A Picture Worth A Thousand Words

War Photographer

The images that the photographer captures are so full of emotion and sadness but I do not know how he does it. He talks about how he has to gain the trust of his subjects in order to photograph them at such a difficult time and it is apparent that he has. When photographing them you would never be able to tell just by looking at the images that someone were that close to them. I found myself being annoyed at first thinking he was intruding on these peoples lives. It was so difficult to understand how someone could just stand there and photograph people who were obviously going through a devastating loss. To just stand there and snap away seemed insensitive to what these people were experiencing. As the video progressed I found my opinion starting to change and see that what he was doing may not be as horrible as I had originally thought.


After hearing him speak I began to understand him more. Even though he was given permission by these people to document such a difficult time in their lives I think it would still be hard to capture these moments. I would find myself wondering constantly if this is the right thing to do and I am not positive that I would be able to handle what I was seeing. I feel as if I would find myself emotionally attached to the people and I am not sure if they would help my work or take away from it. He mentioned in the video that during times of war things change. If this were any other time he would not be able to just go into someone’s home and photograph them dealing with their loss. I am not sure that I completely agree with him. I feel like in times of war it may be easier because these people are experiencing such devastating loss that they don’t notice as much the things that are going on around them. At this point they are just trying to survive. I am not saying experiencing a loss in any circumstance is easy but I feel like things dramatically change if you are still surrounded by the very things that caused your loss to happen in the first place.

Some of my favorite images were the ones of poverty in Indonesia. It blew me away seeing how these people live everyday right along side of the train tracks. There was one particular image of a little girl sweeping the tracks with a broom that really made me think about their living situation. This is their home and they are making the best of it. In the video they talk about how these people are not drug addicts but they are families who are trying to provide for one another and not having to pay rent will help them even more. It is not that I haven’t experienced seeing poverty before, because I have, but never of the magnitude that he photographed in Indonesia. It really opened by eyes up to what they have to live through everyday and they still seem to have a positive outlook on life and are grateful for the little that they do have.

Toward the end of the video they show him talking about pain. He compares it to asking a marathon runner if they feel pain. He replies, of course they do but its all about how you can handle that pain that matters. By hearing this it made me realize that he does care about the people and the situations that he chooses to photograph. After doing it for so long he has come to find a place that helps him deal with all the horrible things he witnesses. After watching the whole video and hearing him speak I really have a great respect for those who put their lives and sanity on the line to document such horrible things such as war.

Final Project Update

I am still trying to get my project approved through the human resources department at the hotel I will be shooting at.  Hopefully I will have some images up by the end of this week.

Project Proposal #2

For my project I am considering documenting my job as well as the people I work with which is Dairy Queen.  I spend a great deal of time at my job and it has become my second home and the people are like family to me.


A. I plan in using my Canon Rebel digital camera to take these photos. I plan on exhibiting these photos by showing prints as well as a video with recordings of the sounds at dairy queen.

B. I want to take images of the space with a lot of detail shots as well as images of the people I work with.  The images of the people would include environmental portraits as well as action shots of them working.  I think the images will have a very intimate feel because the spaces and people being photographed are subjects that I feel comfortable with.


C. As far as access I will have unlimited use of the space.  I work full time and I have a key so I can even go after hours if I need to get some empty shots of the space.  This will not be a problem at all.

I have worked at Dairy Queen for over six years and it has become a second home for me.  I have made many great memories and been through life changing situations as well.  I will be leaving in december and I want to document it before I leave.  I have always avoided using dairy queen as a subject in my work but I have finally accepted the fact that it is something that deserves attention.  The people I work with are all unique in their own way and I would love to capture them as well.  It is a place that I have been so familiar with for so long that I would like people to see it from my view.



I hope that the end result will be able to show people my point of view and show the different personalities of those I work with.  Not only will it show the space I spend much of my time in but the people that fill that space.  I want people to see not only is dairy queen filled with teenagers and college students but also single mothers trying to provide for their family.



As far as a budget goes I do not anticipate that this will be a problem. The only cost will be printing and maybe bribing a few of my coworkers :)

Project Proposal #1

For my project I am considering documenting the spaces that have been occupied by weddings but after they are over.  I am interested in seeing what the aftermath looks like because everyone is use to seeing the picture perfect images of the wedding festivities.  I also want these images to be a social commentary on marriage in America.

A. I plan in using my Canon Rebel digital camera to take these photos.  I plan on exhibiting these photos by showing prints as well as either a video with music and captions or maybe a wedding album with captions.

B.  I am not sure that I want to take images with people in them but just simply the space after the wedding. I am sure there will be a few people left cleaning and whatnot but I don't want the people to be the main focus.  So if there are people in the images they will play a very small part.

C. As far as access goes I anticipate this being the biggest problem.  I am going to contact different venues and see if they will give me access to the spaces.  It may become an issue if they feel like I am violating privacy rights.  If I gain the trust of even one or two venues then I will be able to photograph probably every weekend. And maybe even during the week depending on if there are scheduled weddings.

I have had this idea in my head for a for a few semesters now and coming from a family where everyone is divorced it is a topic that I always have wanted to incorporate into my work.  I often wonder if the wedding is the high point of the marriage and what happens afterward?  Wedding seem like a show and what happens when it all falls apart?  I have photographed weddings before and I want to do something totally opposite than what I'm use to as far as content goes. I plan on first finding venues that will give me access to their spaces after the weddings.  Once I have done this I plan on photographing whenever there is a wedding.  I suppose it will mostly be the weekend nights which I am committed to dedicating that time to this. 

I hope that the end result will be able to get my somewhat serious issue across in a slightly humorous way.  I do not want it to be a sad body of work but something satirical.  Even though this issue is something close to me I am not saddened by it but more aware. I understand that a lot of people will end up divorced in the end and its something that I have accepted.  This may sound very negative but to me its the facts. 

As far as a budget goes I do not anticipate that this will be a problem.  The only cost will be printing and gas for transportation but other than that I do not expect any other costs.

I'm Going to the Moon

When I first started taking photographs to bring to the moon I just began shooting the things I would miss and didn’t think anymore into it. But as I continued to shoot I realized there was a common underlying theme and that was that I wanted to remember the warmth of my surroundings. Whether it be a literal sense of warmth or a sentimental sense of warmth for me these images all give off that sense and I know would bring me comfort. When I think about going to the moon I think about being in a very cold environment. So I chose things that I know when I look at them I will at least be able to remember the warmth I use to feel. Whether it be the people that brought me happiness, the objects that triggered cherished memories or the warm Tucson nights I experienced these were definitely things that I did not want to forget.

Angela Singer

I really admire Angela Singer’s commitment to photographing. I have to admit that there are periods of time where I do not photograph for a couple weeks and I am always upset with myself for that. Sometimes I find myself over thinking about what I am photographing and I admire Angela for that not being an issue for her. She photographs without hesitation and shoots almost everything she sees. She does seem almost obsessed with the idea of having to create images on a daily basis and I wonder what would happen if she were not able to photograph for one day? It is obviously a desire she has but I wonder is it something she needs to do as well? Her granddaughter seems to be concerned with Angela’s need to photograph but I do not think it is something she should be too worried about. It may be annoying to have a grandmother who is always documenting her life but I think she is lucky. I cherish the photographs my grandparents took and shared with me. It gave me an insight into their lives before they were ever grandparents or even parents. Angela’s granddaughter is lucky to be able to look at thousands and thousands of photographs that have documented day after day of her grandmother’s life.


What I find most compelling about Angela’s work is the absolute truth in it. For the most part she shoots exactly what is around her. When you look at her images you get a great sense of what her life is like. She photographs her family, her home, her food, even her checks. I also like that her work seems to take the little things in her life and make them seem like big things by giving them their own spotlight. She makes you stop and really take a look at things that other people wouldn’t normally take photographs of or things you wouldn’t care to look at. I think that her work is strong as a whole. When the video shows her show in the gallery it is just perfect. The way the gallery hung her images in a grid was perfect. I think that if I were to see just a single image of hers I wouldn’t feel as compelled by her work. It is the overwhelming amount of images that makes her work so great.

This work is important because it documents an ordinary women’s life. Angela Singer is a woman who grew up in a small town and very rarely left. Her world is something that we wouldn’t normally see but she has given us the privilege to peek into her everyday life. Angela’s life may seem simple to me but that is what makes it so important. She turns the simplicity into something magnificent because she gives every small aspect in her life the attention that I normally would not.