Portrait Assignment

Taking portraits for an assignment is something I have never done. I have taking pictures of friends and family in every day to day life, but not for the reason of knowingly making it a portrait. This first photo I selected is of my friend Erin. I wanted to capture a “drunken night.” It is not a very attractive photo but it captures the moment. She is looking, but her eye does not focus completely focus. The blurriness of the photo also adds to a drunken, dizzy feel.
The next photo I selected was of a young girl staring at herself in the mirror. Her reflection also comes out in the background in a back mirror. This photo has many layers. I was also attracted to the all white layout of the photo. Her face is not happy and can be taken as serious, sad, or many other emotions to be interpreted by the viewer. Lastly is my favorite photo. My model is sitting on the floor of a porch looking forward. The textures surrounding her are very earthlike, and contrast her black, cocktail dress. Also the positioning of her body flows with the geometric lines of the architecture. That is why I was drawn to these photos.

Service- Learning

This is the first time I have participated in Service- Learning, and I like it. Here are a couple of reasons why!

In a traditional classroom it is highly disciplined. As a student it is our responsibility to listen to the teacher’s lessons, take notes, and ask questions. Also papers are assigned for us students to see if we understand and can apply what we learned from our text books. It is the teachers’ responsibility to follow the curriculum and grade all assignments. These classes are not hands on, and there is a lot of memorization with plenty of tests and quizzes to check it.
With community based experiences you are not learning from just the teacher, but from everyone involved. Instead of just memorizing information you have to be able to apply it to real world scenarios. I feel as a student this is a better way to learn. One cannot just forget the material after a test, because it is continually used throughout these experiences. In this type of class the student has to be responsible in out of class work to be prepared for interacting with the community. But this challenge is more exciting, instead of just sitting in a desk and writing down what you know. The teacher does have to be very observant in these classes to make sure the students do know what they’re doing, and do not offend anyone in the community. The lesson plan is very different, compared to a lecture style class.

The Photographer's Eye

In class we read “The Photographer’s Eye,” which looked into how and why photographs look the way they do. It was not full of text, but simple descriptions. It is also full of old, famous pictures. He selected and sequenced photographs drawn from the history and range of the medium. The book also points out the challenges all photographers face. No matter what their level is.
I liked Charles Negre’s “Henry Le Secq at Notre Dame Cathedral”, Paris. 1851. Calotype. The eye goes directly to the gargoyle. Normally this ancient architectural style is bleak and cold to me, but this picture I found humorous. There is also a man standing next to the gargoyle on the balcony. The gargoyle seems more alive than the man. The gargoyle is larger and you can see some of his features, which overpower the man. The man is smaller and close to resembling a silhouette. Having more presense and character the gargoyle gives off more of a sense of life. From the man we can tell he has a beard, top hat, and suit. He looks powerful or wealthy.
I like that the vantage point is equal to the balcony of the man and gargoyle, which is high above the city. The shadow casted off the gargoyle and upon the man puts him into a silhouette, taking away some human characteristics. Also the blurry background of the city makes the architecture of the building stand out.

My question: Was it planned that the gargoyle would look more humanistic than the man? Is it meant to be scary and chilling, or funny?