Stone Statue

Painting & Writing with Light

Light Writing

Light Painting 

Faces

By: Chloe Ordway, Lela Reagan, Kathya Seela, Emma Belkan

Pumpkin Face

Photo Filter Portrait

Lupita Nyong'o

Guns Photo Essay

Guns have been a very controversial topic in the news lately, what with all the recent shootings around the country. There are around 100, 000 gun deaths every year in America, while there really only has been around 3, 000 deaths from terrorism (most of which all happened at one time, 9/11). America seems to always be talking about our "War on Terrorism" when we many of our deaths are caused by guns in our own country. America's love affair with guns has ended up killing more children under five in 2010 then the deaths of police officers in the same year, and wounding three times more children in 2010 than the soldiers who were wounded in Afghanistan that year. Whenever there is a shooting in America people mourn and talk about how horrible it was, but they never do anything about it. Many people tend to use the Second Amendment to justify their right to have guns. Though it does say that people have the right to have their own weapons, the Amendment was specifically talking about states having a militia. Which meant that everyone in the militia was to be properly trained in the use of a fire arm, which many people who own guns today aren't. The guns used at the time the Second Amendment was created are very different from the guns we use today as well. They were used to having rifles that could be shot once and then takes a long time to reload, unlike the 380 caliber pistol that is seen in the photos which can fire many rounds and takes mere seconds to reload. Times have changed and the Constitution should be able to change with it, which is why there are Amendments in the first place.

People seem to be getting desensitized when it comes to guns and say whatever it takes to defend them. I decided to show what an actual gun looks like, as well as a close up of the trigger, which is what can ultimately end a person's life. The photos of the gun with the coin represents how America is the only developed country with these problems. No other developed country have problems when it comes to gun control. They all have regulations, such as only being allowed ammo at gun ranges (Switzerland), or they just straight outlawed guns (Australia). I also wanted to depict actually looking down the sight of a gun as though you're about to shoot it. I decided to have it in black and white to show the seriousness and how controversial shooting a gun is. My favorite shot is the gun it the dried flowers. This picture can be interpreted different ways. You can see it as beauty and peace suddenly being interrupted or even hiding the evil within the gun. You can also see it as the gun killing whatever it touches, hence the dead flowers. Lastly there is another still of the gun to wrap up the series of photos and bring you back to the beginning.

Principles of Design

Symmetrical Balance

Emphasis

Movement

Rhythm

Pattern

Repetition

Proportion

Unity

Variety

1. My favorite image is the image of emphasis, which is the one of the fire. It's my favorite because I love how the only thing you can see in the photo is the flames of the fire. 

Photo Essay Questions "Perfect"

1. The photographer Gianni Cipriano went around Italy to take pictures of six different types of non-conventional beauty pageants. These women were seen as imperfect due to weight, age, plastic surgery, etc.
2. The societal view of beauty and perfection is only seen as one specific body type. These photos were taken to show the beauty and perfection or imperfection of different types of women.
3. The author told this story to try to show the bodies of women who are seen as imperfect in Italian society.
4. In simplicity, the images make me feel good. It's always good to see different types of women that usually aren't seen or not seen as beautiful. 
5. The images enhance the story because you get to see the different women that Italian society specifically don't see as beautiful or perfect.