Ad Buster

The original ice cream advertisements were separate and without the text. Separately they do not address the racial component, but when put together, a different message emerges. Initially, the bodies made of dripping ice cream attempts to pull in a sexual, sensual aspect to the ice cream experience. The ad designers use the universal sexual stimulus to draw in consumers. However, when looked at together, the images become much more violent in nature. The dripping ice cream becomes blood. The added textual component underscores the original ice cream advertisement, but also implants the violent word "scream," which brings out the intended racial message of this ad buster. While the African American woman is screaming for chocolate, she is facing the other direction, symbolizing a history of having backs turned on the African American cause. The Caucasian woman on the other hand is facing forward, directly staring down the camera, symbolizing the history of dominating white supremacy. Both are screaming for their own race, and history can attest to this realism. The dripping naked bodies tell the story of racial violence, and the compassion and pain that were a large part of it.

Body Image

           This photographic series explores the pressures felt by adolescents about their body. Modern media has created a specific ideal body type that is projected in every movie, TV show, advertisement, or presentation. This constant bombardment of the ideal figure eventually makes most people aspire to it, whether they consciously made the decision or not. It puts incredible pressure on younger generations to fit this ideal figure, when those few who are happy with their body no matter what are much happier overall. The media benefits from projecting this image because then men and woman alike rush out to buy workout equipment or join gyms. But those who can’t afford these things and don’t understand the health problems are left to anorexia or bulimia. These cases are generally in adolescents.

            My interest in this topic was founded in my younger brothers body image problems. He is thirteen, and in the awkward, pimply, chubby tummy stage. He is stronger than a lot of adolescents who I have seen tumble into a spiral of depression and health issues (largely girls) when it comes to their body image. But it still cripples him. He refuses to where just swim trunks when swimming, but also a swim shirt to cover his rolls. We all have been conditioned to be a little disgusted with that image, which is itself a problem. One’s health is something to take care of, but certain people can’t be stick thin. And some people become too thin in the journey to look more like Angelina Joli, who has suffered through her own body image problems. This pressure comes from agents, employers, family, friends, and the media. It’s impossible to escape.

            When creating my images, I was influenced by the styles of Carrie Mae Weems with her inlaid text over existing images, as well as Lorna Simpson and her compilations of photos with text. I wanted to make another image similar to Lorna Simpson’s Necklines and use several words that make people instinctively think of a negative body image (namely “fat”) over a spread of photos with varying body types with the heads cropped off. I wasn’t able to find enough photos to make it work though. 

Hiking Documentary

They followed a path, but it was much more than that. 

They conquered the world, with only their shoes and determination. 

A journey it was, a joyful exploration of the wild.

Families laughed, children tormented mothers, and nature was discovered.

The bliss of freedom, of a purpose, of open air.

Happy faces and triumphant hearts,

culminating in a grand view of the world.

Young and old,

healthy and sick,

all brought together by the success of a passion.

Element 2 - Shape

I chose to do shape as my second element because the shape of the whirligig really inspired me originally. The unique hollow swirls gave the object a seemingly different shape from every angle. One difficulty I had with this project was that a single photo can be composed of multiple elements, so there is some overlap between perspective and shape since the shape changes depending on your perspective! The first photo should be stared at for a while to feel the full weight of the shape. It takes the eyes a second to appreciate the background swirls over the pool water.

Element 1 - Lighting

Lighting was a given for my object and location. The time of shooting was ideal for an interesting result in lighting and the color of the object reflected the setting sun nicely against the background of cloud and leaves. Most of my photos ended up showing elements of light, but these three were my favorite. The cloud background for the bottom photo really jumped out at me. It seems to me that the darker monsoon clouds towards the bottom give the photo a menacing echo.

Photographic Perspectives

I chose as my object this whirligig my mom has had for years. My dad's happy that it's finally being put to some sort of purpose. I placed it in a tree in my parents backyard which offered multiple perspectives. I waited for just before sunset for the best lighting, and ended up shooting more than 100 photos. I liked my object because it offered many different options for angle. Being 3D but not solid gave me many new windows into perspective. The location I chose also was ideal because I was able to get in it, over it, under it, and all around it. My only problem with it was the patio furniture and the house sometimes got in the way of an otherwise great shot.