#also to be fair the 1950's one was in the most desolate part of the Oklahoma Panhandle so the options were limited

[baronmagikcarp]

About a month ago, my wife and I went to a nearby city for a short trip, just for fun. The city in question is not what you'd call a destination place, it was just out of state and somewhere neither of us had really been. We got a lot of, "Why there!?" from people. To which I honestly said, "We haven't been and it's not too far away."

Of course, people were still confused but we went and we had a great time. On the way home, my wife and I were laughing about the confusion people had and I realized something. I told my wife, "You know, I think it's because we really do make our own fun. We can go anywhere and find something to do."

This is quite true and I think it's something that can be taught. It's also really useful if you're broke but still want to do something. I'm going to give you a few ideas here that apply to both travel and local things to do.

1) Re-align what you think of as An Event. If you think of An Event as some huge production, then you'll have issues. An Event can be as simple as going to the park. If you need something to make it a bit different so it feels noteworthy, change it up a bit and go to the park with the intention of doing something out of the ordinary (fly kites, drum circle, sing, watch the stars come out, whatever).

2) Get signed up to tourism emails (local, state, etc). You'll see a lot of little festivals and stuff. Make a habit of going and looking at those tourism sites every couple of months and keeping track of stuff that looks interesting.

3) Check out local colleges/universities to see if they have any free productions going on. Really helpful if your local college has a performing arts program. Even if they're not free, often times they're really low cost.

4) Kill the cringe. If you see something that just seems silly, go anyway! Worse case, you leave early but you might end up having a ball. This also helps you keep an open mind.

5) Be flexible. This ties into #4 as well in that if you kill the cringe and are flexible, you'll try stuff you normally wouldn't think about trying. This is also really important when you travel. We usually end up talking with someone who's local while we're there and they could have some really cool suggestions. This last trip we ended up talking with a retail clerk for half an hour as he infodumped on us about places to eat. Every place we ate at he suggested and every single one was absolutely amazing.

6) Google Maps. Go to Google Maps, center it over your area (or wherever you're going) and type what you're wanting to do. Keep it short and sweet. For example, I just did this today looking for performing arts theaters in my area. I typed in "Theater" and hit go. I had to sort out the movie theater places but I still found at least one performing arts theater I'd never heard of in my area. Suggestions to try are Parks, Theaters, and Museums. You'll sometimes see groupings as well, like a couple of museums and theaters close together and that gives you a hint to go and look in that district of town for more stuff.

7) Last but not least, keep a positive attitude. Everything might end up sucking on whatever outing you went on but that's not the end of the world. Just know when to cut your losses and bounce. At least you might get a good story out of it.

[nicklasfosterphotgraphy-blog]

Week 10

Editorial Activity:

1)    What aspect of the article does the image illustrate? Does the image help you visualize one particular part of the text?

The selected image depicts the part of the article that speaks about the thousands of families forced to migrate across wastelands. I definitely think the image selected helps visualize the particular part of text because as you can see, the drought has caused the dirt on the ground to kick up and create clouds of dust from the migrants and their livestock. If there was rain, perhaps it would not be this dusty. Moreover, you can tell from the barren trees that there has not been any rainfall for quite some time.

 2)    In what light does the image present that aspect of the article that it illustrates? What comment does the image make about that aspect of the written text?

I think the image presents a very accurate light over what the article is trying to depict. I would say the only discrepancy would be when the article states that livestock have been destroyed. In the image, the livestock seem to be alive and well. To be fair, we do not know at what point in the drought this was, but as previously mentioned, the trees do tell the truth that it may have been early. All in all, I think the image is an accurate representation of the article, albeit not the most provocative.

 3)    How does the image help you engage with the written text? In what ways does your chosen image influence how you understand the text?

I wouldn’t say my selected image influences how I understand the text; I strongly feel it is simply just a picture of what is happening. In other words, it may seem boring but it is the truth. Sometimes the truth is boring. My image is not as quite engaging as the others may be, due to the strong emotions you derive from viewing the images, but do you as the reader of an article want the accurate truth? Or do you want to be sensationalized as click-bait? I know I want the truth, no matter how boring.

Exhibition Analysis:

General Questions:

What does it mean to be an ‘outsider’?

I think an outsider means to not fit into a norm, or a clique. Most people in society fit into what we would call a “normal” person. Outsiders do not. The ironic thing is, by not fitting in, they actually are creating their own group, or norm, thus creating a clique where they fit in.

‘Difference’, different to what?

In this exhibition, I saw a recurring theme of people that are different. These people are different from what most would call the “norm”. They often do not have normal jobs, clothes, or lifestyles. A normal lifestyle is hard to describe, but it’s pretty much when you look at someone, judge them, and think wow this is odd.

 What do you recognize in the images?

It may be hard to believe, but I recognize myself. To clarify, I am not a homeless, deformed drug-addict. I live a very normal life: I go to university, I have a job, I have a loving family and girlfriend. However, what I believe is that no matter how normal each person may be, there is something about themselves that they may consider to be obtuse – whether they show / tell anyone is a different story. I think this exhibit, for me, showed me that everyone has their own corks and weird mannerisms that most people will never know about. Everyone has a bit of outsider within them.

 What upsets or disturbs you?

Nothing from the exhibit truly rattled my stomach and I consider myself to not have a strong stomach – I squirm at the sight of blood or self-harm. For me, the most upsetting thing about this exhibit was Jim Goldberg’s exhibit. The man eating what appeared burger in McDonald’s really turned my stomach. I am not sure whether it was the manner he was eating his food or perhaps it was simply how he viewed his life. He had people that were willing to help him and instead of being thankful he brushed it off and was using them. He was so negative about himself that he didn’t even want to become better. As a human, that is a sad prospect for me to grasp.

 Is it OK for the photographer to take these pictures? Why/why not?

I do not have an issue with the photographers taking these photographs as long as they have an understanding of the intentions. For me, it would be ethically wrong to befriend these characters to let their guard down just to take a few photographs. I think it is more than okay to document how these people live their lives – just be ethical.

 Does it become more OK when the photographer gets to know the people?

As previously stated, as long as both parties are aware of the goal and the motive, I believe it is entirely okay to get to know the subjects. However, with that being said, I feel if the subject’s situation is extremely desolate, the photographer has a duty to offer help. It would be wrong for the photographer to solely benefit off the poor situation of their subjects while the subjects who made the art what it was get no benefits. That is not fair in my eyes. If you were motivated enough to illustrate their horrible situations, you should be more than motivated to help them as you witnessed firsthand.

Name of Project: Brooklyn Gang

Name of Photographer: Bruce Davidson

Year(s) Photographs were taken: 1959

 1)    What is the relationship between the photographer and his subject(s)?

Bruce Davidson, the photographer, made it a point to always try to befriend or integrate himself into who / what he was photographing. In the case of his series Brooklyn Gang, he spent months befriending The Jokers, a local gang of outsiders from New York. He would spend time with them at Coney Island, the candy shop, etc.

 2)    What aspects of their lives has the photographer chosen to highlight?

Bruce Davidson chose to highlight just the normal life of The Jokers. They would just do normal things young people would do: go to the beach, the candy shop, Coney Island. However, it was their “wayward” behavior that made them outsiders. It very much reminded me of the book, The Outsiders, were there were two group of people. The Jokers were that, a bit unorthodox compared to the lifestyle in the 1950s.

 3)    What is the relationship between the images and the captions? How does that influence how you look at the images?

In the selected images above, you can see two photographs with both captions untitled. It also has the location of New York City, but we already know this from the title of the series as well as the literature accompanying the series. I feel the “Untitled” caption is simple for a reason. I think these photographs are not anything special. What I mean by that is Davidson spent months with The Jokers, if this was a special occasion, I am sure there would be a title. The fact that it is untitled, probably means this happened quite frequently. Why would you caption something that was routine?

 4)    Is there anything in this photographic project that you find problematic or that you think is worth of praise, or both? What makes it so – style, subject itself, a combination of both, other?

I think Bruce Davidson should get a lot of praise. I like the way he makes it clear his intentions are to implement himself into a lifestyle and successfully portrays what it was like to be in The Jokers. Not only the extravagant, special occasion occurrences, but the everyday life of The Jokers. Their emotions are lifestyles are immensely captured. His style was what drew me to this series.

Photograph Assignment:

Take a portrait of a stranger:

Portrait of you taken by a stranger:

The experience of asking someone to take their photograph was difficult for me. I believe that one of the main reasons for that was my lack of camera. After walking home from class on Wednesday, I saw multiple opportunities to ask strangers to take a picture. However, I felt weird due to the fact I do not have an actual camera; I only have my phone. My thought process would be: “Wow, this guy is in a photography class and doesn’t own a camera. This doesn’t add up, he must be a strange person”. I feel if you own a “real” camera, people would be more willing to be used as a participant rather than some strange guy asking to take a picture of them on his iPhone.

As for what I learned about photography: I learned that asking strangers to be subjects can be very difficult. Even the nicest, most accommodating strangers that permit you to use them for your photography homework can be difficult to arrange in the way that you want them to be. For example, in the image that I captured of the stranger, the subject did not want to move from where he was standing because behind me was the main part of the bar area. He did not want the flash to go off and everyone to look at him. Being a stranger, and him letting me use his phone (for portrait mode on iPhone), I did not push him to do anything he felt uncomfortable with. This week I learned that photography can help you be more confident in being in awkward scenarios that help you grow as a person.