Except for the times when I am playing video games, I am not a visual person. Hence when I learned one of our weekly writing assignments being a digital image analysis, my heart immediately sunk. Completely clueless about digital photography, I borrowed a friend’s camera and started brainstorming for picture ideas. In the thinking process, a Kip Fulbeck style makeup-free people portrayal project and a UC Davis in advertisement versus in reality photo comparison came to mind, which were later deemed too ambitious. Sticking with practicality, I eventually took the least risk and snapped the picture above.
Would you agree that this picture depicts nothing more than a driveway to a regular garage in a typical house in Davis, or just anywhere? A car parked in the driveway could be an indicator of two possible facts: someone is home and the garage is filled, perhaps by another car. The beige color scheme on the wall exudes a warm aura, hinting the property could be a family home. A pathway to a garden on the right reflects that some residents in the house have a passion for plants. At a glance, this house fits into every stereotype about a boring, lifeless residence in the suburb; this house is where I live in Davis.
As a resident in the property, I attest our house is anything but boring. I share the space with three student runners on the UC Davis Cross Country Team. Living with athletes is an interesting experience. Instead of seeing their three minute glory on the course, I have an opportunity to go behind the scenes and witness the enormous effort they have to put forth in order to render the best performance. Seeing their insistence and persistence on striving for 0.01 second faster everyday is truly an inspiration to me. In addition to inspirational people, this house is also well equipped with different appliances that appeal to the general college crowd, which easily makes the coolest house on the street. In the living room we have our home theatre with surround sound. A Wii and a Playstation 3 are wired to the system on which we enjoy occasional movie watching and video gaming. The garage is the band room and meeting area, in which a drum set, fishing gear, a DJ station, roller skates and camping equipments can be found. All residents in the house live in harmony for not only do we share chores and living costs but also fun.
That being said, showing off is not my intent. They say, a picture is worth a thousand words. I say, don’t judge a book by its cover. Earlier when we saw the first picture, how many of us would consider the people and equipment behind the bland walls and make an argument of the hip appeal of the house? Technological advancement and mass media today have given us an overwhelming flow of information that we simply do not have enough time to digest word by word. Gradually, we have grown to become more and more dependent on pictorial material for a more direct feed of information. While enjoying the convenience of graphical demonstration, we can easily forget the limitation of photographs: they are illustrations from a single perspective. It is completely justifiable to analyze what message a picture is trying to convey. However, it seems to be even more critical to question what it does not cover. Go beyond the photo, investigate the story from different angles and come to an educated collusion. That perhaps is the most valuable skill we can exchange for the premium we pay for college.
3 comments:
Your title really captured my attention and made me want to ready your post. You asked, “Would you agree that this picture depicts nothing more than a driveway to a regular garage in a typical house in Davis, or just anywhere?” My answer is yes and no. It really depends on many factors. I guess it depends on my mood, my creativity, my connection to the photo, and how I am feeling at the moment. I mean I can go on and on telling you what I think and feel about this photo and even come up with one story or many stories. On the other hand, I can also say that yes, at first glance, the photo, to me, is nothing more than a driveway with a parked car. And according to your background information of what goes on beyond the photo about your housemates and the objects contained within the home, I think you have answered your own question that the picture posted is worth a thousand words. At least to you it does. A picture is only worth a thousand words if the viewer feels that it is. This reminds me of the quote, “Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder,” because they both seem to embed the same meaning. I feel that if the photo contains meanings to the viewer, then the photo is worth more than a thousand words. Much like beauty is one thing to one person and is a totally different thing to another. On the contrary, if the photo is meaningless to the viewer, then it might not even be worth more than one sentence. Therefore, it is up to the viewer to decide if the photo is indeed worth a thousand words.
In this case the picture seems to be worth 603 words, or 895, with Aimee's comment. Maybe with mine we'll make it to a thousand.
I really like how you draw your reader into two interiors: both the thinking behind the taking of this picture, and what the actual interior of this picture holds. One imagines another level of interiority in which you discuss the chemicals (or light nodes or pixels) that are literally the 'inside' of this photo).
When you say not to "judge a book by its cover"—don't you mean something more like don't judge a house by its typicality? In the context of this image/words matrix, it would be worth skewing the cliché (judging books by their covers) rather than just repeating it, I think. Clichés are copies: they are like images, as it were. I like how you end with a reoriented interior image of the garage, and this brings to life your caution concerning the single perspectives required of pictures. Now we are looking back at ourselves, trapped somewhere behind that garage door, on a road to nowhere.
Well, I pushed us past the 1000 mark, and there's still a lot more to say, isn't there?
I like Aimee's point about the contingent role of "creativity," and how this can make a picture worth zero words or endless eloquent ideas. In a sense, the aim of this class is to use writing as a way to always take a 'creative' stance toward life and never just zone out. (I understand that sometimes it feels good to "zone out," but good writing should be able to even get creative with zoning out!)
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