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.

Sally Mann

Sally Mann’s work involving her family, especially her children is very powerful. You can sense how intimate her relationship is with them just by looking at her photographs. Its as if the camera almost isn’t there because the gestures of the children seem too natural. After viewing the video I got a different view, almost behind the scenes of what went into the making of these photographs. These photographs will always be powerful to me but now I understand that these were not just natural photographs but they were often times carefully constructed images. I am not exactly sure how I feel about this. Something changes for me knowing that Sally was trying to control many aspects of the photographs but I think I am ok with this. The fact that she can be directing these images but it still looks as if she were just shooting exactly what she saw before her is great. For the most part her children seemed willing to pose for Sally but there were points in the video where they appeared to be annoyed. I am wondering if they ever got fed up with being photographed on what looked like a daily basis? I wonder if their relationship with Sally was changed because they were constantly being watched for the next good image? These are all things that are issues when something so personal is your most photographed subject matter.


I have photographed close friends and family in the past on numerous occasions. Having willing subjects is always a plus! I mean whenever I photograph the people in my life that are important to me those images seem to be closer to my soul because I have an emotional attachment to the subject. I love photographing my close friends and family but if I were to photograph them during difficult times that may be another story. I have never done anything like that. When I focus on difficult times in my work it is usually based on my own struggles and not that of my family and friends. I think I have avoided doing so because I do not want to ask them to expose themselves like that but now that I think of it maybe it wouldn’t be something they would be opposed to. To only focus on the good times in life and avoid the difficult is unrealistic. It gives a false sense of the person if you only pick and choose when you will document their lives. Sally Mann did a great job of showing the spectrum of her children’s lives. She wasn’t afraid of photographing them in difficult times because that is reality. I commend her on doing this because I would be afraid that it would cause tension between me and my subject. You have to find someone that would be willing to give you full access of their lives and that is a lot to ask of a person.

Like I mentioned earlier I have tackled some of my own issues in my work. But I am not sure how I would feel having someone document a personal aspect of my life. I don’t know if it is because I am a photographer but I am not sure if I would be willing to give up that control. I have always tackled the issues myself and I would really have to trust someone to let them have full access into my life. Also I do not think the work would be successful unless I fully trusted the photographer. I think the reason Sally Mann’s work is so powerful is because her relationship with her children is so apparent in her work. Having a personal aspect of my life documented by someone else is something I would eventually love to do but at this point I am not completely sure I would be able to give up full control. But if I were ever able to let someone have full access into my life it would probably give me a whole new perspective that I would have never gotten before. It would also help me see a new way to photograph myself that I otherwise would have never known.

My desire to produce something as emotional as Sally Mann’s work is very strong. I want my viewer to be able to look at my images of my friends and family and be able to understand the relationship I have with these people. I also want my images to tell a story about these people so that you have a better understanding of who they are after you see a series about them, or even a single image. I understand that these sorts of images are not created so simply. I feel I would need to spend countless hours spending time with my subject and getting to know them even better than I already do. I would want to the camera to be like another person and not something that would be intimidating to my subject. I realize this will take time but if I am on my way to producing images even slightly closer to the magnitude of Sally Mann’s work then it is well worth it.