johnspunctumproject

The contrast of white and black in this photo instantly stood out to me. Since everything but the woman is a darker color, my eyes were drawn to her face.  After seeing her expression of happiness and joy, I asked myself what was the cause of her joy. Is it her ice cream cone? Is it the cause of her apparent high social class? Or is it her freedom of the non-existence of a man? The next thing that stood out to me was the mannequin to right of her. The placement of the woman’s arm and the location of where the suit is makes it seem like she is linking arms with the mannequin. However, since it is only a mannequin, it emphasizes the non-existence of a man and that she is alone and completely independent from anyone. There is no man next to her like in many of Winogrand’s photos which led me to answer the question of why she is so genuinely happy. She is happy because she has complete freedom.  Without any man or anyone to depend on, Winogrand is representing the independence and confidence of this woman in the photo. With a ice cream cone in her hand, this photo shows that she has gone her own way in the world, and what makes her most charming is her independence. 

Sally’s style of sharing what her parent’s marriage was like first and then explain the personality of her dad was very interesting to see. By glancing over this paragraph it would be easy to say there is nothing to say about that, but I believe that Sally chose that order on purpose.  She did this to allow readers to assume what her father was like by judging their lopsided marriage first and then she described him after to make us see how he was a gentle and quiet man. 

After looking at the title “Negative Material,” I made a connection between the title and his disapproving look. To this man in the photo, society is the ‘Negative Material’. This man is unable to take a picture because he is frustrated with what is in front of him. Society is the  ‘Negative Material’ and this man is upset and disapproves of it so he can't take a picture. Society needs to shape up and ‘pose’ better before a picture can be taken. 

This quote jumped out to me immediately as I read over it. This quote stood out to me because it made me realize how to Alison, the library is more of a home to her than her real house. Through her childhood, her house was nothing more than a cover-up for her father and a place to live where she had little to no family time. Unlike her house, the library has served as more of a home, as it has helped her understand her feelings for other woman through books that would be impossible to get if she stayed home with her parents. Instead, she “flees” to the library where she hears the “siren’s” call to read and understand what she is feeling. 

This article I found is about how pictures and selfies can come between your surroundings and interaction of people around you. The article continues to explain that taking pictures has created a disconnection between people and how people share time with each other face to face. This is significant to our English because it relates to what Sontag says in her book “On Photography”. Sontag writes that taking pictures during vacations creates a fake experience and separation between you and the thing your taking a picture of. This article is very similar to the views of Sontag

With this frame on top of page 52, I saw the significance in the setup and division of this frame, along with the words to describe her feelings in this moment. The division of the frame is important as it sets up two different sides of what she is thinking. On the left side, she sees a part of him that she didn’t know, his receded hairline. That might not seem important but it symbolizes how she did not know her father like she thought he did. From as minor as his hairline, to sleeping with men Allison realizes that her father was a mystery to her. On the right side of the frame, it contrasts the thought that she didn’t know her father at all. She says “ I wasn’t sure it was him until I found the tiny blue tattoo.” She recognizes him by the tiny mark on his knuckle. The contrast of the two frames of not knowing who he truly was but recognizing him through an specific small event symbolizes how the public saw Alison’s father. People in his community knew him at church and saw he acted normal with his family, but once he stepped into his house, people would be shocked if the knew what he did with other men and how he treats his family.

This photo from the website of St. Thomas captures the culture of student life and their university. I choose this photo because of what this photo represents, and the culture it portrays, which attracted me to St. Thomas in the first place. First, by looking at the left border of the picture you can see families clapping and cheering on their children or siblings. The families are so close to the students that it creates a closer connection and a closer sense of community by looking at the picture. Coming from a big high school, I wanted that closer feeling. At a D1 school, parents would not be so close to their children at a welcoming ceremony like they are in this picture. This picture captures the private and intimate sense of the school. Also, when looking at most of the students, it is clear that they feel that they made the right decision in coming to this school. From a picture at the welcoming ceremony, I would not expect as many students as there are to be talking to others and smilling. The happy faces of the students promote what St. Thomas is trying to brand to the world. That students enjoy St. Thomas and are welcomed here. 

“A way of certifying experience, taking photographs is also a way of refusing it-by limiting experience to a search for the photogenic, by converting experience into an image, a souvenir” (Sontag 9). I took this photo last summer in Alaska. This picture reminds me of this quote, because I spent every moment of this sunset trying to get a picture that I felt would last as a souvenir. Instead of enjoying the sunset, I limited my experience by keeping a camera between myself and it. Even though I now have so many pictures of all the sunsets I saw, when I look back at it, I realize I can barely remember the experience in itself. I converted the sunset into clips of time that I would have for the rest of my life but in doing so, I never stood back and took it all in.  Sontag said that taking photographs is a way of limiting an experience, and this picture is a example of that search for the perfect souvenir.