Expressing Feelings

The Expressing Feelings assignment is an attempt to have Beginning Photography students look into themselves and find a way of bringing out their vision and voice to share with others. Students were encouraged to use the photographic medium and the written word as a means of expressing the abstract.  These written pieces could pose a question, illustrate a personal feeling or possibly challenge a convention, taking the form of a letter, poem or personal essay. Images could range from representational to abstract, including portraiture. As with any meaningful art, clarity of ideas and honesty of expression was essential.

My Shoelaces

I’m always running, running, running, never standing still.

Turning around, upside down, looking everywhere.

Pain shoots though my head, into my spine, and

lands with a thud against my heart.

He does this, he is the one.

I look at him, I hurt.

I look away, that hurts too.

Did he ever notice that I’m falling? Does he even care about me? Does he notice me falling apart from the top, down?

No, he doesn’t.

I sprain my neck looking at him. I stare into his eyes, so much like mine.

He stretches for my hand, and I let him grasp it.

He crouches down to retie my shoelaces.

I look at him and frown.

Reflecting sunlight. Purple mountains. Faint music playing . Waves.  Spraying water in my face. My hands grip the wheel. The motor runs. And the boat skims the surface. Faster, faster, until the wind swirls my hair in my face. Flags flying  . Parties and people dancing on the shore. Fireworks.The clear water beneath me. The bright blue sky above me. I am soaring. I am flying. This is freedom. The water sprays my face again. This is as close to perfect as it can get.

She’s a smiley girl on the outside but on the inside she’s far from it. On the inside she feels pain. She feels alone and unworthy. She doesn’t let people in and it leads her to get overwhelmed with sadness. Every day she looks around and just wishes things were different. She wishes she fit in with everyone. She wishes she could tell people how she felt. She could do these things but she doesn’t because she’s lost. She’s consumed with grief and can’t explain why. She’s not sure about anything.

The Struggle Inside

Failure,

Repeated, saddening, maddening,

Failure.

Not making plays,

 Not making grades,

Unbelievable yet,

How I’m not fazed.

Being a jack of all trades,

The master of none.

The story of my life has now begun.

And somehow these traits are great,

For everything I’m not

Makes me everything I state.

Patient, Cautious, Curious.

Some admirable some innate,

Waiting for your time to come

Gaining the awards you’ve won

Yet I’ve realized something great

That everything I can’t,

Makes me the person I became.

If you are disposing of the artwork,

you may as well dispose of the artist too.

Inside each line, curve and sweep

is a tiny fragment of its creator,

and so it would  be most efficient

to get rid of the artist quickly

rather than to draw it out,

piece by piece.

Unless it’s good.

Then you keep the artwork.

Keep it for as long as you can.

It’ll hang on a wall until it disintegrates.

As for me, I’d rather see all my artwork burned

all at once, rather than have it waste away in a museum hallway.

Perhaps it’s a crazy idea,

but I’ll keep my delusions

and you can keep yours.

Solace

He looks ahead

To the beautiful abyss that is the future.

And slowly becomes what he sees.

He begins to fade away

Because the present is no longer there.

It has passed and is now behind him.

He looks ahead for the only solace he will find.

And sees that:

He is the empty vessel that time passes through

And it passes through,

Alone.

Into the air, and off my feet. Head first, not a single thought.

Trusting, and hoping my hands will catch .

Others think that it looks  easy,

 unaware  of the same fear  .

 But the fear I feel becomes worth it, when I get that feeling.

 Halfway through the air, with no feet or hands to hold me back. 

Free of the gravity that holds me to the floor.

Light as a feather.

PhotoGraphics _ A Sense Of Place

Photographers often traveled great distances to make photographs of very exotic cultures foreign to their own. The great cultural diversity of L.A. offers a convenient resource for students to document places that speak about cultures familiar or unfamiliar,theirs and the other .  

Inspired by various documentary photographers discussed in class Photo-Graphic students chose a place they felt said something about the cultural diversity in this great city .The ultimate format for this assignment will be a photo book edited and designed by Photo-Graphics students .

 

Photographics_Abstract Composition

   Photographic students were required to go beyound the literal translation of subject matter and give 
   an abstract vision of their world here on campus .
   This lesson reintroduced students to camera operations, advanced composition as well as various darkroom tools in Photoshop
   

The Photograph As Muse

Using the Photography of Mary Ellen Mark students were inspired by a fine art photograph to write a poem , using mood words and expressive details from the photograph to guide them . Students learned the meaning of a mood word and how to recognize the details in a fine art photograph that help express mood  and emotion . I build upon the ideas presented in this assignment as a introduction to "Expressing Feelings" how to convey the abstract in a photograph. 
"Expressing Feelings " Images and poems created by students will be posted soon . 

The Neverland in Our Dreams

Take us away

To somewhere like Neverland

Where we can be adults

As soon as we want to be.

Somewhere where people don’t underestimate us by our age, our looks, or our actions.

Somewhere we don’t need things like parents or teachers.

Somewhere we do not have to depend on our "stuff" to strengthen our lives.

The Neverland where we can be ourselves.

Can you take us there?

The gun is pointed at her head.

Somber, cold, and unfeeling.

She’s still there, somehow.

Her hand stays on the tree, inexplicably.

I wonder when it started going downhill, or if it was always like this.

How far away can she walk before she turns around?

The Shadow Knows

Life is pain

You go through tough times

You keep friends

And you lose friends

But the only person that stays with you is

Your

Shadow

Your Shadow is the only one who stays with you

Your shadow is the only one who knows you the best

It matches you everyday

And you can never run away from it

Going to Sleep

The night has come

And we lie here.

This world around us dearly decays.

bottles, and dirty scissors

holds us together.

We lie here.

Tired, sad, empty.

There may be hope but its fumes wane.

So we sleep and wash our pains away.

My eyes still linger open.

But I try to make them shut

Because I know there will be another day.

There will be another day.

How did we get here?

She cries every night

About the girl who lost her smile

How did this happen

Kept away by

Arms eternally crossed

Clouds of helplessness

Invade

Her mind

The girl’s empty eyes

Remind her of the old girl that she

Hasn’t seen in a while .

I walk down the street with my dog at my side, my faithful companion.

Happiness radiates from me

Across the busy street I glance seeing what drowns my fenced heart

Two girls not older than me, barefoot on the sidewalk

I yearn to walk over and help, but I look away.

I wait and wait and wait for them to move,

Not even looking at the boys in their arms

People walk around them, avoiding them, cringing from the boys’wails

And still they don’t move

Finally, as I turn away, they glance, and what I see floods my heart like the water down a empty road

Resentment, angry, sadness

So powerfully expressed that I step back

And still I walk away, protecting my sheltered heart.

May your last breath be cherished; filled with grace.

These words a wish that I do hope you take.

For when I look into your dying face,

I see the hardships endured in this sad place.

No matter the color of skin you are

I hope my dear wish does take you far

That you go and see Him

Sometimes when you look in the mirror, you see your reflection.

But I don’t need a mirror.

Ten Years Passed and I see myself again.

Collecting, dreaming, exploring.

Naïve to life, and full of joy; no stress!

Plenty of confidence .

No time machine or video and I am definitely not in a dream.

It’s just someone exactly like me.

 Ballet Class, and Soccer Games on Saturdays.

I wish she knew how easy she had it.

No Regrets.

I love my little sister.

Let me go inside now.

Inside where it’s warm. Where it’s light and I don’t have to wear this veil. Where there is no darkness looming above.

Let me go to a place that I can take my gloves off, uncross my arms, and feel safe.

I wonder when I’ll be able to go inside. When these wounds will heal, only leaving scars behind.

Scars that I’m proud of, scars that make me who I am, unlike sad eyes. Sad eyes that won’t go away and are surrounded by darkness, hidden by darkness.

Please, let me in. I need light.

She comes to a stop in the middle of the dirt road .

Her eyes look past mine, looking without seeing.

I’m just an obstacle for her

on her road to freedom

from grief, from death, from pain.

She knows I’m waiting for her to speak

to explain to me where she’s going.

I offer her my coat, though I know

She doesn’t want my help.

The Digital Photogram /Cameraless Photograph

As a  dark room photography teacher one of the first lessons I introduce to photo students is "The Photogram: a camera-less photograph. 

This is made by placing an object or group of objects directly onto a sheet of photographic paper .  

The objects and sensitized paper are exposed to light. The result is an image formed by light & objects. The objects  block light from the paper, creating white shapes. Areas not blocked - exposed to light completely - are black .  Inspired by our visiting artist  Darrryl Curran , Photo-Graphics and  Intro to  Digital photography students learned how to recreate this traditional dark room project using 3D -2D objects , a flat bed scanner and various tools in Photo Shop  .