Thursday / Friday May 18 / 19 personal ekphrastic writing

YOUR PERSONAL PHOTO PROJECT UPDATE:

You will have next Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday to organize your photos into the presentation format, write up your reflection and complete the graphic organizer.

Presentations begin on Thursday, May 25.

Please make sure that you have reviewed the requirements carefully on the blog on Friday, May 12.

See below for today's work. This is the last writing assigment.  Be mindful there are very few grades to be added in. 

Marchal Duchamp's Nude Descending a Staircase and X.J. Kennedy's poem, which follows, by the same title is to illustrate how ekphrasis is used in poetry.

Nude Descending a Staircase

Toe upon toe, a snowing flesh,
A gold of lemon, root and rind,
She sifts in sunlight down the stairs
With nothing on. Nor on her mind.

We spy beneath the banister
A constant thresh of thigh on thigh--
Her lips imprint the swinging air
That parts to let her parts go by.

One-woman waterfall, she wears
Her slow descent like a long cape
And pausing, on the final stair
Collects her motions into shape.

As stated previously ekphrasis, which was created by the ancient Greeks, uses one art form to respond to another, so as to envision the thing described as if it were physically present. In some cases, the subject never really existed, making the ekphrastic description a demonstration of both the creative imagination and the skill of the writer.  

 Murray's The Stranger in the Photo  was the exemplar for how you would write your own response to the photo you were asked to bring into class.  If you did not complete the assignment, please check it out, so you know what is expected in the following assignment. (Any not received have a zero; so at least get it in for 50 points)

YOUR ASSIGNMENT: 

Part 1: Everyone needs a picture of him or herself that is at least five-years old.  (This is the homework assignment from Monday. You will receive either 100 or 0 points.)

Using the essay by Donald Murray as a general model, look at your photo. Take time to study facial expression, the body position and gestures. What is the context? Project yourself back to that moment. Where were in your life? What were your expectations- for the moment?  for the long run? Maybe your long run was only a month away. Compare this to where you are now. This is not a goal oriented essay, as in what would I like to be when I grow up. Ask yourself honestly, who you were then? To make it interesting, use vivid imagery and other figurative language devices such as metaphors or similes. Make the reader connect with this photo, much as Murray did. Careful with the tone. Murray offers no regrets, rather he creates a world into which the reader may step. This should be about 500 words. Grading:  language conventions / sense / beautifully and articulately expressed. Make this a masterpiece.  This is the last major writing assignment.

This is due by midnight Sunday.

Tuesday / Wednesday May 16/ 17 ekphrastic writing

BY this Thursday, please bring in a photo of yourself THAT WAS TAKEN AT LEAST FIVE YEARS AGO TO WORK WITH ON THURSDAY. THAT MEANS BETWEEN AGES 0-13. THIS should BE A PHYSICAL COPY. THE PICTURE MAY INCLUDE OTHER PEOPLE.
        IMPORTANT: THIS IS A HOMEWORK GRADE- A SIMPLE 0 OR 100. NO EXCEPTIONS. 
Learning targets:
 I can cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.
I can analyze a complex set of ideas or sequence of events and explain how specific individuals, ideas, or events interact and develop over the course of the text.
I can determine two or more central ideas of a text and analyze their development over the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one another to provide a complex analysis; provide an objective summary of the text.
I can analyze and evaluate the effectiveness of the structure an author uses in his or her exposition or argument, including whether the structure makes points clear, convincing, and engaging.
I can establish and maintain a formal style and objective tone while attending to the norms and conventions of the discipline in which  I am writing.
Please read this essay by Donald Murray and respond to the following based upon the reading; send along as usual. Your responses should be fully, fleshed-out, complete sentences that weave in textual evidence. They should demonstrate a level of sophistication that one associates with college level writing. This is due by midnight tomorrow, after which the assignment is worth only 50 points.  

Read the questions before the essay.

1. What textual and contextual elements indicate this column's particular audience?


2. Identify what you believe to be Murray's central argument.

3. How does Murray's comment on our "ability to stop time in the way" mesh with the inclusion of the photograph? How does the comment deepen our understanding of his argument?

4. Examine the photograph. How does the presence of the photograph itself contribute to Murray's effort to communicate? How, if at all, would the absence of the photograph change the essay's argument?

5. Speculate how would the absence of a caption alter your reading of or response to the essay?

6. Respond: how would replacing the existing caption with each of the following captions affect your reading?
a. "Paratrooper Donald M. Murray, 1944"
b. "The Stranger in England, 1944"
c. "A soldier in rakish disregard..."

The Stranger in the Photo Is Me by Donald M. Murray

I was never one to make a big deal over snapshots; I never spent long evenings with the family photograph album. Let’s get on with the living. To heck with yesterday, what are we going to do tomorrow? But with the accumulation of yesterdays and the possibility of shrinking tomorrows, I find myself returning, as I suspect many over 60s do, for a second glance and a third at family photos that
snatch a moment from time.

In looking at mine, I become aware that it is so recent in the stretch of man’s history that we have been able to stop time in this way and hold still for reflection. Vermeer is one of my favorite painters because of that sense of suspended time, with both clock and calendar held so wonderfully, so terribly
still.

The people in the snapshots are all strangers. My parents young, caught before I arrived or as they were when I saw them as towering grown-ups. They seemed so old then and so young now. And I am,to me, the strangest of all.

There is a photograph of me on a tricycle before the duplex on Grand View Avenue in Wollaston I hardly remember; in another I am dressed in a seersucker sailor suit when I was 5 and lived in a Cincinnati hotel. I cannot remember the suit but even now, studying the snapshot, I am drunk on the memory of its peculiar odor and time is erased.

In the snapshots I pass from chubby to skinny and, unfortunately, ended up a chub. Looking at the grown-ups in the snapshots I should have known. In other snapshots, I am cowboy, pilot, Indian chief; I loved to dress up to become what I was not, and suspect I still am a wearer of masks and costumes.

It would be socially appropriate to report on this day that I contemplate all those who are gone, but the truth is that my eyes are drawn back to pictures of my stranger self.And the picture that haunts me the most is one not in costume but in the uniform I proudly earned in World War II. I believe it was taken in England from the design of the barracks behind me. I have taken off the ugly steel-framed GI glasses, a touch of dishonesty for the girl who waited at home.
My overseas cap with its airborne insignia is tugged down over my right eye, my right shoulder in the jump jacket is lower because I have my left hand in my pocket in rakish disregard for the regulation that a soldier in that war could never, ever stick a hand in a pocket.

The pockets that are empty in the photograph will soon bulge with hand grenades, extra ammunition,food, and many of the gross of condoms we were issued before a combat jump. This GI item was more a matter of industrial merchandising than soldierly dreaming—or frontline reality.The soldier smiles as if he knew his innocence and is both eager for its loss and nostalgic for those few years of naiveté behind him.

I try once more to enter the photograph and become what I was that day when autumn sunlight dappled the barracks wall and I was so eager to experience the combat my father wanted so much for me. He had never made it to the trenches over there in his war. When that photograph was taken, my father still had dreams of merchandising glory, of a store with an awning that read Murray & Son. I had not yet become the person who had to nod yes at MGh when my father asked if he had cancer, to make the decision against extraordinary means after his last heart attack. When this photo was taken, he had not yet grown old, his collars large, his step hesitant, his shoes unshined.

Mother was still alive, and her mother who really raised me had not died as I was to learn in a letter I received at the front. The girl who wrote every day and for whom the photo was taken had not yet become my wife, and we had not yet been the first in our families to divorce two years later.I had not yet seen my first dead soldier, had not yet felt the earth beneath me become a trampoline as the shells of a rolling barrage marched across our position.

I had no idea my life would become as wonderful or as terrible as it has been; that I would remarry,have three daughters and outlive one. I could not have imagined that I actually would be able to become a writer and eat—even overeat. I simply cannot re-create my snapshot innocence.I had not had an easy or happy childhood, I had done well at work but not at school; I was not Mr. Pollyanna, but life has been worse and far better than I could have imagined.

Over 60 we are fascinated by the mystery of our life, why roads were taken and not taken, and our children encourage this as they develop a sense of family history. A daughter discovers a letter from the soldier in the photograph in England and another written less than a year later, on V-E day. She is surprised at how much I have aged. I am not.I would not wish for a child or grandchild of mine to undergo the blood test of war my father so hoped I would face as he had not. In photos taken not so many years later I have a streak of white hair. It is probably genetic but I imagine it is the shadow of a bullet that barely passed me by, and I find I cannot enter the snapshot of the smiling soldier who is still stranger to me, still innocent of the heroic harm man can deliver to man.

—The Boston Globe

Monday, May 15 Eastman House collection

1. Last Friday, your personal photo project was introduced, and you were asked to select a theme and send it along to me.

If you did so, there is a 100 points in your homework column. Any not received, should send your selection to me now for 50 points.

There were a couple of folks who sent me topic names, rathe than themes. Remember that a theme is a generalized concept, not a catchy title.

All the details for the project, which I have extended to have a due date of TUESDAY, May 23 (so that you may assemble your work in class on Monday) is on the blog for Friday, May 12. Read it over carefully.

2. By this Thursday, I need everyone to bring in a photograph of yourself taken a minimum of 5 years ago. That means you must be somewhere between 1 and 13 years of age. There may be other people in the picture. I would ask that you try to have a physical photo, rather than an electronic image. I will not be keeping the picture. If you bring it in before Thursday, I will hold on to it until then for you.

*********************************************************************************
In class today.

3. Reviewing some photographic techniques.

Xie Kitchin as "A Chinaman"   by Lewis Carroll  (For what is he best known?)

4.  Eastman House collection

To begin: go to the George Eastman House site 

 George Eastman House

 We have one of the best photographic collections in the world literally around the corner. I would like you to become familiar with some of the early efforts in photography; as well, you will notice that there are links to museums around the world on the Google art project. This is a resource that can serve you well both in your personal life and during college.


NOW~~~~~~~~~~~

Click on the collection of 40 items representing the United States of America.

Scroll through and then return to the beginning.

Answer the the following questions. Send along as usual.

1. What war does is portrayed in the Pinckney House ruins?

2. What type of photographic process was used in the Rollin Heber Neal photograph? (research)

3. What were the economic circumstances surrounding the photo "Damaged Child"?

4. What specifically was the Solidarity Parade and who are these three men?

5. What is the process of an albumen print as shown in the "Slave Pen"?

6. In the "Photographer's Tent in Fernadina, Florida" there are double images. Explain the use of a stereopticon.  And try one out, if you like.

7. How do you think Alvin Langdon Coburn photographed "The Octopus" in 1912?

8. Look at the photo of Georgia O'Keefe by Alfred Stieglitz. Explain the pictoralist technique.

9. Of what is Eadweard Muybridge's "Walking with a Bucket in Mouth, Light Gray Horse" a precursor?

10. Who was Edwin Booth's infamous brother? ("Edwin Booth and his daughter Edwina")

11. What is the connection between gutta percha and photography?

12.  What was the brownie camera?

Monday, May 15 Personal Photo Project DUE MONDAY, MAY 22

DUE MONDAY, MAY 22

You will be working primarily on your personal photo project outside of class, although there will be class time to write up the material and organize your images into a power point or prezi. 

Personal photo project details.

Part 1: select your theme and send along by midnight tonight (homework grade- 10%)

Part 2: written component of project: All due on Monday, May 22 (writing grade-50% category)  directions below in section 2

Part 3: sharing out your project: (class participation- 40% times 2)  directions below in section 3

Personal Photo Project is due on Monday, May 22
Of what will this consist?

    You may take as many pictures as you wish, but you will share only 10 images with the class.
Can I have more?
   No.
How will these be shared?
    You may have them on a Prezi or a Power Point or some other similar program.
So what are the parameters for taking these pictures?
      You must have an theme, that is a clearly defined point to unify your series of photos. This is not to be a haphazard collection or arrangement of images or a visual summary of a holiday or trip, but a thoughtfully planned out goal that unites an idea and demonstrates your proficiency in using various photo techniques to convey your ideas.
  
 Can it be from some place I already took pictures?
      No, these are new images that demonstrate you have an understanding of the rules of composition, as used to express your photo objective.

What type of pictures must these be exactly?
  You may organize these how you wish, but within the pictures you must demonstrate your understanding the following:
        close-up
        medium-range shot

        establishing shot

        accurate use of phi grid / rule of thirds

        horizontal and vertical format

        understanding of the horizon line placement

        conscious use of lighting

        varied perspective (tilting up or down to convey meaning)

        conscious framing

       

       
  PART 1 



  By midnight tonight, please send along your thematic choice. Once you have made a selection, you will start to see opportunities to capture the idea. As it is very important to have a focus, I am counting the receipt of your thematic selection as a homework grade. Anything not received by tonight is only worth 50 points. 

Below is a possibility list:

• Beauty of simplicity
• Capitalism – effect on the individual
• Change of power – necessity
• Change versus tradition
• Chaos and order
• Character – destruction, building up
• Circle of life
• Coming of age
• Communication – verbal and nonverbal
• Companionship as salvation
• Convention and rebellion
• Dangers of ignorance
• Darkness and light
• Death – inevitable or tragedy
• Desire to escape
• Destruction of beauty
• Disillusionment and dreams
• Displacement
• Empowerment
• Emptiness of attaining false dream
• Everlasting love
• Evils of racism
• Facing darkness
• Facing reality
• Fading beauty
• Faith versus doubt
• Family – blessing or curse
• Fate and free will
• Fear of failure
• Female roles
• Fulfillment
• Good versus bad
• Greed as downfall
• Growing up – pain or pleasure
• Hazards of passing judgment
• Heartbreak of betrayal
• Heroism – real and perceived
• Hierarchy in nature
• Identity crisis
• Illusion of power
• Immortality
• Individual versus society
• Inner versus outer strength
• Injustice
• Isolation
• Isolationism – hazards
• Knowledge versus ignorance
• Loneliness as destructive force
• Losing hope
• Loss of innocence
• Lost honor
• Lost love
• Love and sacrifice
• Man against nature
• Manipulation
• Materialism as downfall
• Motherhood
• Names – power and significance
• Nationalism – complications
• Nature as beauty
• Necessity of work
• Oppression of women
• Optimism – power or folly
• Overcoming – fear, weakness, vice
• Patriotism – positive side or complications
• Power and corruption
• Power of silence
• Power of tradition
• Power of wealth
• Power of words
• Pride and downfall
• Progress – real or illusion
• Quest for discovery
• Quest for power
• Rebirth
• Reunion
• Role of men
• Role of Religion – virtue or hypocrisy
• Role of women
• Self – inner and outer
• Self-awareness
• Self-preservation
• Self-reliance
• Social mobility
• Technology in society – good or bad
• Temporary nature of physical beauty
• Temptation and destruction
• Totalitarianism
• Vanity as downfall
• Vulnerability of the meek
• Vulnerability of the strong
• War – glory, necessity, pain, tragedy
• Will to survive
• Wisdom of experience
• Working class struggles
• Youth and beauty

PART 2

GRAPHIC ORGANIZER FORMAT.

Please use the following and send along.

If you need a hard copy for your personal presentation, print one out for yourself.

Photojournalism Project written component                    Name____________________________________________

Photo project objective statement: What was your theme?  Describe your process of taking the photos, including any pleasures, frustrations and obstacles you encountered.  Reference specifically some of your images. (250 words)

        

           For each of your images, complete the following                                                                                                                 

                 

1	setting/ time	brief description of image	type of shot/ technical goal be specific as to what camera technique you have employed and why?
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

                               

    PART 3                                            I

Presentation of your work

You will have already sent in the written component of

 your project.

In the manner similar to how you presented your

 photojournalist, you will create a power point or prezi of

 your work.

There will be a total of 11 slides

Slide 1- your photo with full name This may be formal or

 informal and written out and the title of your project.

Slides 2-11: your picture and a cut line for each one. 

 There is to be nothing else on the slide. You will explain your images, as you have written them on the graphic organizer you have already sent me. If you need a copy of your organizer, print one for yourself.

Take a look! face changes in different lighting

Ten tips for taking better photos

1. Hold It Steady

A problem with many photographs is that they're blurry. Avoid 'camera shake' by holding the camera steady. Use both hands, resting your elbows on your chest, or use a wall for support. Relax: don't tense up. You're a marksman/woman holding a gun and it must be steady to shoot.

A. Develop The Right Stance.

For static shots stance is really important; Spread your legs apart, this provides great stability.  Standing with your legs and feet too close together makes you unstable and your body can sway and wobble.

B.  Breath Steadily

Don’t try and hold your breath throughout a shot, just breath steadily and smoothly.

C. Brace yourself!

D.  Shelter from the wind.For static shots lean against a lamppost, tree, door frame or anything that you can brace your body against, use as much body weight as possible by leaning on the object. This will really help to stabilize the shot.

If you are filming outside on a windy day, if possible find a sheltered spot to shoot from, in a doorway or between buildings, anywhere that can protect you from a blustering wind.

E. Watch Horizontals and Verticals

Pay attention to keeping horizontal and vertical aspects of the frame upright and level.

With everything else going on it’s easy to let the shot drift off kilter. 

2. Put The Sun Behind You

A photograph is all about light so always think of how the light is striking your subject. The best bet is to move around so that the sun is behind you and to one side. This front lighting brings out color and shades, and the slight angle (side lighting) produces some shadow to indicate texture and form.

A. Avoid having the sunlight come directly from the side

One side of the face is going to be bright and the other side is going to be in the shadow. Or the person closer to the sun will block the light and one person will be in harsh light and the other person will be in shadow. Not a good portrait.

B)  Keep the sun behind you

                   hard for portraits, if person has to squint

Keeping the sun behind you works for landscapes or if you’re getting candid shots, or action shots where the subject isn’t necessarily looking at the camera.

                                            Shooting in shade is fine on sunny days

Diffused light is a soft light that spreads evenly across your entire subject. This does away with any harsh shadows or highlights and has an overall flattering look. When shooting outdoors, you don’t always have the luxury of controlling the light. 

Sun behind the subject, backlit

3. Get Closer

   The best shots are simple so move closer and remove any clutter from the picture. If you look at most 'people' shots they don't show the whole body so you don't need to either. Move close, fill the frame with just the face, or even overflow it. Give your shot some impact. Use a zoom to crop the image tighter.

4. Choose A Format

Which way you hold the camera affects what is emphasized in your shot. For tall things (Redwoods, Half Dome) a vertical format emphasize height. Use a horizontal format to show the dramatic sweep of the mountains.

5. Include People

Photographs solely of landscape and rocks are enjoyable to take but often dull to look at. Include some of your friends, companions, family, or even people passing by, to add human interest. If there's no one around, include yourself with the self-timer.

Have you ever got your photos back only to discover that something that looked awe-inspiring at the time looks dull on paper? This is because your eye needs some reference point to judge scale. Add a person, car, or something of known size to indicate the magnitude of the scenery.

Tell a story

People, or even a single individual, may add mystery and adventure to your landscape, causing your viewers to wonder who, what, and why about the person in your image

Composition

Placing a person or persons in an image in negative space can add balance to your landscape. A person in the foreground, or mid-way into your scene, will help create a sense of depth in the image.

Scale of Size

Adding a human to an image is a great way to reveal the size and scale of objects in your image

Drama and Excitement

Silhouetting someone against a sunset or other backlit view, is a perfect example of how a person can help create a more dramatic image

Focal Point

A successful photo needs a focal point that gives the viewer’s eye a place to land to hold their attention, and adding people can achieve that.

6. Consider Variety

  You may take the greatest shots but if they're all the same type or style, they may be dull to look at. Spice up your collection by adding variety. Include landscapes and people shots, close ups and wide angles, good weather and bad weather. Take personal shots that remember the 'being there' - friends that you meet, your hotel/campsite, transportation, street or hiking signposts.

7. Add Depth

Depth is an important quality of good photographs. We want the viewer to think that they're not looking at a flat picture, but through a window, into a three-dimensional world. Add pointers to assist the eye. If your subject is a distant mountain, add a person or a tree in the foreground. A wide angle lens can exaggerate this perspective.

8. Use Proportion

The beauty of an image is often in its proportions. A popular technique with artists is called the Rule of Thirds. Imagine the frame divided into thirds, both horizontally and vertically, like a Tic-Tac-Toe board. Now place your subject on one of the lines or intersections. Always centering your subject can get dull. Use the Rule of Thirds to add variety and interest.

9. Search For Details

It's always tempting to use a wide angle lens and 'get everything in'. However, this can be too much and you may loose the impact. Instead, zoom in with a longer lens and find some representative detail. A shot of an entire sequoia tree just looks like a tree. But a shot of just the tree's wide base, with a person for scale, is more powerful.

10. Position The Horizon

Where you place the horizon in your shot affects what is emphasized. To show the land, use a high horizon. To show the sky, use a low horizon. Be creative.

KEEP THE HORIZON STRAIGHT

How about a vertical horizon?