I learned of a park,
not too far away
where pictures could be taken,
for a photo essay.
As a drove through the city,
To find this urban sanctuary,
I’m not going to lie,
I was a bit wary.
Upon finding the park,
I breathed a sigh of relief,
“This is what I’ve come for”!
A Film class 150 motif!
The park was so large and vast,
A hill so immense,
A shadow, it cast.
The sun was shining,
The air was clean,
The fears a had before,
Seemed rather obscene.
As I looked around,
There was not a soul in sight,
Except for my trusty group members,
And the birds in-flight.
It wasn’t before long,
That we heard a joyous sound,
The laughter of children,
We turned quickly around,
What we saw was unexpected,
A group of young ones,
With smiles from ear to ear,
And a woman who ran a daycare,
Was able to make it very clear,
That the area we were in,
Was not just a park,
This was her home,
A community landmark.
And when she went to bed,
She knew her family was secure,
And this was just one of the things,
She was able to assure.
From talking to this woman,
We were able to learn,
The history of this block,
So that it was easy to discern,
That this neighborhood,
Is able to inspire,
The sort of change,
We all can admire.
Friday, April 24, 2009
Photo Essay - Artist Statement
From doing this photo essay I was able to learn things about Johnson’s Park that truly made me understand how important this project really is. After seeing the park and where the park was actually located, it was amazing to me to see beautiful piece of land in the middle of a very urban area. It was like a mini Central Park for Milwaukee. After talking to a couple members of the community, my group members and I were able to hear the stories and experiences they had in this area. We talked to one man who bought his lot for a dollar, which was something that the city offered when they were rebuilding the area!
What inspired me to really get started on this essay, was a woman we came across while exploring the park. This woman ran a daycare right out of her home in the community. She had built her house recently, and was kind enough to let us in to see her daycare facility in her remodeled basement and also the rest of her home. The house was a beautiful and she went on to tell us how much the area has changed over the years. She felt confident in raising her family in an area that was once considered very dangerous. She told us how great it was for her to be able to sit on her porch at night, and not worry about her safety.
I put this essay together by just going to the park taking a bunch of pictures of the park and the houses that surrounded it. It was fairly simple to use my camera to take pictures, but I’m thankful to have it because it would have been hard to describe the things I saw with only words. By taking pictures I didn’t have to explain things in detail because I have nice illustrations to go along with my poem.
I choose to do a poem because I thought it would be something that was a lot different than what I was used to doing. The whole idea of Johnson’s Park and how far this neighborhood had come reminded me of a fairy tale, so what better way to tell the story! It was definitely harder to write a poem about my experience there, but I like the way it turned out; even if it was a little dorky.
What inspired me to really get started on this essay, was a woman we came across while exploring the park. This woman ran a daycare right out of her home in the community. She had built her house recently, and was kind enough to let us in to see her daycare facility in her remodeled basement and also the rest of her home. The house was a beautiful and she went on to tell us how much the area has changed over the years. She felt confident in raising her family in an area that was once considered very dangerous. She told us how great it was for her to be able to sit on her porch at night, and not worry about her safety.
I put this essay together by just going to the park taking a bunch of pictures of the park and the houses that surrounded it. It was fairly simple to use my camera to take pictures, but I’m thankful to have it because it would have been hard to describe the things I saw with only words. By taking pictures I didn’t have to explain things in detail because I have nice illustrations to go along with my poem.
I choose to do a poem because I thought it would be something that was a lot different than what I was used to doing. The whole idea of Johnson’s Park and how far this neighborhood had come reminded me of a fairy tale, so what better way to tell the story! It was definitely harder to write a poem about my experience there, but I like the way it turned out; even if it was a little dorky.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Media Literacy - "The Irony of Advertisment"
Both of the photos that I chose to write about had very obvious similarities. Upon first looking at the photos the reader notices the billboard first. Large bold letters exclaim a message of enthusiasm and promise. But after looking further past the intial evident message, the viewer will start to notice the irony of the billboards’ roll in the photograph as a whole. The messages soon starts to take on a different form, one that is in stark contrast with the intended significance.
The theme that I am aknowledging in my essay is that of the billboards that appear in both photographs. So firstly I am going to address the message being delivered by the advertisment. In both billboards people who are clearly “Americans”, that is to say Caucasian, are expressing their nationalism.
At the Time of the Louisville Flood (Margaret-Bourke White, 1937) features the billboard saying “World’s Highest Standard of Living” and then a line of African Americans that appear to be waiting outside some type of homeless shelter. White took this photograph in 1937 in Louisville, Kentucky for Time magazine right after a flood that left many people homeless. Without really having to edit anything at all, she displays and even humiliates, the idea of the “American Way”.
Lighting is a very important part of this image. Our eyes are immediately drawn to the billboard because of its brightness and it’s darker contrasted bold letters displaying a proud message. This lighting which is done on purpose to contrast with the rest of the picture is used to create a happy feeling and puts a carefree aura about life in the United States. In contrast below the billboard there is a line of African Americans, who are dark and sort of in the shawdows of the billboard. This darkness creates of feeling of remourse and depression. Billboard (John Vachon, 1948) uses a billboard as a center piece similarly to At the Time of the Louisville Flood. This photograph is manipulated by lighting as well. The billboard is a light color captioned by dark letters that deliver a message of hatred for racist and religious prejudice.
Another key element to the photos is the people who appear candidly in the midst of these billboards. In the photo At the Time of the Louisville Flood most of the people are not looking at the camera but simply facing forward to see what awaits them at the end of the line. However, there are a couple faces that are directly looking at the camera. The look of oppression on the face of a woman who is looking at the camera embodied the gerneral feeling of the group she is with. My feeling is that most of the people in the photograph are so used to seeing propaganda like this billboard so they hardly notice that it is there. My absolute favorite part of this photo is the man that is looking at the billboard, not at the camera at all. To me its like this guy is looking at this advertisment for the first time and is completely confused as to why it is there. No one in the photo could relate to the message being delivered and this fact serves as retort to whoever placed the billboard there. The same is true in the Billboard image. The few people in the Billboard are obviously in a poor African American community where there could not be much relation to the small white boy featured in the ad.
Framing is also a very important part of these images. The whole span of the photograph is sure to include the entire billboard. This is done so that the viewer looks at that first, and then later sees the other hidden message. I feel as though the photographer is trying to say, “look at this great billboard. It would probably look even better if these people weren’t blocking it”. After I learned about the purpose of the photo I started to understand the message at a different angle.
The irony of both billboards featured in these images is that the people who are viewing these advertisments could never relate to these images and could not support the message being delivered at all. These advertisments did not promote cultural diversity, but by use of framing and lighting, photographers were able to use these billboards to promote the real message.
The theme that I am aknowledging in my essay is that of the billboards that appear in both photographs. So firstly I am going to address the message being delivered by the advertisment. In both billboards people who are clearly “Americans”, that is to say Caucasian, are expressing their nationalism.
At the Time of the Louisville Flood (Margaret-Bourke White, 1937) features the billboard saying “World’s Highest Standard of Living” and then a line of African Americans that appear to be waiting outside some type of homeless shelter. White took this photograph in 1937 in Louisville, Kentucky for Time magazine right after a flood that left many people homeless. Without really having to edit anything at all, she displays and even humiliates, the idea of the “American Way”.
Lighting is a very important part of this image. Our eyes are immediately drawn to the billboard because of its brightness and it’s darker contrasted bold letters displaying a proud message. This lighting which is done on purpose to contrast with the rest of the picture is used to create a happy feeling and puts a carefree aura about life in the United States. In contrast below the billboard there is a line of African Americans, who are dark and sort of in the shawdows of the billboard. This darkness creates of feeling of remourse and depression. Billboard (John Vachon, 1948) uses a billboard as a center piece similarly to At the Time of the Louisville Flood. This photograph is manipulated by lighting as well. The billboard is a light color captioned by dark letters that deliver a message of hatred for racist and religious prejudice.
Another key element to the photos is the people who appear candidly in the midst of these billboards. In the photo At the Time of the Louisville Flood most of the people are not looking at the camera but simply facing forward to see what awaits them at the end of the line. However, there are a couple faces that are directly looking at the camera. The look of oppression on the face of a woman who is looking at the camera embodied the gerneral feeling of the group she is with. My feeling is that most of the people in the photograph are so used to seeing propaganda like this billboard so they hardly notice that it is there. My absolute favorite part of this photo is the man that is looking at the billboard, not at the camera at all. To me its like this guy is looking at this advertisment for the first time and is completely confused as to why it is there. No one in the photo could relate to the message being delivered and this fact serves as retort to whoever placed the billboard there. The same is true in the Billboard image. The few people in the Billboard are obviously in a poor African American community where there could not be much relation to the small white boy featured in the ad.
Framing is also a very important part of these images. The whole span of the photograph is sure to include the entire billboard. This is done so that the viewer looks at that first, and then later sees the other hidden message. I feel as though the photographer is trying to say, “look at this great billboard. It would probably look even better if these people weren’t blocking it”. After I learned about the purpose of the photo I started to understand the message at a different angle.
The irony of both billboards featured in these images is that the people who are viewing these advertisments could never relate to these images and could not support the message being delivered at all. These advertisments did not promote cultural diversity, but by use of framing and lighting, photographers were able to use these billboards to promote the real message.
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