Saturday, October 30, 2010

The Visual Essay Experience

When I was first assigned this project, I really had a hard time in figuring out what I was going to talk about. Not given a specific topic seemed very challenging for me, and caused a lot of stress. At first I thought about just taking specific pictures of a certain kind of art, like a sculpture or statue, and talking about them. Then, I went to Atlantic Station and saw the statue next to Target, and thought it would make a great picture. I took the first image, standing straight in front of it, then thought, I wonder how it would look from a close up angle. I then walked up to it and took then picture, then stood to a side angle of it and took another picture. When I got home and uploaded my pictures to my computer, I was really happy with how they looked. It was at that point that I found my theme.

From this point on, I felt much more comfortable with my project. After finding my theme, I was able to take pictures and generate an order for which to put them in rather quickly. I was able to draw similarities and differences  between the different pictures that I took. At this point, I felt very confident in my project.

I thought that giving a presentation instead of writing a paper made this project easier for me. Personally, I can explain things much better when I talk about them and show people what I am talking about instead of writing about it. I think this is because I am more of a visual learner myself.

As far as time spent went, it took me much less time to find out what to say for my essay, however in total time of taking pictures, choosing the correct ones, and creating a presentation, an essay would have taken less time. However, I do believe that doing this presentation instead of writing a paper made my grade better since I can speak better than I write.

Overall I really enjoyed this project and it gave me confidence in finding a topic for future open ended assignments. On the next project like this, I am sure I will have a lot less stress and nerves and will therefore do a better job.

1 comment:

  1. You definitely thought outside the box and chose a theme that wasn't so obvious which made for a more interesting presentation. It was one of the ones that stood out in class so yeah, twas good!
    -Michelle Lee

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