photos are going to have objects in them, I’ll also be incorporating people in some photos. In doing this, I hope to give a more clear understanding of the message behind the photo.

For the overall feel of my images, I’d like to focus in solely on the main object. That is, the technological device or the person using it. For most of the photos, I’ll be using color. Although, I do think reducing the saturation and color in some photos could really add to the dimension and overall effect. Depending on the ‘theme’ of the photo and its overall message, i’ll be editing accordingly. I see some of my photos also having a blur effect. In doing this, I hope to capture the image and the rest is just a background. I also plan on making my photos look as modern as possible. Since technology isn’t really in the category of vintage or “old-time looking”, I’ll be limited those looks in my photos.

The technology I’ll be using in my photo essay are my iPhone 5s, my Macbook Pro and a Cannon D3 camera. I’ll also be using a variety of editing apps. Some apps I’ll be using to edit and enhance my photos are Instagram, Photoshop and Afterlight.

Photo Essay Proposal – The Forgotten

I want to start off by saying – I hope I do not offend anyone in any way by doing this or freak anyone out, I am not crazy I swear.

For my photo essay, I want to focus on the cemetery setting. Cemeteries are seen as morbid and forbidden in a sense that people only visit them to see past relatives that left us too soon. But, if you take the time to look around a cemetery, you would be amazed at the stories being told through minimal objects like flowers and holiday decorations and quote choices.

This hits close to home for me, extremely close but it is something I am comfortable with doing. I want to contrast the effect of those left with no one, plain grave sites just left there because there is no where else for them to go. Where as, the other side shows the beauty behind a grave site covered in fresh roses and Christmas decorations. This shows the idea behind “gone but not forgotten – or gone and forgotten.”

There are many different composition styles I am sure to find throughout the cemetery, especially lines and patterns being as most are set up a particular way. Some of the most historic sites we often visit are graves or cemeteries based off of their history and stories.

I am excited to take on this weird idea and run with it. I hope you all will see the beauty behind it when my photo essay is finished. This is something that hits close to home for myself as I go visit my relatives once a week. And again, I am sorry if I offend anyone or creep anyone out with this project.

Photo Essay Assignment Proposal: Nature vs. The Human Footprint

The goal of my photo essay is to demonstrate how something as beautiful as nature is being impacted by the human footprint. Many of us overlook the beautiful sunrise that occurs in the early morning, and turn a cold shoulder to the countless amount of trees being cut down to build yet another building complex. We are loosing sight of the beauty that we are stealing from our world just for the sake of our wants. I want to show how if we continue on in this manner how it will be ultimately devastating for our future generations. What beauty will they look forward to seeing if there is no natural beauty left?

There are many “subjects” I would like to hit on throughout this photo essay assignment. One being I would like to show pure nature. By this I mean I was to show trees, a sun rise, and things that have yet to be impacted by the human footprint. The next subject I would like to include is juxtaposition. I want to show the contrast between nature and human impact. For example I may take a picture of a sunset with a sign for a business in the background. I want it to ultimately show the turn in how our world is interpreting and interacting with nature. Are they seeing it with no interference or are they viewing that sunset with a large sign standing in their way? The final subject I would like to include is what will happen if we continue on in this manner? I want the viewers to think about  What is the human impact took over nature? 

I plan on taking my photos in color only. I want the viewers to get the full impact on how beautiful nature is in its pure state. I do not plan on using any filters, however, I am still open to learning and testing out some of them. I also would like to test out taking pictures at various times throughout the day. I thought “Lighting Weather, and the Subject” by Professor Bill Wolff showed great example of how the time of day can effect and create new meaning in one setting. Although I plan on taking my pictures in a variety of settings I feel that it will still impact the overall feeling and meaning behind my photos.

As far as the type of camera I will be using, originally I planned on using a disposable camera but just recently have decided upon using my cell phones camera. I feel that this might cause a contrast; that although I am using something made from the human footprint, it is recording something as beautiful as nature.

Being Human

For my photo essay I want humans to be the main focus. I have always  taken an interest in Humans of New York, which is a catalog of inhabitants of New York City.  Human of New York focuses on the story behind the image and that there is more than meets the eye. The point of it all is to show a diverse amount of people, and find out their stories. I was also very inspired by a YouTube video called First Kiss that took 20 strangers and made them kiss for the first time on camera. That social experiment evoked a lot of emotion that was visible on film, which I found very interesting.

People are captivated by other humans, always interested in emotions and how people feel. Feelings are relatable which is why I plan to make that my focus for this photo essay. I have been very invested in photography my whole life, but there is one thing I have always struggled to capture: people. I am taking this opportunity to challenge myself in a new way, because it is very hard to capture peoples true emotions on film. An image can say a lot about an emotion without any back story, so this is what I plan on delving into during this project.

I will convert my apartment into a small studio for some time, and allow willing subjects to be photographed by myself. I will put them on a white backdrop, and photograph their face with my Nikon D90. I will not tell them what emotion they are being, however, will show an image or a video to them and record my findings. I have found a few YouTube videos that I can show to help evoke emotions, as well as create specific scenarios with inside information. For example, a friend of mine just broke up with her boyfriend. If I showed her a picture of her ex-boyfriend with another girl, what would come across her face? Would she be sad or angry? Perhaps jealous? I can also incorporate two individuals into certain photographs if I decide to explore how emotions are effected from person to person. Here are two examples of emotions I would like to induce but can be interpreted differently by the viewer.

This will be challenging because it requires proper timing and also working with others which can cause more error. However, I think this will be a great way to evoke emotion, while incorporating photography strategies and challenging myself.

Eric Bates Photo Proposal

In my photo essay I will be trying to demonstrate the perspective of a modern young adult vs. the many subjects they take pictures of during an average day. How these subjects have been captured by their camera, but these people are standing there taking pictures as the world moves and occurs around them. While I do not think the frequency of taking pictures is necessarily a bad thing, I wish to shed light on the fact that concentrating on pictures themselves instead of the subject of the photo can lead to a person letting life pass them by.

Sunsets, animals, trees, and other everyday subjects are possible for this project. The photo will first be of the subject with filters and other adjustments, and the photographer will then be the subject of the second photo, standing in the middle of a busy sidewalk, or ignoring their friends.

The images produced should demonstrate the pretentious nature with which people produce images as if they are works of art, when in actuality they spent five minutes taking a picture and adding a photo. The picture of the photographer will then demonstrate the view from the subject. If it’s of a sunset, the person may be squinting into the light and be over exposed. If it were from the perspective of a pet the person may be seen differently depending on the type of animal (“slits” for a snake, black and white for a dog, or blurry for a hedgehog). This effect will show that while the person is trying to change and distort an image, the subject sees the photographer for how they truly look to them in that moment.

A regular smart phone will be used for the perspective of the photographer, just as this person would be using normally in this circumstance. Filters and quotes will be used accordingly to give the photo an “instagram”- feel. For the photograph from the perspective of the subject, many things will need to be done to make it more like their perspective. For example, through a hedgehogs eyes, everything is much more blurry so some type of plastic bag will be used to create a blur effect while the perspective of a sunset would need to be high up and have a huge amount of light coming from it. This could be done from a tree and and with a light above the camera.

A Playground; A Graveyard (Photo Essay Proposal)

The effects of loss can last a lifetime. When exposed to such loss at a young age, the minute details fade but the vividity of the emotion still lives on. As you grow up, you begin to see the effects of the loss in the years to come and watch as things deteriorate due to that loss, whether it be physical, mental, or emotional deterioration. My photo essay is going to focus on the loss of a family member and how that affects their loved ones and their surroundings in contrast to the appearance of that land and those people when they were alive.

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I grew up in a variety of places, one of them being the marsh. My grandparents only lived fifteen minutes away and when I was younger my grandmother would pick me up from school and take me to her house and babysit me until my mom got off from work at five. I am well acquainted with my grandparent’s backyard because of this and how it borders/goes off into the marsh. My grandparents used to have a duck pond, but it has become overgrown since my grandfather’s passing because my grandmother became too sick and too fragile to take care of it, so now it is covered in underbrush.
I think this will be part of my main focus because the many pictures I have of my childhood have the duck pond in clear view.
I also want to contrast my grandmother and my sister and I with images in the past, possibly in the style of re-creating family portraits in the same places, but in a different time.
I think this will show how loss affects surroundings in a physical sense by showing the overgrowth and the bare land of my grandparents’ backyard in the present. I think this will also show how loss affects surroundings in an emotional sense by seeing expressions and lack thereof in my grandmother’s features as well as my sister’s and mine.
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The tone I want to convey is one of a dream-state: foggy, blurred edges, shadow in the distance that you can’t make out anything except the outline. I want the viewer to see my edited pictures as if they were looking through a photo album of times past, a graveyard of memories and good times. However, I want the photos to be in muted earth colors, both outdoors and inside my grandmother’s home. I want a monotone feeling where nothing is too vivid color wise, but the focal point is detailed enough to bring forth some kind of emotion out of the viewer.
These aesthetic choices will show how time dulls memories and that life eventually takes over, whether it be the monotony of a job, moving on, or roots growing deeper on a tree with already scraggly branches.

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I am going to be using my iPhone as my medium for taking these pictures. It is more accessible to me than my digital camera and I feel that the pictures will be easier to edit with apps. Apps I chose where ones such as Afterlight, which details the photo but can still give it that dream-state filter. One I’m excited to experiment with is Ghost Lense, where you can add a transparent picture of yourself over a solid picture of yourself. I think that will be fun to play with because of the “haunting” feel that usually comes with loss pieces.

I like the idea of “A Playground; A Graveyard” because this backyard is where I grew up, though now it is like a demolition site. I’ve seen the underbrush and the overgrowth. Watched the fences rust and the grass grow to my knees. I’ve also seen these themes within people I’ve loved and I think loss ironically leaves growth, though not necessarily in all good ways.

Incapsulated – Photo Essay Proposal

For my photo essay, I plan to take everyone back in time by taking pictures of my hometown. I’ve lived in Pittsgrove, New Jersey since I was born, same house and all. It is a very small area where everyone knows each other for the most part. Much of Pittsgrove is covered in farmland and the rest with forests. I plan to capture the essence of the area and how the neighboring town, Elmer, is truly a time capsule. In contrast, much of the little “mom and pop” stores are also being abandoned due to lack of need in the area.

Many people only get to see Route 40 during the summer when making their way to the Jersey Shore. They see the two gas stations, a couple of banks, and the several pizza places. I’m planning on capturing the buildings and houses deeper within the town that help to make it unique. I want to draw focus to the things that the people in town find most important. A few examples include the little league baseball fields, the Methodist Church, the tire store, and Anderson’s Country Store. I also plan on contrasting the old with the new by capturing images of abandoned buildings and businesses. For those I may use the old furniture store, the rundown Nick’s Pizzeria, and the abandoned Ford dealer.

Since my photo essay will have a “going back in time” theme, I plan on showing that through different editing techniques. Most of my photos will probably have black and white or sepia filters applied to them to apply an older look. This will help me reinforce my contrasting idea too. The abandoned and rundown places will look as though they deserve to be in black and white while the very popular places will be captured to give it an older feel. It will help me show the progression of a small town. I also plan on using a lot of photography techniques. The use of line, depth, and the rule of thirds are three techniques I am sure I will utilize.

For my project, I plan on using my iPhone 5 to capture my photos. This camera, paired with certain editing applications, is very beneficial for me. I will be able to capture crystal clear images and even full sceneries with the use of the panorama function. I have a couple of editing applications already on my iPhone, but I plan on downloading more if I have trouble getting the desired look and feel. Using my iPhone 5 is best for me because it will all be right in my hand, everything from the camera to editing, and it is easy for me to use and upload or print photos.

Photo Essay Proposal

The point of my photo essay is to show people how much Ocean City, NJ, truly has to offer, even during the off-season. Many people hear “Ocean City” and automatically think summer time, but there is so much more to this place than just the things it offers during summer. For us locals, we find comfort there during the wintertime because we know how many other great things are available to us when the “Shoobies” aren’t in town and taking over.

I have already begun taking photos so I can get an overall feel of how they will all look when placed together in my photo essay. So far, I have photos of the boardwalk, showing lines and symmetry, the sand, showing different textures, the ocean, showing depth, the Christmas wreaths hanging in the middle of the street with buildings on both sides, showing framing, and the entrance to the beach through the sand dunes, showing framing, and the Ocean City water tower, showing precision. I also took some pictures of stores and restaurants, but I want to re-take some so that they fit a certain photography component. These are just some ideas I have thought about and snapped photos of so far.

It took me a while to decide how I want the images to “feel.” At first, I thought I would add a filter to all of them that make them look like the olden days. As we are all aware, the Jersey Shore has been around for quite some time, so I thought it would be cool to take current pictures of what it looks like, but add a filter to it that makes it look like it’s from in the past. After thinking about it, I changed my mind. I am almost positive that I am going to make all of the images look highly saturated. Ocean City deserves to look the best that it can because it truly is an amazing place, which is why I think having crystal clear and bright images is the way to go.

The technology I will use to record the images is my iPhone 6. This camera has so many great qualities that will only increase the excellence of my pictures, including: auto focus, true tone flash, auto image stabilization, panorama, burst mode, and timer mode. I will most likely use Instagram to add the filter that I want, which will most likely be X-Pro II. This filter always makes my images “pop,” and gives them the bright lift that they need. I believe that taking these photos with my iPhone 6 is the best bet for me because of how I want them to look when I am finished with them.

Mike Sullivan: Image Essay Proposal- “My iPhone > My Government”

The overall point of my project is going to be the government’s manipulation of the social structure. Discussing how the United States has become wrapped up in everything that is “important”. These decisions on importance are diametrically opposed to what the government is up to or what the globe is doing. It is in what the American people have placed value in that they miss the greater picture of where the government is behind it.

My subjects will be retro 3 3/4′ G.I.Joe action figures among various items that will illustrate the social manipulation. My selection of these action figures are multi-fold. One, they are known because of their title- “G.I.Joe: America’s Heroes”. This play on their intended role and the lack of power within the pictures will juxtapose itself. Two, the various figure’s dress allows it to double as the varied cultures and backgrounds within the US. And three, the actions figures allow for the interpretation of the abstract ideas I wish to convey. As the photographer, there is a level of intertextuality as I bend and mold the figures to fit my will, all to illustrate the bending and molding us as Americans are forced into.

The action figures will be centered around specific high profile items or ideals to show our small in terms of the product. I will be using products, franchises and Americana to get the best rounded showing of items. Contrasting the smallness of them and the epic proportion of the items they pine for will help convey my message.

My images will be delivered in saturated tones and darkened backgrounds as much as possible. The intention behind keeping the saturation high is to again stress the variations in the dress (and again, to in turn discuss the variation in cultures and backgrounds). I would like  to keep my images darker for the tone of a darker force manipulating behind the scenes (i.e. American government). I feel that these decisions will compliment the intentions of the topic as we all consider ourselves “individuals” with a vibrant coat we wear proudly, all the while being followed by the darkness to watch your moves.

My default chosen camera is the iPhone 5s since I have no access to better equipment. The pictures taken so far have shown the effects I intended. I will be using photo editing software, Fotor, which offers plenty of effective alteration options. The products I use work well with the subject and act as an ironic/hypocritical moment as the iPhone is an “essential” piece of lifestyle equipment and Fotor, which was a spotlighted editor by the App Store as the “editor you need to have”. So as the goal of highlighting our use of such products I am using them at the same time.