For Assignment #2, I wanted to focus on different reflections that I could create in the dark. Many of the photos I took used some sort of background light, such as the light from my lamp, my room light, and some colorful LED lights that we keep in our common area. To be truly honest, I started taking pictures of things I thought would look cool and a lot of them turned out to be much nicer than I initially expected. My personal favorite photo is the photo with the reflection of the television. For some reason, it gives a sort of ominous, scary vibe, but it was really just my roommates and I watching a television show. I feel that pictures like these really do show the true magic of photography because some things are not always as they seem, and images can change someone’s entire perception of true reality.

These, along with the other two images that I posted, are my final images for Assignment #4. I am not really much of a creative thinker, so I decided to take a few images that simply tell the story of my life at Hobart and William Smith Colleges. I tried to take images of different areas of my college life for this assignment. My first photo was a picture of some items that I use throughout the week like toothpaste, shaving cream, and laundry pods. I decided to also take a picture of the path I take to walk to the school’s art campus. Third, I used a picture of a pair of football cleats that I have been wearing throughout the course of this years’ football practices and scrimmages. Finally, I took a picture of where I have been spending most of my time, in Bartlett Hall, which is where I live. At first glance, these might seem like a bunch of random, unrelated photos, but my whole idea was to take some pictures of things that I could look back on in the future. I want to be able to look at these pictures once my college experience is over and reminisce on even the littlest of details of my college experience so that it will be something I do not forget.

These are a couple of images that I took for assignment #4. When asked to tell a story through my images, my mind leaned in the direction of simply documenting my everyday life. I still have work to do, but for the most part I started taking somewhat random images of things in my room, paths that I walk on throughout the day, places that I travel etc. I feel that through this project, I will be able to create a sense of nostalgia for my future self because I will be able to look back on this assignment and reflect on my college experience. Because of this, I am very excited to see how it will turn out. 

These are the photos I used for Assignment #3. Alysia suggested that doing a specific “play” in football would be a cool idea, and my mind immediately went to this particular play that Odell Beckham Jr. made for the Giants in November of 2014. It was quite a significant play and it sent the sports world into a craze. For my other photos, I decided to use a few of the many tweets that celebrities had put out about the play, and it really showed the significance and impact that it had. I decided to add a bit of fun to it as well by using a picture that one of my coaches sent to me, which was a defensive play that we run on our team. I acted like that was the field in which the play happened, and I placed the tweets in a position that made it look like people cheering in the stadium. Especially now that we can’t really go to football games because of the pandemic, I believe this way of presenting my assignment shows the excitement that was once experienced when times were much simpler. I certainly enjoyed doing this assignment because I focused on something that I love, and I was glad that I could experience making these photograms. 

Davis and Solarium Galleries

The Davis and Solarium galleries featured several images, many from the Nakeya Brown lecture that we attended earlier this year. Many of the photos were able to highlight the uniqueness of black hair, regardless of gender. Some photos also highlighted the extra care that a person of color needs to have when dealing with their hair. The pictures included durags and combs, and looking at these pictures, I was able to relate it to some of my friends and the steps that they take to make their hair look good. Some of my friends who want “waves” in their hair are constantly wearing a durag throughout each day, and I cannot fathom the amount of time and effort it takes to do all of that. Many of these photos that I looked at were able to highlight these struggles that I have seen people go through simply to maintain the head of hair they want. I also found the title “Better Than Good” to be a very powerful title that Nakeya chose for her exhibition. Today’s standard of beauty holds notions of “good” and “bad” hair in which black hair has ultimately been demeaned and overlooked by the hair of white people. The entire gallery shows that black hair is not below the standards of beauty. In fact, it disregards any standard that is set because it is unique and powerful. I was glad to have viewed these galleries and witness the impact that black hair truly has. 

These were some of my favorite photos from today’s exercise. The camera flash truly has a profound effect on the way photos turn out. I feel that it makes the images look much clearer, regardless of if they are already exposed to light or not. I especially enjoyed taking pictures with different shutter speeds, as i completely disappeared in one of the photos we took.

Nakeya Brown’s lecture on Friday was very interesting to say the least. Clearly she had a passion for her photography and it was wonderful that she decided to share her passion with us. Most of the photos that Nakeya shared with us were pictures of black women with their natural hair out who had hair that is normally worn by white women in their mouths. Obviously, black women could wear hair like this if they want, but many people will exclaim that it is “not natural” and/or weave. I have seen this first hand. When I was in middle school, I went to a predominantly black school. Many of the girls wore their hair out naturally, and many of them did not. My friends, however, would always talk about their hair and how they did not find it attractive, and if they wore hair extensions, they talked about how fake it looked. When Nakeya brought light to this issue through her photos, I was able to instantly relate back to my middle school days and was able to reflect on the sort of inequalities that black women face in terms of beauty standards. Her work and explanations truly brought out the beauty that black hair can have. Another thing that I was drawn back by was the simplicity of her photos. When I think of people who are photographers, I think of some of the videos we watched in class that showed the true detail and precision that some of these artists had in shooting every picture. Nakeya showed me that your work does not necessarily need to be complex to have a profound impact, or to even simply be considered “good.” Her pictures were able to tell a story, and I believe that these pictures are unique from other ones that I have seen. I am glad that I was able to join Nakeya’s lecture on Friday.

For two weeks now, I have been in quarantine due to COVID-19 protocols. Because of this, I have had to adapt to a new life away from people, and, although it has its perks, it is not the most wonderful way to live. Since I was unable to ever capture any pinhole photographs, I decided to use my iPhone and capture the current life that I am living. This is something I knew I wanted to do for this assignment as soon as I was told to use my iPhone. In a few of the photos that I captured, I had the intent of depicting myself being trapped or caged in a room with no way of escaping. Technically, I do feel this way because I am not allowed to leave this room, and I was able to use these photos to express that feeling. I believe that the best depiction of this is the photo of the peephole, which gives me a glimpse of the outside world, bringing me hope that I will one day be freed. Another one of my favorite pictures is the picture I took of my window, which also exposes the outside world for me and gives me some natural light that I have not truly experienced for days. Some photos, such as the paper bag, are meant to show how I am living my everyday life. These bags are delivered to my room with food twice a day, and it is something I am quite tired of seeing each day. Although I am not thrilled to be stuck in a hotel room, I did have some fun capturing these photos and creating an expression of my everyday life.

In the first chapter of “The Miracle of Analogy” by Kaja Silverman, we are able to see the first glimpse of images and how they slowly began to make an appearance in the world. We also learn about the first use of the camera obscura, a “darkened chamber with a small aperture through which light entered, bearing a reversed and inverted stream of images that both originated in the external world and analogized it (Silverman: 14).” Although I was put into quarantine and my time was made short, I was able to experience this kind of image-making first hand on the arts campus, specifically in the dark room. I had never originally thought of an image being created like this, and creating images similar to the first photos ever created was certainly an eye opening experience. Another main point in the chapter is the role of perception of these images. Many theorists also believed that our eyes worked like the camera obscura, which is also fascinating to think about because, just like us, it receives images rather than producing them, but we are able to physically see them. Our perception of images plays a very important role because many of us perceive images differently, and each image might have a different value or meaning to different people. Many theorists also began to look at the camera obscura as a way of seeing the world and learning about it. Clearly, the images that the camera obscura were able to create had a profound impact on society. People were now able to capture the world around them without having to use a pencil and paper, making it a revolutionary form of art. I can only imagine how perplexed people were when they were able to see an actual image of the real world right in front of them. Nowadays, we are able to take pictures with the click of a button, and although images today are extremely crisp and clear, the simplicity of it might take away some of the value that I was able to discover with these obscura images through my reading. I almost wish I was able to experience what it was first like to see an image on paper. Now, improved details on cameras seems to be the norm with every new phone, and after reading this, I believe it somewhat takes away the shock value that images used to create among people around the world. The sheer impact that the camera obscura had on the world is like none other, and reading this chapter of Silverman’s book truly put into perspective the true meaning behind these photos, especially when I was creating them myself.

This picture is from my senior year of high school at our “aqua prom.” This one is particularly special to me because of the scenic, beautiful view of the New York City skyline at night, and because I was able to take in this moment with my girlfriend, Gianna. The background is a bit blurry, but I feel that it adds a unique touch to the already beautiful skyline. This was a night that I will never forget, and I am glad I got to spend it with the best people and in my favorite place, New York.