Advertising Pain

                Brooks running shoes has a popular grassroots advertising campaign that reflects purity, happiness and relaxation.  The background around the shoe in the ad is roughly drawn—not necessarily showing a clean purity, but giving more of an earthy feeling and simplistic feeling.  The bright colors give energy to the image, while the slogan “feel more with less” creates a message that shoes will provide a more enhanced and pleasurable running experience with the simplicity of the shoe itself.  Directed towards an athletic runner audience, this ad is effective as it creates a desire and excitement to have simplistic, great feeling shoes.  The image would not appeal to older generations who don’t follow the indie movement, and possibly even those who do not enjoy being athletic. 

                 As a contrast to the original advertisement, I altered the meaning of the image and slogan mainly through the addition of blistered feet.  Blisters from shoes are a common and often unavoidable experience that is not reflected by the original image.  Removing the simplistic and exciting feeling from the ad, I darkened the color and lighting.  I focused on the word “more” with red paint and hand drawn outlining—inferring the shoe is the root of feeling pain rather than an object that feels good.  These effects alter the meaning by bringing a level of seriousness and controversy to the ad, while still retaining the artistic composition it originally held.

Peace of Mind and Body

In this series, I wanted to explore the different ways that people find relaxation and faith through their bodies.  Along with this theme is the idea of religion and how the body practices it.  The set was meant to be objective—to provide an insight to how people around me find their own sense of peacefulness.  Talking with each photographed person individually, I discovered what they found to be necessary for remaining happy in life and photographed them in these settings.  I have one photo depicting prayer, another showing a dancer, a third of meditation, and finally one of me running.  What’s interesting to point out about each of these actions is that each is in a way structured—the human body does not immediately know how to pray or run, but is gradually taught how to do so.  However, each provides an extensive level of freedom in how they are practiced.  Prayer doesn’t have towards a certain god or in a certain place; dancing involves moving with how you feel and your abilities; meditation is an art open to freeing the mind; and running allows physical and mental constraints to be challenged.  These photos bring forth the liberty in these activities, showing how at the individual level they provide the relaxation our bodies desire.

I was somewhat motivated in this project by the work of Nikki S. Lee in how she tried to objectively represent different cultures in her photos.  I did not assume the roles of the others—besides the inclusion of my own habit—but instead investigated using people I knew that expressed different mannerisms of faith in their daily lives.  Each photograph has a different depiction of how peace is found, as the same phrase is added to each to connect them.  Using the text does not individually describe the subject of the photo; the person within each is key in understanding how peace varies from person to person.  In this way, my main exploration of personal photography was the idea of how loosely defined a term like peace can be.  Someone may not understand the idea of prayer or the mentality behind dancing, but they can connect to the idea of tranquility made possible by the daily activities one deems important on their own.

A Catholic Mission

This photo set was taken at the 300 year old San Xavier Mission in South Tucson.  There are many renovations taking places throughout the complex--both in the church and in the adjoined museum--as well as many modernized features added to structure.  I chose to focus on the contrast of the new and old that existed and display what was being changed and how this affects the function of the church itself.  Much of the modernization of the church displays the commercialization of the religion and how the building evolves as the function changes.  Many older sections that are under construction are blocked off from the public, keeping vistors located in remodeled areas.  Also, while electricity is an important role in society today, the safety features and lighting systems alter the appearance of a historic site and makes it asthetically different.  Generally, this is an examination of how the experience of going to the mission is changed because of the lack of authenticity that is still present.  Important to note, however, is the subtlety behind that changes that make them almost easy to look past at first glance.

Lines bringing Balance

I chose to also focus on the use of lines to create dimensionality in the photographs, and while doing so found balance in them from the lines.  I the first, a diagonal line cuts through above the photo's center and combines with the horizontal line of the ground to add perspective. Also a diagonal, light line going across the window reflects on the aspects of the can, creating the balance.  In the second, the line of the can folllows the ground and the dark of the pillars creates a shape similar to the can's. I found the mix of vertical, diagonal and horizantal lines in this photo to be intriguing.  In the third, the line from the can to its shadow implies the three dementionality of the photo, but the shadow itself creates a balance that wouldn't exist if it was not available.

Downtown Colors

One of the interesting aspects of the paint can that originally struck my eye was the unique, rusted color it has.  Ranging from brown to light orange with occassional green spots, it stands out great in brightly colored backdrops.  I thought about a bright blue Dominos building, opposing the orange of the can according to the color wheel.  Then while driving downtown, I stummbled upon a huge graffetti mural on a building, took the paint can out of my trunk and played around with the color palette the artist had used. Blurring the background of the second, I put more focus on the organce of the can so as to not lose it as the subject. The third is of the same backdrop, but from a different perspective that I thought brought an interesting set of oranges and greens that fit with the can.

Perspectives of a Paint Can