My photo essay is called A Weekend in the Life of a College Student. The inspiration came from my roommates. I
came home and told them about this assignment and how I was struggling to think
of an idea. I told them my only idea was about Penelope but all the pictures
were most likely going to be too similar and they couldn’t be so I was back to
square one. Then we started discussing our weekend plans and my roommate I
share my room with, Natasha, said, “What about your weekend?” Then the light
bulb went off! A college kid’s weekend! They are always depicted in movies and
books but are so unrealistic. I thought this way I could tell a story about a college
weekend that is actually believable, parties and drinking and all!
The process of this creation was
both fun and interesting but also challenging because I never can decide on a
topic for a project right away like everyone else. It was fun because I got to
go out and live my normal life on the weekend and include my roommates and
friends. It was interesting because I wanted to observe other college students at
parties to see if they did the same things I did so my story would be accurate.
It was also challenging because I couldn’t think of a topic right away and I
changed my idea once after our first blog post was due about our idea. Also, it
was hard to take pictures at a party where the lights were off and everyone was
drinking and being obnoxious. I would have to use flash and then people would
look at you funny because you used flash and that goes against the norm. I
overcame the challenge of wondering if what I did at parties and on the weekend
compared to other by going to social media and looking at other college student’s
profiles, ranging from people I know really well to people that came up on my Facebook
on friends I may know that I recognized from class. I overcame the obstacle of
using my flash by taking the picture of Natasha and I in the bathroom, it had
better lighting anyway and I could control my phone. Asking someone else to
take our photo usually ended up in a drunken blur.
One artistic choice I made while
constructing this project was taking out several photos that I thought would be
perfect for this but once I started it I realized they didn’t fit like I
thought they would. Another artistic choice I made was to make it on PowerPoint
with a black background. This was because the reader can look through it as
fast or as slow as they would like on that application. I chose the black
background because it is easier for someone to read white on black. I also
think it makes my pictures pop since they are mainly light and bright in color.
This kind of storytelling is so
unique because everyone has a different perspective and sees things
differently. I might see my photo one way while someone else sees it completely
different than what I indented and I love that about this. I love the fact that
the different perspective can tell a different story depending on how you look
at something. The medium offers the advantage of your own interpretation while
also getting the story.
During this creation I learned that
a photo essay is way more than just photos with captions! It takes time and
planning! I learned that you pick the story before the photos and once you take
the photos angles matter. I will take the time and planning with me after I
leave this class. Finally I take the lesson that things have more than one
meaning from different perspectives from this class.
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