Brain Fitness Final Debriefing

     Well, our last meeting with the lovely people at Brain Fitness Club has come and gone, and I can't help but feel rather disappointed that our time with them is done. I really felt like I learned a lot and remembered a lot of very important things during my visits.

   Though I only had a very brief time with P, talking and interacting with another person, from a different generation, and who is very similar to myself was a great experience. It was a bit difficult trying to keep a conversation going since both of us are reserved, but to find out that we shared a love for art really made my day. Mostly, it was heart-warming to see and hear all about his family and how they meant everything to him.

      Our visits also sparked some meaningful memories within me. In high school I was apart of a service club and even president for one year. Our club would often collaborate with the local Rotary Club, attend their meetings, do jobs together, and etc. It was there that I learned how important and fun conversations with strangers can be. Just a simple hello, a smile, a handshake can create a life long connection that can have a huge impact on ones life. Since I'd come to college, I'd forgotten about that.

     Going along with this subject, I never really realized how much of an impact I was having on the members of Brain Fitness by just talking and making a book for them until, some one told me about P's progress at home, and again at our final meeting. Just seeing the smiles of gratitude from all parties involved, really struck a cord with me. 

      

PhotoBook Research: French Broad River, Jeff Rich

For this project, I did research on the photobook French Broad River by Jeff Rich. Rich quite often tackles issues related to water and environmental conservation, and this book most certainly embodies both of those aspects. My favorite quotation from this book is from Regional historian, Wilma Dykeman, “When we turned away from the spring at the edge of the kitchen yard and turned on the faucet in our porcelain sink, we turned off our interest in what came out of the spigot.” This line not only harshly implicates the industries that are the overbearing polluters of our waterways, but the common man who allowed them to exist and persist in their wrong doings.

Every image is displayed on the right side page, coupled with an almost entirely blank page to the left, which has a thin line of text; the name of the piece and where it was shot. By doing this, I believe that Rich was placing a specific importance on every single one of his photographs. By having an almost blank page, he elevates the attention paid to the photograph. Also, there is a huge symbolic significance to the fact that the picture is at our right hand; like our hand, the picture is the dominant force in the book, and thus seen as the most important part.

The book as a whole is filled with mixed images of factories, dams, and mills on the river, but also a great deal of residences and communal lands are sprinkled with in. At first glance the theme seems simple enough: “Factories evil; water good.” However, upon reading the passages in the front and back of the book, it made sense to me. As the quote above said, we are all to blame for the destruction of our waterways. The factories shown in the images appear dark and menacing, and distract from the river they sit on like they don’t belong there; they are clearly the predominant evil. But with the images containing normal townspeople, though the water looks cleaner, they seem just as guilty looking at the camera with remorse and shame almost.

While this book does indeed show the terrible deeds done to the French Broad River Watershed, it is also a positive beacon to what a community can do when they work together. Towards the end of book, it was brought to light that the reason most of the river is now clean and is being cleaned is that all the communities that live on the watershed were fed up their polluted homes and so they joined forces and succeeded in getting numerous laws passed locally and nationally to reduce and/or eliminate the emissions from the plants and mills. So while the people living on the watershed are just as guilty for the past pollution, by rejuvenating the  “life-cycle” or the river, they are also its savior.

Brain Fitness Debriefing # 8

My Brain Fitness visits have been different as of late, mostly because P left the program. So I didn't post last time because there was nothing to post really. But this time around, it was much more eventful. What with the flu flying around, there happened to be a bunch of members without their students, which meant that we grouped up and had a nice round table discussion about ourselves. Where we were from? What we did or are doing? What are our plans for the future? Normal, first time meeting each other topics. But then we started to dig deeper, talk  about our photo projects and how working with another person was, what classes at Rollins affected us the most and from there we talked on an on, back and forth. So it was just a real pleasure just to have that conversation.

Blurb Reading

Upon reading this exerpt, I was immidiately reminded of everything we've been going over in class about our photobooks. Put it together physically, what story are you trying to show? Figure out how your images work together, and so on. We've gone over it so many times that I feel like Im being nagged while reading this. Although reading the same ideas can become really annoying, I have to concede that those ideas are incredibly important and hard to put into practice so we have to be harped on it so much. Every single detail you put into a photobook should reflect your intent and something as simple as font style and size can change the aesthetics greatly. Howevef there were some ideas that didnt cross my mind until I read this, like creating a sketch booklet and scanning the images into my final.

Photo Series

There are times when I encounter those who really don't "get" sports, they have their own priorities and they simply can't imagine why athletes would put themselves through such duress just for a game. An athletes reasons are tested at around the age of middle school, or at least for female athletes. It's a time filled with stigmas, it's the time when things in sports really start to pick up, and many young and talented ladies choose to abandon the sport because they feel they need more time for "normal" activities. With these photos, I am attempting to illuminate why and what we athletes sacrifice for our sport. I organized them in a mirrored fashion to connect non-athletes to athletes. There really isn't any deeper meaning to them, just look closely and the idea will be clear.

1.Many young ladies put a high value on their physical appearance, some are even terrified to leave their room with out make up. But with athletes, we don't stress so much about our looks when we leave for a game. We are going out there to play in the dirt, rain or shine, not get complements on our perfectly trimmed eyebrows. Due to the continuous exposure, you can see the effect it has on the body; the skin becomes dryer, courser, your face ages from the sunlight, and there are so many more changes going on below the face that people can't see beyond the uniform.

2.Other people always seem to have time to efficiently study and get proper sleep. Well, athletes are constantly juggling school work and sports and more often than not, they have hardly the time get a good night's sleep, let alone study. Even though we are tired physically and mentally, we continue on.

3. The media has made Prom and other similar events, seem like the best night of our lives, it is a must go. Consequently, it is many girls dreams to go to Prom dressed like a princess and doing whatever you want for one night. For many athletes, these events are an impossibility as games always seem to fall on the same day. We trade our flowing gowns for worn uniforms. But honestly, when I actually managed to go to Prom one year, I kind of wished I had a game because this experience wasn't as thrilling or fun as playing with my teammates.

That's the overall heart and why to why we athletes give up your "normal" for our "normal". We don't push ourselves till we throw up, or get scrapes, or miss out on fun events because we enjoy it. We do it because going out there with a group of your very best friends playing a game you all love, is something that you'd trade most anything for.

Lucida Excerpt

Today, our world is saturated with photographs, many of them come at us so quickly we haven't the time to stop and think about how this image appeals to us. We scroll through Facebook, Instagram, SnapChat and more, endless streams of photographs; and what do we gain from it. As Lucida described in this excerpt, what we get is a constant feeling of "studium", that state of when you look at a photo and you like it or you don't and it really doesn't reach further inside of you than that. When Lucida began to describe this, I immediately connected with it, and kind of had an "ah ha" moment. As a child of the digital age, I experience this event on the daily, I never knew what name to tie to the numbing pleasure I get from social media, but now I do. But upon this realization, I became kind of disappointed in our society for not wanting to view the more provocative photography the world has to offer, the pictures that strike us at our soul and really hit us hard, the "punctum." But then, the author clarified that studium is not the enemy of punctum but rather they are two sides of the same coin that create a whole. Studium presents itself first and gives the viewer the general awareness of the situation. While punctum, when it does appear, provides a pin point of detail that illuminates the entire image further.
As an artist this excerpt has given me another aspect to think about: whether or not, I choose to include a piece of punctum in my work, and if I do, the subject of punctum I choose can drastically affect my intent. It can tell if I was really "there" with this piece.

Brain Fitness Debriefing 6

So as P could not make it this week,  I got the chance to meet yet another wonderful member of the Brain Fitness Club whose partner was also out named L. She was very nice and to the point,  she shared with me some of her more treasured items which were all very gorgeous.  Then I showed her photographs that I found in my family's archives. Most of them pictures of my mother,  grandmother, and great-grandmother when they were much younger, but some were of family members that I had never even met,  or knew their names. L took an interest in the photographs,  saying that I should find out the story behind those photos and I suppose that's a really great idea for the future.

Collective Cultural Memory and Appropriation

     In almost any culture you examine, you might find that there are certain memories that every member of a generation has and in many cases those memories withstand the test of time and exist even today. However, with time and cultural differences, those memories are naturally appropriated into our brains. We obviously weren't alive hundreds of years ago, and yet we all know what an "indian" looks like thanks to the excessive use of the works of photographer, Edward Curtis. Many of his posed shots are very much staged and for Native Americans, these dull, colorless, and depressing representations of their heritage carry no weight in their minds because it is someone else's impression and not who they really are. Wendy Red Star brings this to mind as she recolors Curtis's black and white stills, and appropriates his work to bring the truth and respect back to her ancestors and heritage.
     This does bring up the important point that many artists embrace, the importance of knowing and discovering your family heritage from whatever means, found photographs or documents, can have a huge impact on ones artistic choices and life. Kevin Miyazaki, for instance, given his Japanese family roots, has done a very satirical and yet saddening reality of the internment camps during World War II, by showing a brochure for the camp in the guise of a vacation brochure. He goes into specifics on the housing accommodations, making it seem like you have a choice of different houses, but in reality they are all basically the same. However, what has me puzzled is how found photographs, as in completely unknown to you photographs, can carry as much weight on the heart strings as a family photo something the artist connects to?

Ethics Reading Response

I never really put much thought into the ethics codes of art making, let alone photography. But I guess I've never put myself into a situation where I'd have to prove my art was not plagiarized. All I ever did was trust my gut in knowing what was the right or wrong thing to do and followed the rules and standards that society has imprinted on me. I had no idea that there was so many divisions of ethics like virtue or deontology. This made the Ethical Theories essay a little intimidating and given that there was hardly any photographic context, it seemed out of place. The essay by Elliot seemed much more relevant to everyday life and was much more helpful to my understanding of the difference between plagiarism and appropriation. It brought up the fact that in todays age as we are surrounded by technology and we have ready access to source material, it is more important now than ever to give credit where credit is due. The final essay, Digital Appropriation added a more personal touch to the subject by providing real world example with situations and including actual quotes from various artists in history. My favorite quote though was "To photograph is to appropriate the thing photographed. It means putting oneself into a certain relation to the world that feels like knowledge – and, therefore, like power"

Brain Fitness Debrief #5

As the days pass, I find it's getting more and more difficult to find stuff to ask P without prodding too much into his life. Which ordinarily would be a bad thing, and in some ways it does hinder my ability to find ideas for a photo book, but in this case, it's actually a blessing. It means that P and I have breached that barrier of awkward first meeting small talk, casually exchanging interests and so forth. We've now reached a point where although our initial encounter is still kind of awkward, after we can easily break into idle friendly chit chat. And this has me very excited for my assignment because now I can get a better sense of who P really is if we're just talking casually and we don't feel obligated to maintain an appearance. But I am really more excited and happy for P because according to loved ones this is a real milestone for him. I personally didn't realize how much of an impact I was really having on a person until I heard that. So that really uplifted my spirits and now I find myself thinking back on that more often and I know it sounds cliche but I've embraced the phrase "It's the little things that add up that make the most difference." Who knew that meeting and chatting with someone for a few minutes every week could make such a ripple in someones life, and in your life as well ?

Kathleen Robbins - Into the Flatlands

For my photobook assignment, I decided to do my research on Kathleen Robbins and her photobook Into the Flatlands. Just looking at the title and the cover page makes me think that were about to go on an excursion somewhere exciting and unknown. Upon further inspection inside its pages, we come across a shock, as the photographs with in are anything but dynamic. They are flat, centered, and generic, nothing really special. Most of if not all of the photographs are the exact same dimensions and theres one photo per page right in the very center. At first glance it seems rather dull, because your eye doesnt move around to multiple frames. But after a few flips through, i realised what Robbins intent might have been. The fact that these ordinary photos are presented large and on one page, could only mean the artist wanted the viewer to take the time to look at all of the picturs before moving on; that although these photos are somewhat bland, they too are very important. The photos themselves then become super rich in context,  highlighting the land on which we live rather than the people that live on it. This is an interesting strategy that i could use for my memory book, as one photo can have a much bigger influence on the mind than a billion.

Photo Editing Handout Response

The main thing that really stuck with me after reading this passage, was the way the author was telling me that photography can be really hit or miss. Sometimes, youll capture a photo with that exact mental image in mind, you  know exactlly what you want to convey. And there are other times when you havent the faintest clue of what you need but you go out and take photos anyways because who knows? You could unintentionally walk into your muse. I felt this was a relief because, we as artists though it seems like we do the freest of activities, we feel pressure to confine ourselves to an idea right off the bat.

Brain Fitness Debriefing # 4

Day 4 and this is the second time I have met face to face with P. Slowly but surely I feel like I'm getting to know him better. This time we talked mainly about something we both share, which is a love for art. Although he doesn't paint anymore, he brought in several, beautiful watercolors he did a long time ago. I felt the ice starting to break as we shared artwork with each other and nitpicking at what we wanted to do in the pictures. I got to see his paint set, although old and cracked, it was well used which let me know that he really liked to paint in the past. 

      Next week, I hope I can make another breakthrough to find out more about P. Wish me luck. 

Day 3

    Day 3 of my Brain Fitness ventures went just as well as the last. I finally got to meet one on one with P, my designated partner. And of course, at first it was a little awkward to find questions to ask, but once we got started with a conversation it was easy to continue or to branch off and start a new subject. I learned quite a few things about P Tuesday. P worked for a company for such a long time that he was able to help it grow from a small, fledgling store to an international brand. That's quite the accomplishment! As a result of his employment, he was able to travel to many parts of the world, places that I personally would love to visit; I was really jealous. Just from our brief encounter, I wasn't able to decipher many things about P, except that he loves his family very much, they mean the world to him, and that his job brings him great pride. Well we'll see how much I can learn about P next time.

Seeing Photographs

In my assignment, there are great many techniques mentioned within the Seeing Photographs power point that I have already used. For some subject matter, I already had a clear picture in my mind of what shot I want and what angle I want it at, for others I had to play around with the lighting, angle, camera focus and aperture. There are also other methods that I have yet to think to use. I never paid much attention to balance, I just kind of went with what felt right, I haven’t been able to find many patterned things let alone ones that describe me. And of course, I always keep asking myself, “what does this say about me? What can they gather from this photograph?” So I’ve run out of ideas for things that really say something about me, besides the things that interest me.

Day 2

     Day 2 of my Brain Fitness Club ventures went much smoother than the last. We were each paired up for a one on one conversation with a member of the club; although I was slated to begin with P,     I ended up with B, as P was unavailable. Nonetheless, B was a wonderful conversation companion. They brought in quite a few mementos and photo books for us to flip through, all of which illuminated the things that they found most precious. Music seemed to be in everything in those books, from sheet music to songs they wrote, pictures of them singing and passing on their musical gifts to others. But family was much more prevalent than the music; you could just tell by the way they spoke about each family picture and each member of their clan that family is everything to them. In a way, I guess I saw a bit of my future self in B(though normally the phrase goes the other way around). My family has always been a huge part of my life, they have shaped me down to the bone, and I know those feelings will only grow stronger as time passes and I start a family of my own. And looking at B reminds me of all the joy in my life that is to come.
      So next week, I should be paired up with P and I will have the pleasure of getting to know two wonderful people. I'm excited!
   

     

Our Inherent Desire

     As per the request of my professor, I read two very intriguing and enlightening passages:
The Photographer's Eye by John Szarkowski and Why We Make Pictures by Hirsch.
     The latter passage brought up the question of why everyone is born with this inherent desire to make pictures whether that be with a photograph or a canvas or a slate of marble, we all seek to make the mundane special. Upon reading this, I really connected with this feeling and began to have flash backs of when I was just a child. For whatever reason it is built into our bones; the uncontrollable urge to fill the pure white, blank, and empty page of paper up with lively colors and create new worlds and stories along with them; to give the shape of a castle to something as shapeless as the sand; and the same goes with photography.
     This provides a proper segway into the former passage I read. With the birth and evolution of photography, we could see this inherent desire bloom like wildfire. Most adults grow out of making art from paints and sculpture mainly because they don't have the aptitude, so they find other interests to fill that void. But with the dawn of the camera, that all changed. Not every man could be a Picasso, but every man had the same potential to be a photographer as it was easy to use and inexpensive. Many criticized this craze due to the fact that many photographers had no purpose or meaning in their work. But they couldn't be more wrong, according to Szarkowski. Through photography we could see hundreds more facial expressions and tens more hand gestures than a traditional artist, we could stop time and see a horse in full gallop or depict the speed of a busy intersection. Photography though limited by reality can do pretty much anything because reality is truly boundless

Day 1

This past Tuesday, myself along with my classmates we got to go on a field trip, one that we will be making every week from now on.  We visited the wonderful people at the Brain Fitness Club, a club in which all of its members live with memory loss. Like any first day at a job, or a school, it was a little awkward making introductions and finding things to ask them. But after a while we just engaged in idle chit-chat about our interests and our families. For the sake of confidentiality, I will only be using the first letter of the names of the people I was so lucky to exchange words with. We sat in a round table format with R, P, S, and B. We certainly weren't the loudest bunch, that's for certain but we did share a fair amount about ourselves despite it being our first time meeting. R and P both love to watch football. B played soccer in their youth but mostly has played and written piano music. And finally, S has a wonderful sense of humor and continues to dance as they have for most of their life. When hearing them talk you could almost automatically get a sense as to how their memory loss affects them, but despite that they are really quite unique like everyone else. I can't wait to go back and find out more about them.
 Until next time.

The Tourist Ideal

As a native Floridian, I am very familiar with tourists. They always seem to have that dumb looking expression of awe and wonder, and they literally take pictures of everything. I've never really understood this, why take so many pictures? The time you spend with your head in your phone, taking pictures should be used for making memories because after all, that's why you came in the first place. But then I read these essays by Joerg Colberg, and they gave me insight as to why photography is so important to memory. He speaks of the photographs we take on our phones, and how like our memories, "they are fleeting, they can be manipulated easily, and by their very nature, there are a lot of them, existing in some badly organized state." Over a short period of time, the memory might be distorted and "edited" in a way. Which explains the tourists annoying fascination with photography. Many tourists may never go back to the place they visited,  making their memories scarce in the near future, so they take as many pictures as they can. And when they look back on those images they might recall the feelings and other sweet memories of that time. Those memories come back even stronger when you are the photographer, because in your mind you kind of see your self as an artist and this is your work. "Is it then surprising how much we revere our own, how much energy we put into them?"

Please check these essays out they are really well written:

http://jmcolberg.com/weblog/extended/archives/photography_and_memory/

http://jmcolberg.com/weblog/extended/archives/photography_and_memory_part_2/

Welcome!

   This blog honestly has not the least to do with photographic memory, but rather has much more to do with photography and memory. 
   Hi I'm Grace and this is my blog. I am for the most part a traditional artist with pencil and paint, however I am truly fascinated with learning about all kinds of art and now I've set my sights on photography and the digital arts. 
   As a college student, the main objective of this blog is to fulfill an assignment, but this is also a chance for me to expand my boundaries and more importantly, share with the world the importance this course plays. 
    It's a subject that we always seem to dodge, one we look on in horror; it's not just the idea of getting old and dying, but the idea that when we get old we might not be able to remember our life experiences, our loved ones, or how to do simple tasks simply terrifies us. For those of us who have first- hand experience with family or friends afflicted by dementia or Alzheimer's, it can be hard sometimes to look past all the bad to see the good. But this is what this blog is for!
    My goal is to change the narrative, to show that even though they go through rough times, those affected by these diseases are still people like us who want to enjoy their lives. And you guessed it,    I will be doing this through photography.
   Until next time, stay cool everyone.


P.S. I've got another blog running in conjunction with this one, feel free to check it out!
Digital Grace  - https://blogdigitalgrace.blogspot.com/