WP 1: Pre-Writing Assignment 2

John Collier Jr., the photographer of the photo of the farmland in Catskill country in New York State, was a brilliant photographer.  He knew exactly what he wanted in the picture when he was looking through his viewfinder.  At the time this photo was taken, there was not a whole lot Collier could have done in terms of editing his shots after he took them.  This meant he was thinking about the coloration, framing, lighting, focus, and cropping as he was shooting his photos.  Some cropping could be done but there was no such thing as photoshop in the 1930's.

The vectors of attention in my photo start with the buildings in the foreground.  These are the first objects that catch your eye so this would naturally be the starting point.  As I discussed in our first pre-writing assignment, The flow, or vectors draw us through the green pastures, past clusters of trees, with all of this eventually taking us to the mountains on the horizon.  By taking our eyes on this journey, Collier takes us through a beautiful and obviously quite picturesque countryside of the Catskill area in New York.  We can see the beauty and simplicity of a farm in the 1930's.

The fact that this photo is in color also makes a statement.  This was fairly new for the times and there are not a lot of color photographs from this era.  When you think of the Great Depression era photos, images of breath taking countryside do not come to mind.  The norm for photos of this time was that of somber workers working for low wages to try and make ends meet for their families.  These would also be done in black and white film.  These photos would definitely stand out against photos of that nature.  This would have been done on purpose.  Collier's purpose for his photography was to show America America.  These color photos would show the beauty found on the east coast.

As with most landscape photos, the entire photo is in focus.  This allows us to be able to see the entire landscape; from the buildings in the foreground to the mountains in the distance.  The focus also lends itself to the purpose of the photo.  The purpose is to show the landscape of a farm.  If the purpose was to document old farm buildings, the focus and framing would be a little different.  The photo would not track to the landscape.

The lighting is also important here.  Since it is not so easy to control the lighting over such a great area such as in a landscape like this, time of day is important for the photo.  It is clearly sometime in mid-day. There is no evidence of sunrise or sunset.  The focus was to be on the land and the rolling hills leading to the mountains.  The sky does not really draw from the over all effect of the photo.  It does however, add to it.  It adds to the vastness and beauty of the land that Collier wanted to capture when he documented the Catskill country.

WP 1: Pre-Writing Assignment 1

This photo was taken on a farm in the Catskill Country of New York State around the time of World War II. The buildings shown in the photo are made of what appear to be just simple materials, wood and metal. These buildings would have been used to store things. The silo would have held some sort of grain and the barn would be used to store hay. From the looks of the picture, I would say that this farm primarily raised some sort of livestock. The abundance of pasture and grazing land in the background would lend itself to this idea. This could also mean that the smaller building on the right side of the picture is a chicken coup or something of that nature. As I looked more closely at the picture, I noticed further in the background what could be a field of some sort. This would make sense as even farms that would deal primarily with animals needed to feed those animals and the family.

I chose this picture for a couple of reasons. I am from a small farm based community myself so that drew me to this genre of photo. The thing that caught my eye about this photo was the wide open space that it shows. You can see for miles in the background. All the way to what appear to be the mountains. That seamlessly moves your attention to the wide open sky. There are only a few clouds in it and it is a soft blue. The varying hues of the grass also tell something. The brown patches in the foreground look like they may be well traveled by equipment and animals. The same could be true with those same spots in the background. When I began to analyze the hues, I noticed how the buildings look worn and weathered.

As I mentioned before, I am from a rural community so this picture is somewhat comforting to me. It looks like a calm summers day, maybe sometime in the morning. I put myself in the picture and I think it would be very quiet and serene. The smells, both good and bad, of the farm would be present, from feed to grass. There would be the sound of animals and possible that of workers tending to their chores. The people that lived here would be very hard working and a fair assumption could be made that a family with many children lived here. This would provide laborers for the farm.

This photograph is put together very well. It has tremendous depth. It gives the audience or viewers a real sense of what the land is like in upstate New York. It captures that "American" feeling from early in the 20th century of hard work. It uses a visual hierarchy to draw your eye from the buildings, through the pasture land, and back to where the mountains meet the sky. As with most landscape photographs, the entire picture is in focus. This means that there is no part of the picture that is singled out by the photographer. There is a reason for them to do that.

Weekly Blog Post 7

I was very little when I had my first experience with photography. As most younger children do, I loved to play with my parents camera. This first one I remember playing with was one of those older, flat, rectangular 120mm cameras that you had to wind to advance the film. My brother and I would beg our parents to load it up so we could shoot pictures all around the house. As I got older, my interest in photography continued.

When I was in the 7th grade, I was part of an honors program at our school that allowed us to enroll in summer classes varying in subject from forensic science to building models with legos. That year I chose to take the photography class. We used black and white 35mm film. We learned the basics of photography in that class. We learned how to manually use a camera, something that has been lost in todays digital camera age. We even had to develop our own film in a real darkroom. Once we knew the equipment and how to make our pictures, we learned how to create a good picture. The instructor taught us how to frame and focus our shots for effect. She taught us shooting angles and how to use them. It was a week long crash course in photography and I loved it.

As the years went on, I did not pursue photography. In fact I had not shot any pictures since that class. Then in my senior year of high school I needed another elective course and saw photography and decided it looked like an easy "A". This class was centered more on digital photography and the different things you could utilize with this medium. It really is almost a completely different form of art from 35mm cameras. Many more things can be done with the finished products on computers. The class did help me to take better photographs with a digital camera and understand its capabilities.

I have always been interested in photography. When I have time I love shooting pictures. It is a great thing to be able to do. I like have an decent amount of knowledge on the subject as well. It has helped me to shoot some pretty good pictures and I am sure it will help in the future.

Weekly Blog Post 6

"American Ride" starts off with the image of Toby Keith riding his Harley down a highway and as they ride past a sign that says "Welcome to the United States of America". As they pass the sign the construction of the video changes. It evolves into the still shot animation that will take us on Keith's "American ride".

The images that fallow are a series of very fast moving animations that for the most part illustrate Keith's lyrics. This animation along with the lyrics gives the feel that this song is not too be taken too seriously. This is ironic as the song talks about and shows many difficult issues facing our society. The video continues in the listen and see format. During the chorus of the song, Keith takes this opportunity to get some extra information thrown at you. For example in the background of him riding through the countryside, you can see silos turning into factory smokestacks billowing pollution. During this same time later in the song is where Keith gets in his political digs with former President Bush and President Obama.

The fact that the music and tone of Keith's voice is very upbeat and "cheery" would make one think that it is a song that would reflect that. However, if you listen to the lyrics and look at the images for even thirty seconds, you will see that is clearly not the case. Keith uses this to play off the gravity of these issues. He wants to show America what we have become and there is no better way to do that than to make fun of something. That is why such emotion is drawn from Toby Keith's music.

Keith strengthens his argument with these techniques. First he couples the lyrics with the images and when the audience is drawn in, he really lays into some heavy subjects. When he plays off these serious subjects, it will stir up emotion and make people talk which is Keith's main objective as well as give his position on subjects. Everyone feels a specific emotion after viewing this video and Toby's position is clear from his lyrics. The ending scene is almost a slap in the face as the posse rides off leaving the sign behind that reads "Thanks for visiting America... Ya'll come back now". The politeness and hospitality serves as a reminder as to what was just seen on our American ride.

Weekly Blog Post 5

As it is with most music and music videos, Toby Keith's "American Ride" is taking things around us and exploiting them. In this video, Keith uses various forms of logos, ethos, and pathos to entertain his audience with a little bit of humor on some subject that are very touchy to some people in today's society. The combination of media, video and music in this case, present an even more ways to employ these ideas.

Ethos and pathos are two somewhat connect ideas so that is where this will begin. Keith has always been one to stir up emotions and in this video he accomplishes just that. He presents his arguments in a way that will raise different emotions. He uses both the images in the video and the lyrics of his song to do this. The way that the video was made also adds to the emotional aspect of this video. The broken still shot animation makes the video seem less serious. It almost characaturizes the situation and people he talks about. If the video were just regular pictures or videos it would evoke a whole different set of emotions. Keith's lyrics also add to the emotional aspect of the video. "I love this American ride" is not exactly what I would say after seeing all of the corrupt or immoral things that are brought up in the video. This makes the audience feel like he is "calling out" the problems in our society. Pathos leads to what we see in Toby Keith. It has never been a secret that he loves to speak about what he feels. It is clear what his position is when you watch the video. A quick google search of Toby Keith will provide you with articles questioning his lyrics in many of his songs.

The last idea is logos. As I discussed before, Keith sets up this entire presentation to evoke emotion. From his lyrics to the images of past and present issues our society has faced. He chooses to use some humor and irony to cause a stir among people.