WP1: Final Project

Author's Statement

When thinking through aspects of our first writing project I had to decide from which side I wanted to present my project. I did the practice writing assignments with the rest of the class; however I didn’t feel I was adequately presenting the intended arguments of the photographers. I have a hobby for taking pictures of different types, normally pictures that do not include people. It was a great opportunity to experiment with this project and learn how points and arguments can be rhetorically presented through certain aspects of an image. So the choice of doing the photo essay was not all too difficult to decide. I was able to sift through pictures that I have taken, select a common theme and topic, and decide how I could manipulate each photo to better reach my point and argument.

After choosing a series of ten photos, I took into consideration my anticipated argument and used the parts of the photo that I wanted to alter to enhance the photo. Some of these I did initially when I took each photo, wanting to get the part of the landscape that appealed me most. I had to place them together in an aesthetically appealing way that would stand as the base of my argument. When I was finished with the placement, and captions, of the photos I needed to form an author’s statement and a conclusion. In these I needed to explain the purpose of my essay and how I manipulated each photo to present pathos, ethos and other rhetorical devices, I also needed to give explanation as to why I chose each picture.

When I received input from my rough draft of my essay I had confused, or mixed up, my conclusion. I needed to switch them around to better set up the essay. It was necessary to switch them to the appropriate places. The author’s statement is used to describe what you wanted to accomplish with the essay and give some background to what you did. I instead told the audience what I had done to the photos. I went back and tried to switch them back to the right format and made some of my wording more professional to readers. In my previous drafts, my words and sentence structures were elementary in a way. For example in my rough draft I said, “I then tried to mess with the saturation….” I changed them and reworded for my final draft. I was also told, for future reference, that my photos were unsymmetrical and drew away from the essay itself. I know now if I choose to do another essay like it, I need to make certain to fix each image to make it add to my argument rather than causing distraction.

I feel that my final draft has improved from my previous projects. Each suggestion, and reading over it, helped me delve through what I needed to fix with each section. It was a good learning experience for me. I was able to learn how to better choose photos and how to use technical and aesthetic aspect to my benefit.

Final Draft

I tried to form a sense of serenity and peacefulness in my photo essay. I took different portions of my trip this summer, to four different parks in western Nebraska, and put them into this photo essay. Each landscape, and the trip itself, reminded me of the simple beauty of nature and how some of the simplest things are in fact very complicated and intricate in their own way. Each rock and element work together to build the bluffs in Fort Robinson and Chadron State Parks. Each toadstool in Toadstool Geologic Park was shaped by a shallow river that passed through the area. This river exposed fossils and the different levels of rock on the edges of the river bed. Through this photo essay I wanted to expose the natural beauty and impressive result of weathering, and just pure nature. Also the simplicity of landscape that still manages to awe and inspire people is viewed in my pictures. I tried to form a sense of pathos by trying to allow my audience and opportunity to relate to my pictures and get a deeper sense of meaning out of each tiny piece of the natural landscape located right here in Nebraska.

During my week long trip this summer I went to four parks. Chadron and Fort Robinson State Parks, Toadstool Geological Park, and Agate National Park, all of which are in Nebraska. Each Park had portions of land that were intensely beautiful. Portions were altered for visitors to experience the beauty. Beyond the fort at Fort Robinson is the bluffs where you can look out over the valleys, buffalo, and antelope. You can look back and over the fort itself and see how small it is compared to the nature around it. Following the badlands of Toadstool Geological Park an expanse of a tall grassland spreads outward from your point of view. In the midst of Agate National Park, there are cliffs to walk on, and fossil beds that hold the past.

I used these parks to capture scenes of peacefulness and serenity. Then I took into account brightness, hue and saturation. Differences in brightness, hue, and saturation alter the emotions we perceive from an image. For example, take the two different shades of blue, one dark and one light, the darker shade of blue generally evokes the emotion of sadness or calmness. In contrast, the lighter shade of blue makes the emotion more happy or upbeat. For example, in my ninth picture I made sure to not only get the sand hills surrounding Toadstool, but also the storm front that was coming in over the horizon. I felt that in contrast to the light sand color of the hills, the shades of blue in the sky would peak interest. I noticed the change in the shade of blues from left side of my view to the right where the storms had originated. That change was something I wanted to capture, so I focused on to that portion of the landscape to document it. Also, in my fifth photo I altered the shot so that the rock formations framed the grass and brush in the foreground and opened up the background into the sky with one or two clouds spotted amongst the bright blue color. I then tried to alter the saturation of the photo to enhance the greens, browns, and blues. In these photos I tried to bring about a cheerful and serene feeling to the audience. I did this by brightening the colors in some photos while in others making them seem more simple and basic. For the majority of the photos, I wanted each individual color to stand out. I felt it would bring about the feelings of awe and admiration for the landscape that I experienced while taking each image. The colors of each image, enhanced or natural, adds to the overall pathos to my essay. I intentionally avoided implementing dark color into my essay. I wanted my audience to experience an uplifted feeling.

In order to shape, or direct, the audience's view of my pictures I had to frame or crop out portions of my photos. And I kept in mind the aspects I wanted to appear in my photos to be noticed. I decided to keep my pictures from being too crowded with elements. When too many objects are in the image, the audience can get distracted from the purpose of the photo itself.

Each natural, or enhanced, aspect of my images work together to give the photo essay the outcome I wished to create. Through my visual hierarchy and simplicity I was able to establish logos. And through the images’ and landscapes’ color, hue, and brightness I was able to create a form of pathos, thus shaping the viewers experience.

1. Road wrapping around the curves of a bluff in Fort Robinson State Park leading to the valley bellow.	2. Rock structure at the top of a bluff at Fort Robinson State Park.
3. Large valley in on the edge of Fort Robinson in Fort Robinson, Nebraska.	4. Different colors of the rocks at the base of one of the dunes at Toadstool Geological Park.
5. Rock formations outlining the curve of the large river bed in Toadstool Geological Park.	6. Small ravine branching off a river bed in Toadstool Geological Park.
7. The wisps and curves of a cloud hanging above Toadstool Geological Park before a storm rolled through.	8. A larger, more expansive view of the smaller toadstools at Toadstool Geological Park.
9. Storm rolling over the dunes at Toadstool Geological Park.	10.Creek branching through Agate National Park in western Nebraska

In conclusion, I made each portion of my essay work together to gather the correct perception. With the photos from Toadstool Geological Park I wanted to gather the structure of the toadstools from the closer and more detailed aspect, to the larger view with the clouds and sky spreading far and wide. In the same respect, I did this with the majority of my photos. I exposed the expansive view but then showed aesthetically, the smaller parts that also add to the serenity. Each aspect in my essay works together like building blocks to develop a sense of calm and serenity. In addition to cropping and framing my photos, I also manipulated the colors and brightness of the pictures. In the majority of my photos, I made the contrast between colors greater allowing for an affect of awe. Like in my personal favorite photo, number eight, you can see the expanse of a portion of Toadstool Geological Park. The colors are bright and the contrast between the sky and the rocks themselves evokes the desired sense that I intended for this essay. While in photos one, two, nine, and ten, I made the colors less contrasted to show calm.

By manipulating the photos' color and using framing and cropping, I was able to establish my argument and aesthetically present it in a beneficial way.

Statement of Purpose

First Draft

Second Draft

Photo Essay:2

In this photo essay, I tried to manipulate each of my photos to give a different view and to show what I saw most from each scene. I decided to frame certain aspects of the scenery around me to get my desired view. I also tried play off of the natural color in some of these images, and alter some others.

Differences in brightness, hue, and saturation alter the emotions we perceive from an image. For example, take the two different shades of blue, one dark and one light, the darker shade of blue generally evokes the emotion of sadness or calmness. In contrast, the lighter shade of blue makes the emotion more happy or upbeat. For example, in my ninth picture I made sure to not only get the sand hills surrounding Toadstool, but also the storm front that was coming in over the horizon. I felt that in contrast to the light sand color of the hills, the shades of blue in the sky would peak interest. I noticed the change in the shade of blues from left side of my view to the right where the storms had originated. That change was something I wanted to capture, so I focused on to that portion of the landscape to document it. Also, in my fifth photo I altered the shot so that the rock formations framed the grass and brush in the foreground and opened up the background into the sky with one or two clouds spotted amongst the bright blue color. I then tried to mess with the saturation of the photo to enhance the greens, browns, and blues. In these photos I tried to bring about a cheerful and serene feeling to the audience. I did this by brightening the colors in some photos while in others making them seem more simple and basic. For the majority of the photos, I wanted each individual color to stand out. I felt it would bring about the feelings of awe and admiration for the landscape that I experienced while taking each image. The colors of each image, enhanced or natural, adds to the overall pathos to my essay. I intentionally avoided implementing dark color into my essay. I wanted my audience to experience an uplifted feeling. While I was on this trip observing each individual scene or landscape, I never felt any sadness or disgust with my surroundings. Instead, I felt inspired and in awe of how my surroundings became as intricate and detailed in their own way. The sharp contrast between city scenes and expansive non-materialistic landscape makes you think what it would have been like without all the skyscrapers, streets, and cars.

In order to shape, or direct, the audience’s view of my pictures I had to frame or crop out portions of my photos. And I kept in mind the aspects I wanted to appear in my photos to be noticed. I decided to keep my pictures from being too crowded with elements. For portions that distracted focus or were too busy, I cropped them out to focus on the portions that I felt were important. I gave each photo a focus and framed and cropped them to make those portions. In some cases, the different colors and shading influenced the visual hierarchy of the photo, more so than my cropping. In photo number six, the color and placement of the brush and vegetation outline the ravine leading down from the top of the rocks. The shades of green and brown highlight this ravine drawing and causing it to be the first thing that grabs your eye. In the same manner there is less concentration of larger rocks towards the lower portion of the image, so as the focus travels towards the lower portion of the image there is less concentration of rocks and the scene is a little more simplistic. As I said earlier, for some of my pictures I made the colors more basic and slightly faded out to cause the scene to be more simplistic and basic than some of the others. My first photo shows little contrast in color. The trees have a less bright green and the valley past the bluffs in the foreground are almost blended in with the sky on the horizon. However, the road wrapping around the curves stands out in contrast with the brown.

Each natural, or enhanced, aspect of my images work together to give the photo essay the outcome I wished to create. Through my visual hierarchy and simplicity I was able to establish logos. And through the images’ and landscapes’ color, hue, and brightness I was able to create a form of pathos, thus shaping the viewers experience.

1. Road wrapping around the curves of a bluff in Fort Robinson State Park leading to the valley bellow.	2. Rock structure at the top of a bluff at Fort Robinson State Park.
3. Large valley in on the edge of Fort Robinson in Fort Robinson, Nebraska.	4. Different colors of the rocks at the base of one of the dunes at Toadstool Geological Park.
5. Rock formations outlining the curve of the large river bed in Toadstool Geological Park.	6. Small ravine branching off a river bed in Toadstool Geological Park.
7. The wisps and curves of a cloud hanging above Toadstool Geological Park before a storm rolled through.	8. A larger, more expansive view of the smaller toadstools at Toadstool Geological Park.
9. Storm rolling over the dunes at Toadstool Geological Park.	10.Creek branching through Agate State National Park in western Nebraska

In conclusion, I tried to form a sense of serenity and peacefulness in my photo essay. I took different portions of my trip this summer, to four different parks in western Nebraska, and put them into this photo essay. Each landscape, and the trip itself, reminded me of the simple beauty of nature and how some of the simplest things are in fact very complicated and intricate in their own way. Each rock and element work together to build the bluffs in Fort Robinson and Chadron State Parks. Each toadstool in Toadstool Geologic Park was shaped by a shallow river that passed through the area. This river exposed fossils and the different levels of rock on the edges of the river bed. Through this photo essay I wanted to expose the natural beauty and impressive result of weathering, and just pure nature. Also the simplicity of landscape that still manages to awe and inspire people is viewed in my pictures. I tried to form a sense of pathos by trying to allow my audience and opportunity to relate to my pictures and get a deeper sense of meaning out of each tiny piece of the natural landscape located right here in Nebraska.

Photo Essay

In this photo essay, I tried to manipulate each of my photos to give a different view and to show what I saw most from each scene. I decided to frame certain aspects of the scenery around me to get my desired view. I also tried play off of the natural color in some of these images, and alter some others.

Differences in brightness, hue, and saturation alter the emotions we perceive from an image. For example, take the two different shades of blue, one dark and one light, the darker shade of blue generally evokes the emotion of sadness or calmness. In contrast, the lighter shade of blue makes the emotion more happy or upbeat. For example, in my fourth picture I made sure to not only get the sand hills surrounding Toadstool, but also the storm front that was coming in over the horizon. I felt that in contrast to the light sand color of the hills, the shades of blue in the sky would peak interest. I noticed the change in the shade of blues from left side of my view to the right where the storms had originated. That change was something I wanted to capture, so I focused on to that portion of the landscape to document it. Also, in my eighth photo I altered the shot so that the rock formations framed the grass and brush in the foreground and opened up the background into the sky with one or two clouds spotted amongst the bright blue color. I then tried to mess with the saturation of the photo to enhance the greens, browns, and blues. In these photos I tried to bring about a cheerful and serene feeling to the audience. I did this by brightening the colors in some photos while in others making them seem more simple and basic. For the majority of the photos, I wanted each individual color to stand out. I felt it would bring about the feelings of awe and admiration for the landscape that I experienced while taking each image. The colors of each image, enhanced or natural, adds to the overall pathos to my essay. I intentionally avoided implementing dark color into my essay. I wanted my audience to experience an uplifted feeling. While I was on this trip observing each individual scene or landscape, I never felt any sadness or disgust with my surroundings. Instead, I felt inspired and in awe of how my surroundings became as intricate and detailed in their own way. The sharp contrast between city scenes and expansive non-materialistic landscape makes you think what it would have been like without all the skyscrapers, streets, and cars.

In order to shape, or direct, the audience’s view of my pictures I had to frame or crop out portions of my photos. And I kept in mind the aspects I wanted to appear in my photos to be noticed. I decided to keep my pictures from being too crowded with elements. For portions that distracted focus or were too busy, I cropped them out to focus on the portions that I felt were important. I gave each photo a focus and framed and cropped them to make those portions. In some cases, the different colors and shading influenced the visual hierarchy of the photo, more so than my cropping. In photo number five the color and placement of the brush and vegetation outline the ravine leading down from the top of the rocks. The shades of green and brown highlight this ravine drawing and causing it to be the first thing that grabs your eye. In the same manner there is less concentration of larger rocks towards the lower portion of the image, so as the focus travels towards the lower portion of the image there is less concentration of rocks and the scene is a little more simplistic. As I said earlier, for some of my pictures I made the colors more basic and slightly faded out to cause the scene to be more simplistic and basic than some of the others. My seventh photo shows little contrast in color. The trees have a less bright green and the valley past the bluffs in the foreground are almost blended in with the sky on the horizon. However, the road wrapping around the curves stands out in contrast with the brown.

Each natural, or enhanced, aspect of my images work together to give the photo essay the outcome I wished to create. Through my visual hierarchy and simplicity I was able to establish logos. And through the images’ and landscapes’ color, hue, and brightness I was able to create a form of pathos, thus shaping the viewers experience.

1. A larger, more expansive view of the smaller toadstools at Toadstool Geological Park.

2. The wisps and curves of a cloud hanging above Toadstool Geological Park before a storm rolled through.

3. Different colors of the rocks at the base of one of the dunes at Toadstool Geological Park.

4. Storm rolling over the dunes at Toadstool Geological Park.

5. Small ravine branching off a river bed in Toadstool Geological Park.

6. Rock structure at the top of a bluff at Fort Robinson State Park.

7. Road wrapping around the curves of a bluff in Fort Robinson State Park leading to the valley bellow.

8. Rock formations outlining the curve of the large river bed in Toadstool Geological Park.

9. Large valley in on the edge of Fort Robinson in Fort Robinson, Nebraska.

10. Creek branching through Agate State National Park in western Nebraska.

In this photo essay I tried to form a sense of serenity and peacefulness. I took different portions of my trip this summer to four different parks in western Nebraska and put them into this photo essay. Each landscape, and the trip itself, reminded me of the simple beauty of nature and how some of the simplest things are in fact very complicated and intricate in their own way. Each rock and element work together to build the bluffs in Fort Robinson and Chadron State Parks. Each toadstool in Toadstool Geological Park was shaped by a shallow river that passed through the area. This river exposed fossils and the different levels of rock on the edges of the river bed. Through this photo essay I wanted to expose the natural beauty and impressive result of weathering, and just pure nature. Also the simplicity of landscape that still manages to awe and inspire people is viewed in my pictures. I tried to form a sense of pathos by trying to allow my audience and opportunity to relate to my pictures and get a deeper sense of meaning out of each tiny piece of the natural landscape located right here in Nebraska.

Statement of Purpose

My decision to do the photo essay was influenced by my interest in taking photos. I wanted to try something against the norm for our writing assignment. I felt that I could express something that was enjoyable for me through my photo essay. With a photo essay, there is no need to depend solely on words. Having a photo essay gives the audience a unique insight into your argument or purpose. My purpose is to present my photos in a way that will make a difference. I hope that they will not just be something pretty to look at. I sincerely hope they generate thought in those who look at my essay.
When thinking about the message and essentially the purpose for my essay, I need to find the appropriate pictures. They must support my argument and help guide my audience to the appropriate conclusion. The pictures I chose were taken in western Nebraska. Chadron State park, Ft. Robinson National Park, and Toadstool National Park were a few of the locations in which I took my photos. They were rich with nature and scenes that I felt needed to be documented. I felt that others, besides me, would appreciate the scenes of nature. Many don’t see the simple beauties right in front of us.
With my photo essay, it is important to consider who my audience might consist of. I realize my audience will mostly consist of my instructor and my fellow class members; however there are others that may come in contact with my project. Anyone with access to a computer and internet is a possible audience member. This creates a large and diverse audience. With this size and diversity of an audience, there is great possibility that my argument may not come across in the way it was intended. I need to keep in mind not only who my audience is, but also that it is not my duty to drill my argument or thought into the audience’s mind. Rather, I need to present it in a way that all can relate to, or even gain some insight on. I will need to adequately explain parts of my essay and reasons to which I present it the way I do. The ways in which I edit my photos will bring about the desired focus and will help narrow down the meaning. For example, framing or cropping a certain point or aspect of the image will bring attention to that section. A change in hue, color, or saturation, will alter the perspective in which the picture is observed from. In addition, I must provide my audience with proper captions to match with each photo. These captions will give insight and direct further to the purpose of my photos.

Another key thing to consider is the context in which my photo essay will be. I will not have much control as to the context in which my essay will be viewed. With my classmates as the audience, my essay will be in the context of a peer review. This context may result in frustration and boredom due to the fact that the reviews are required to participate in. As for the other audiences, I can hope that each context in which it is viewed will not make my essay seem dull or pointless.
In conclusion the purpose of my photo essay is to try and draw and bring forward some aspects of nature. I hope to shed light on some of the beauties we can find in the simplest places. By adequately taking into consideration my audience, context and purpose I will be able to create a more successful way of forming my argument.

Blog post # 9

The picture I chose is based from the Shanghai Longtang-Pu Tuo District in China. Shanghai is one of the largest metropolises in the world and is the largest city in China. Geographically, it is located at the mouth of the Yangtze River. According to Wikipedia Shanghai is the “largest center of commerce and finance in mainland China”. While looking for background of the district, the sites showed Shanghai as a very prosperous city. Tourist sites pop up when you Google the town.
It is rather interesting seeing all the travel sites and “pretty pictures” they put on Wikipedia showing the nice and financially stable portions of the city. However, nothing comes up in relation to the Longtang-Pu Tuo district. The less prosperous section of Shanghai is not even mentioned or thought about. Worn streets and alleyways go without being noticed. Only the tourist portions of Shanghai are discussed. With the large expansion of Shanghai and the abundance of people there is a lot of area to cover and talk about. But there is still plenty of space for tourist advertising and referring to the less glamorous parts of Shanghai. The most shown on Wikipedia for the Longtang-Pu Tuo District is the land area, population, and a mention that the Shanghai West Train Station is located in the district. This gives us one sentence about a district that holds over one million people.
With the knowledge of Shanghai as the tourist hub and high dollar living standards, it is hard to see where the photo fits in with all of it. The picture shows a battered up alleyway while the photos online are of tall skyscrapers and bright city lights. As opposed to the Shanghai that is “center of finance and trade in mainland China” (Wikipedia), this district shows little prosperity.
Hu Yang had a number of other photos like the one I chose. In this collection of photos, Yang showed scenes that are not shown when Shanghai is being described. Looking at this photo now, I can see the diversity between the image shown by Yang in the photo and those of that show skyscrapers and bright city scenes. Those in the Longtang-Pu Tuo District have less spectacular conditions and do not have a life like those I found while I researched Shanghai. Like the photo I chose, Yang included a caption for each photo. These captions helped paint a better picture of what is left unnoticed about the District. In these photos the families are not as well off, but seem to be making it just the same.
This picture now shows a deeper meaning and viewpoint. It makes you wonder why this side of Shanghai goes unnoticed. Why do most just show the vast city as a tourist site that is a huge part of trade and finance in China? It makes you wonder how a city like Shanghai, with its large population and wealth, can still have the living conditions that this district has. Where does the large tourist and financial center of Shanghai break off from this district?

Works Cited

"Shanghai." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc, Web. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai.

Yang, Hu. ShangART Gallery. ShanghART Gallery , Web. 1 Oct 2009. .