Fireside Chat

My performance for the fireside chat was both a visual experience for the spectators and one that was interactive.  I wanted to give the audience the feeling that they were watching and experiencing the exercises with me. For this reason, I did not just stand up and explain them.  Instead I performed some of them whist an explanation of the reasons behind them were being played with the music.  This blend of performance art showed what I very passionately believe to be true: that the connection of body, mind, and spirit is so strong that releasing physical tension can help improve aspects of emotional and spiritual well being.  As we discussed in class, what we believe can have a heavy influence on the art that we produce.  Believing in the physical work that performers do has made me more aware of the complicated nature of human behavior, helping me to understand how to mold my craft into a realistic acting performance that audiences can connect with and relate to.  This belief absolutely affects the art that I create because I attempt to convey the same feelings that one may experience through emotions that can be captured in the creative process.  In my fireside chat performance, I felt nervous, but was able to get more relaxed as Marcelle helped me work out some of my tension during my monologue. It requires a great deal of being in tune with the spirit in order to connect with others when doing this performance work, and this connection with the spirit helps mold the art and the artist as he or she tries to convey messages to the audience.  I felt this in my performance as I really tried to become vulnerable during my monologue.  Most of the time an artist has to become vulnerable in some way in order to really create art that expresses themselves.  Some become vulnerable by telling a lyrical story about something personal.  Some become vulnerable by painting something that may look dark or disturbing to others but that shows a part of their past.  As actors, we show our vulnerability through our bodies, our voices, and our very countenances.  The audience could see through my vocal and body work in the performance, such as "breathing machine" that aspects of my posture and vocal quality was changing, and the media was being played expressed the relaxation sensation that I wanted to create.

Concerned Citizen

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9o5727bW7ts&feature=youtu.be

We wanted to present a concerned citizen that was making an effort to reach out to the community by serving the individuals that need assistance locally.  Megan is a mentor that spends time with special needs kids in order to help them have more opportunities in their community and to learn to better develop social skills.  She takes them hiking, to soccer games, movies, and other activities to help them discover new interests and hobbies.  It was touching to us that Megan takes time out of her schedule to mentor these kids, especially Nick, whom she talks about in the video.  Her attitude of changing the community in this simple way reminds one of what Goldbard states in Human Rights and Culture: From Datastan to Storyland.  It is discussed in this article that anyone who wants to be influential in a certain issue or problem must engaged with the feelings of others about this certain subject.  As we engaged with Megan, we felt that our perspective was changed on the way in which she interacts with kids such as Nick that she works with.  We feel that the things that she expressed in the interview can open the eyes of the viewers in the community to the opportunities available to them right in Provo.  They discover here that they can be a friend to kids with special needs and, like Megan, connect with these kids that they otherwise would not have a chance to interact with. It appealed to us personally because of the moving influence that she’s had with these kids.  She and others like her encourage and inspire us to get outside of ourselves, get into the community, and be a loving representative of Christ by doing as he would.

http://www.philome.la/gijeeves/to-eat-or-not-to-eat

http://twinery.org/2/#!/stories/95579397-75f7-4c3a-b0c1-435ed738029a/play

This Twinery story revolves around eating disorders and some of the processes that one may go through when experiencing struggles with eating.  I wanted to keep this particular situation very ambiguous.  I didn't want it focused on one type of eating disorder or another, but wanted to show a realistic struggle that strays away from the typical situation of eating disorders due to poor body image.  Many battle with food not because of poor body image but because of poor self esteem in other aspects of their lives.  For some it is more about control--controlling aspects of their life that they feel have gotten out of hand.  I wanted this story to progress in a way that the choices were pretty subtle at first.  The choices start out with things such as eating a granola bar or a burrito.  Pretty simple and seemingly harmless.  It is, however, the simple thoughts about how eating habits effect your self-worth or self-control that can lead down a path such as the one that is shown in this game.  As the player makes more choices, the player eventually comes to more extreme choices, where seemingly logical choices such as eating healthy and not worrying about it are crossed out.  Instead, more extreme choices such as vomiting and taking a laxative are the only choices provided.  This represents the feeling of the lack of options that the main character feels as she is going through this journey.  Eventually, all options lead to getting help or choosing not to.  Choosing not to send you on a loop where you are right back to feeling out of control.  As the story goes  on, there are even instances where the reader has no choice but to do the things that the narration dictates, such as going to the fridge and eating ice cream.  This gives the player a feeling of a lack of control.  The player does not even have a choice in this--they must eat the ice cream.  This shows the feeling that many feel when dealing with an eating disorder of a lack of control of what their body wants them to do.  The ending is extremely brief.  This is purposeful, as in the Twinery game "Queers in Love at the End of the World."  This game was ambiguous and had a brief ending that said simply that the world was over.  I wanted a brief ending that did not offer a super clear solution.  The reason for this is that there really are no extremely clear solutions to problems such as this that work for everybody, only the desire to reach out to others for help for a recognized problem.

Artist Statement

World Building

Identity is a multi-faceted ordeal: race, religion, socioeconomic status, health, gender, sexual orientation to name a few.  And there are many more categories that fit under the great identity umbrella.  A good portion of these traits cannot be seen, they are felt, heard, thought.  However,  what if you could see every part of your identity summed up in one trait?

We built a world in which that is the case. From the time you are born until you complete adolescence around age 20, your skin color changes.  People are born with all colors, which combined together is the equivalent of a semi-translucent white. As individuals grow to experience feelings and emotions, their skin starts changing colors. The rite of passage in this world is the solidification of your color. When the individual has their color solidify, they are not able to change it anymore, and that color will define his place in society. There is a second-rate class of citizens whose color never solidifies, they are known as Prisms. This caste is seen as inferior because they wear their thoughts, emotions, feelings, and experiences in dramatic, prismatic ways. This makes them hard to hire, harder to befriend, and harder to trust.  Becoming a prism is a thing of nightmares; a scare tactic to keep children in line.

           To showcase this culture, we chose three artifacts: a drug elimination campaign poster, a radio advertisement, and a blog post. The anti-drug campaign poster shows us the community’s commitment to saving the population from suffering due to illegal drugs. Color drugs, is a way to change the individual solid color to become better accepted. However, most of them end up losing their own colors and who they are in the process. This artifact correlates to our own society as people does not feel accepted; drugs, vicius and other harmful things became their escape of reality.

           The radio advertisement, like many that pop-up on free music-streaming platforms, allows citizens the opportunity to seek help in coming to terms with an evolving personality within the restriction of their skin color. This is reminiscent of addiction recovery and depression support group advertisements that one would see in our world. Our goal with this artifact is to criticize the idea that individuals can only be one color. People are complex, their whole being can’t be defined by only one simple characteristic like the color of their skin.

           The blog post unveils the experiences of our outcast Prism culture, subjugated by their solid-color betters, fallen prey to discrimination. Like in our society, these are the marginalized people that can’t fit in and often have to face prejudice.

           This colorful world mirrors our own reality of visual prejudices.  As Julian Bleeker states in his short essay Design Fiction “…fiction can be understood as a kind of writing that, in its stories, creates prototypes of other worlds, other experiences, other contexts for life based on the creative insights of the author. Designed objects — or designed fictions — can be understood similarly.  They are assemblages of various sorts, part story, part material, part idea-articulating prop...”

            We label people into boxes, punishing them forever for being who they are.  We marginalize, we use the fear we create to develop false, harsh ideologies of how to treat others.  In the name of unity, conformity, we have fallen prey to exclusion.  Overcoming this obstacle is difficult; if only it were as easy as taking a self-help course like Color My Mind.  

 


Radio Sound file:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2xGQGma6do5XzNLbkRHSWZCVlU/view?usp=drive_web

Our Webspinna conflict centered around “magic versus science.” We attempted to portray this idea through a series of sound effects, music themes, historical events, and lines from movies that we felt depicted these ideas. After generating a collage of relevant sounds, we collaborated to string them into a coherent storyline. We met on several occasions to block and rehearse our Webspinna battle. Props and costumes were acquired, including a gypsy dress, lab coat, goggles, Star Trek uniform, wand, light saber, and glitter.     

A scientist working diligently in her lab (Monster Mash) is interrupted by a wizard attempting to cast spells (“Renaissance Music”). Spiteful, the scientist mocks the wizard for being out of touch with reality (Science is Real). The wizard, not one to be trifled with, conjures up a wave which blasts the scientist with fountain of water (“Epic Wave Sound”). This means war. Dripping head-to-toe, the scientist brainstorms possibilities for how to retaliate. She begins to construct a device to bring about the demise of the wizard (Back to the Future, “1.21 Gigawatts”). The wizard is one step ahead of the game. Downing a potion, she transforms herself into a fire breathing dragon and pelts the scientist with a flaming breath (“Potion Drink”, “Fire Breathing Dragon”). The scampering scientist rushes to compensate, putting the finishing touches on her device. Turing it on, gravity is rendered inert, and the two start to float (“One Small Step for Man,” Space Oddity). The wizard glides to her wand and begins throwing the most ruthless of spells at the scientist (Harry Potter Style Wizard Fight: Little Wizards). Dodging the spells, the scientist busts out her secret weapon: a light saber. Igniting it, she makes multiple swings at the wizard (Star Wars Theme). It is time to end the battle once and for all. The wizard summons her deepest, darkest spells. She creates an explosion which knocks both opponents to the ground (“Final Ruin,” Gandalf “You Shall Not Pass”). They have met their demise. Struggling, the two slip into unconsciousness, both losing to the petty competition which they began (“Deactivation of Hal - 2001: A Space Odyssey”).  This mixture of music, sound effects, and speech made this performance a blend of literal interpretation and abstract representation of magic and science.

 

“The Ecstasy of Influence” discusses the wide variety of influences that different pieces of art can have upon each other and how this relates to plagiarism.  Our piece took material from sources such as Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, and 2001: A Space Odyssey, all very well-known movies.  We used these, however, to tell a unique story that merged the lines and music from these clips.  In his article, Lethem emphasizes how this cut-up, mashed up collage of other work is an art in and of itself.  We agree with this idea, for as we put this webspinnabattle together, we could see how this compilation of different sources made its own story and its own very original artform.  It reminds me of internet compilations which combine different speeches or lines in movies to create their own “song.”  These videos are not plagiarism, but new creations that take inspiration from other art, using it as a tool and as a medium.  We hope to accomplish originality by taking the sound clips and influence of pop culture about science and magic in order to create this fun, epic battle between scientist and wizard.

This is a portrait of a cowboy typical to many Western Americana paintings showcasing the “frontier.”  This particular cowboy portrait is specific to Texas, emphasizing this man’s horse and showcasing a Texas flag as a part of the backdrop.  This portrait represents my identity as a Texan, and one that has had family in Texas for generations.  All of my family members are proud of being Texan, and we can trace our ancestry in this great state back to the immigrants that first came here from Germany in the late 1700’s and early 1800’s.  Being a Texan is certainly part of who I am.  People often mistake, however, my identity as consisting of one of the stereotypes shown here in this picture.  I am often asked if my family owns horses or if I wore boots all the time, and people often assume that I understand what it’s like to live in a small town or to go to a small country school because I’m “from Texas.”  Even specifying that I am from Dallas doesn’t seem to help.  I have to thoroughly explain to most that I graduated in a class of 1,400 and I have ridden a horse only twice in my life (one instance of which was in Europe—not even western saddle!)  In order to represent the idea of a mixture of identities, I changed this portrait so that this cowboy is sporting high heels instead of boots.  This represents that, although, I am a Texas girl at heart, I am a feminine, fashionable, artist that also cares a great deal about the environment.  The skyline of Dallas can be seen photoshopped into the background as well.  This shows that, although I plan on sticking to my Texas stereotype of owning a gun, I am definitely a city girl, and will always prefer the urban scene to the rural plains.  Jenkin’s “How Text Becomes Real” discusses a situation in which fans of Star Trek take a show that makes up part of their artistic identity and make it their own by re-writing and re-imagining the storyline.  I felt that this was a great representation of taking another art and identity, taking pieces of that identity that fit you, and then adjusting it to be a better representation of how it fits you.  In the same way, I wanted to show my roots and pride as a Texan—complete with barbecue brisket and saying the pledge to the Texas flag—can still exist with my urban upbringing and artistic tendencies. 

This is a photograph that, like the reading for this week, shows the specific elements of the art of photography.  In McCloud's comic, he uses many different techniques that are unique to that specific artistry such as different shapes, sizes and rotation of the strip.  He also takes advantage of his ability to do surreal things do his cartoons such as taking them out into outer space.  In the same way, this photograph accurately captures many of photography's elements that are unique to this specific medium.  One example of these elements is space and focus.   Because this particular shot was taken with the lens extremely close to the subject, I was able to put the closest foreground object out of focus, thus drawing the eye of the viewer to the battery in the back instead.  This juxtaposition of our eye being drawn to something further away rather than something right there in front through the use of focus is unique to art which uses a camera.  Lighting is used in photography often to play with shadows that are created by the objects.  In this photograph, the element of lighting is used for this purpose.  I placed the batteries in a location where their shadow would naturally fall into the same line as the actual batteries themselves.  I wanted the viewers' eye to be drawn to the batteries in the background even by the shadow who's lines were parallel with the angle of the battery location. The space is also utilized by spacing the batteries an equal distance apart so that they gradually appear to get smaller as one's eye travels to the background.  It appears that the batteries curve to the right, as the camera is angled in such a way to make them get smaller from left to right.  Because of these elements of photography, we as an audience are able to tell that the batteries shown in the picture actually are spaced apart.  We can tell that these is a real, 3-dimensional space that has height, width, and depth.  Although there are other mediums that can mimic the illusion of space, such as drawing and painting, they don't have the elements such as macro settings on cameras and the use of real light.  These technical elements are unique to the use of a camera, whereas painting and drawing simply must "fake" these appearances.  This photograph reminds me much of minimalist photography, which focuses on shape and size in order to create a very simple patterns.  Showing objects getting "bigger" or "smaller" based on how far away they are from the camera is common in this style.  Having very basic color is also a characteristic of this type of photography, which is why I chose to place these objects against a neutral background, both with the color of the muted yellow table and the gray wall.  These blank negative spaces of neutral color allows us to focus our eye on the subjects:the batteries.  This photograph works in a way that celebrates the elements that make photography unique and creative in its own way.

Yael and Courtney

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B-slsB64MzrwLUdRNEEzY1pIcTQ

Artist’s Statement

The main character of our script is Courtney’s ancestor, Henry. We could write a full script for a feature-length film telling all of his story. Dramatic from start to finish, his life was interesting enough of a story for his descendants to tell over and over again through the years so that it finally reached us today.  As the legend in the family goes, he was a ranger determined to catch and outlaw and was eventually successful, but was shot on a train station platform by an assassin hired by the outlaw’s family.  It is not hard to believe that, as the re-telling of history often causes, this glorified Henry was created from this storytelling to replace the original.  In our readings, Neufeld’s “After the Deluge” showed the events of Hurricane Katrina in a very specific way to show how some may have viewed or remembered the traumatic event.  It showcases history in a brief flash of pictures instead of explaining every historical detail.  In a similar way, every time that some facts from Henry’s story are omitted and others are exaggerated over time, “Henry 1” and “Henry 2” get further and further apart from each other. The original Henry was more likely a local authority with his own faults and defects as well as a healthy amount of values. The second, a Texas Ranger that did heroic feats, always defeated his enemies, and his only fault was to be too good for his own good. And then there is, perhaps, a third Henry, created by us for this assignment: one with a thick Texan accent, witty remarks, a hat, and a dislike for stale bread. Still, because of the curse of the passing of time and our inability to move through it, we cannot know for sure if the original Henry wasn’t what we made him to be, or if in fact, if we did not even do justice to the grandeur of his original character.

           We attempted to tell this portion of Henry’s story while also including the mood of modern Westerns such as The Magnificent Seven, which include humorous banter along with action and adventure.  In order to do this, we had to research information about Texas Rangers at this time: their responsibilities, line of command, and duties to the state of Texas.  We also made sure to use vernacular that was both familiar to a modern audience and accurate to this specific setting.  Instead of including all of the events in Henry’s life that are often told by family members, we chose to focus on the moment where Henry shoots an unarmed outlaw and is arrested for it.  By showing this particular part of Henry’s story, we hoped to show his struggle with attempting to protect the laws of the state whilst being accused of abusing his position.

Link to our audio:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/eq2awijx987hlcs/AADmRCwzphPU_HC57Vqd_L0Pa?dl=0

 For starters, we spent a little time Brainstorming what subject we should choose for this project. When Courtney offered up the idea of asking her friend Jarom about his song-writing process, Marcelle eagerly agreed that it would be a fun idea for this task. We both love music and thought it would be fun to hear about the process of creating these sweet sounds from someone who does it for commercial purposes. So on we went into the preparation part of the process by scheduling a time to meet with Jarom and trying to think of questions to offer him as a prompt. We were both excited to talk to him and to hear what he had to offer on the subject of song-writing. We quickly found that this shy, timid-voiced young man could be rather excitable when given a topic he was passionate about. As we sat in that tiny little room in an old church building, we both considered the value and importance of having an interesting subject and enough material to show it to be so. Jarom most certainly provided us with both of these things. I thought back to some of the examples I had seen of Process videos in class. They catch your eye (or in this case, ear) quickly, showing you something that is intriguing to any and every kind of audience. They peak your curiosity, they make you want to know more about the subject at hand. I don’t think I’ve ever met a person in my life who didn’t like some kind of music, even if they weren’t entirely inclined in the production of it themselves, they usually still found it interesting to hear the fun facts about what went into making their favorite songs. Getting to listen to Jarom was like this in a way. To see and hear his excitement about all the different things that go into his personal song-writing process was immensely fun and informative. After getting more than enough sound footage from Jarom, both of him talking and playing, we made a game plan for how we wanted our final sound snippet to turn out and what other elements we would need to add to it in order to accomplish our vision. We met up again, a few days later in the Media Lab and put together all the different sound bits we had until we had the final result we were hoping for. Going through the process of learning about and putting together a piece of informative audio about someone else’s artistic process was an eye-opening and introspective opportunity that we both really enjoyed. 

     In developing the narrative of this project, we knew that we wanted to construct a story based on some of the outrageous dreams that we were hearing from classmates.  One idea that came to mind was a zombie apocalypse-type story.  We decided to have it take place in a familiar location, the HFAC.  We mapped out a general circumstance in which our narrative could take place, but we did not want the specific texting to seem too contrived, so we left the details up to improvise as we began texting each other back and forth.  We felt that this spontaneity would inspire more creativity in the details, even though we’d already planned out the beginning, middle, and end.  Because the characters in the narrative are in two different locations of the same building with the same event happening, the audience gets two different perspectives of this zombie-attack event: one from inside the building in the Nelke The other from outside,  travelling towards the HFAC and eventually being outside in the halls being chased and subsequently “turned” by the undead. The narrative leaves the audience with a feeling of mystery, as they don’t get all the details of what the scene is simply because the characters themselves aren’t positive as to what exactly is happening.

     In crafting the apocalyptic narrative, Courtney and I explored many avenues in hopes of achieving something unique and intriguing. It’s no question that the story of a zombie takeover has been so beaten and bloodied that it is difficult to create new and exciting media within that media, at least to those outside of the faithful fan base. Something that struck me was how the Walking Dead, which is definitely new and exciting for this medium, used the concept of recurring characters as zombies. The intimacy and the vulnerability this created was something that I attempted to pursue in the text narrative. It was difficult. I wish that I had been more patient and waited for replies from Courtney. In my opinion, there are too many 2-3 text spurts between the two of us. It could have been interesting to limit that and focus on slowly developing the narrative imbued with fresh ideas and perspectives from the both of us. I wanted to recreate a story similar to the kidnapping story we read on the app, which engaged the audience without too many: “Why are they texting right now!” moments. As we discussed in class, I thought the limiting nature of this medium actually enhanced our story. If you pay careful attention to the textual cues given by Courtney and I, this intriguing narrative begins to take shape.

Extra Credit It's Dark Outside

"It's Dark Outside" is BYU Off the Map's presentation by Perth, Australia's traveling theatre company.  It is a marvelous show that mixes elements of media arts, puppetry, and physical acting in order to tell a story of an old man who's deteriorating mind leads him to have adventures in the woods.  The variety of different types of elements used in this production made it, for me, a masterpiece.  The show starts our with a feel of western adventure, communicated to the audience by the music and the western landscape projected onto the scrim.  An actor wore a headpiece of an old man and interacted with objects in his house that were moved by other performers dressed in black. Throughout the rest of the show, white cotton often "floats" away from his head, representing his thoughts and memories that are slipping away from him.  These cotton "fluffs" were manipulated by the performers to become animated characters and animals that interacted with this old man.  The theme of the western adventure was kept at shadow puppetry was used, showing a mysterious figure trying to catch the "wanted" old man.  This theme was also kept with a tent, manipulated by puppeteers to become a living tent companion for the old man, and he rode this tent like a horse throughout much of the production.  Projected animations were also used to show the old man's travels.  The delightful variety of ways in which the artists were able to tell this wonderful story was dazzling.  I was impressed especially by the 3-dimensional-looking shadow puppetry, which made the lights as if it were a camera.  It was also a lovely look at dementia and losing a loved one, presented in a way that kids could understand and adults could relate to.  This theme of love and loss was represented beautifully through the puppetry and objects used, and this piece was a moving story that the audiences of all ages could connect with.

Music Mosaic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4E7XHOotTX0

 This series of photos is one I call "Take Flight"  It correlates with Rachmaninoff's "Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini" quite well, especially with the movement that occurs in both the music and the photographs.  The whole photo series is mostly composed of neutral colors: white snow and dark trees, but the hair is a saturated red in order to stand out among the rest of the scenery.  The beginning of the song starts out gently, and the pictures provide a sort of exposition as well.  The pictures because more dramatic as an upward angle is added in the 3rd photo. Similarly, the music at this point begins to climb up the scale and increase in volume.  For when the strings are added to the piece, I wanted to add some dramatic movement to the photos to symbolize this.  That is why the fabric is thrown, whipped, and spun in order to create the visual of the movement of the strings in Rachmaninoff's stirring piece. As the music builds to the climax, my personal favorite part, both the piano and strings begin to pick up speed and intensity. The pictures correlate by preparing for a "jump," where the subject removes her shoes and runs.  The motion blur adds to the feeling of approaching the huge, pulsing melody of Rachmaninoff's song.  The climax of the songs comes at the mid-air "jump" shown in the pictures. The negative space in this particular photo makes the subject a clear focus, unlike much of the other pictures, which have trees and rocks in the background. The ending, while still powerful, trails off gently in the distance, which is why I ended the series with the majestic Provo mountains, which are distant but powerful, shot in sharpened clarity to show detail.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4E7XHOotTX0

Extra Credit Every Brilliant Thing

Every Brilliant thing gave a unique twist to storytelling that enthralled audiences of Brigham Young University. I came with an expectation that this would be a story told in the form of a play: with actors in costume playing characters accompanied by scenery.  Having seen Off the Map shows before, I also came with the expectation that it would be a very well-worth-seeing show.  My expectation of the show's caliber was certainly attained, but my expectation of it's style was greatly contrasted.  It was a one man show, the one and only actor was a brilliant storyteller that used the audience in a very interactive way to paint a picture of his childhood, love life, and depression.  Many of the audience members were given pieces of paper with numbers and "brilliant things" listed on them.  The audience members got to call those out when the actor cued them.  He also included the audience by having certain people play characters in the story.  Much of the story was flexible, and the actor would come up with it on the spot, especially when he would ask the audience to provide books or to say things as the characters that they were playing.  The story as a whole had the entire audience laughing, was uplifting and inspiring, and at times a little sad.  The simplicity of the show was, in part,  what made it so brilliant. Acting in the round, the one performer used almost no props, no extra costume pieces other than the casual outfit he was wearing, and there was no set. I thoroughly enjoyed this surprising, uplifting, artistic theatrical piece because of the unique storytelling techniques the artist used to convey a message to the audience of using small, simple, happy things of life to combat depression.

Courtney Moreland

TMA 112

1/15/17

Some may call it weird.  Others may describe it as disturbing.  Some may scratch their heads and wonder what in the world the artist was trying to tell us.  Alex Stoddard’s photograph is an untitled picture of a little girl, a tall man, and smoke in the distance.  This picture--and specifically the collection it comes from--very accurately embodies the mood of not only his particular style of photography, but of an entire artistic genre.  I have noticed in recent years, especially since the ever-increasing influence of social media, an influx of very young online photographers experimenting with storytelling through the lens of a camera.  While some up-and-coming photographers capture landscapes, smiling pictures of friends and family, or nature’s beauty, others stand out as being astoundingly creative with a seemingly natural talent for conveying a story through powerful symbols.  Alex Stoddard is one of these young prodigies.  He taught himself the use of a camera and, at the age of 17, began a 365 project, a challenge to take and post a picture every day for a year.  It is young photographers like Stoddard who are using surrealism, dark themes, and symbols in order to complement their models (very often the photographers themselves) to bring their photographs to life.  This type of photography such as Stoddard’s “Girl and Smoke” portrait is much more effective in telling a story to inspire its audiences than more traditional pictures of landscapes or flowers or posed, smiling  people.

The way photography is presented can tell us much about where our culture trends in terms of what it is comfortable with.  Photography that earnestly tries to tell a story will often be accompanied by heavy themes and difficult content, presenting a harsh but true message about society and humanity.  Many times, it reveals something very personal about the artist.  Viewers in our society may see this and interpret it simply as weird or even disturbing.  For me, this is what makes photograph storytelling—or any storytelling, for that matter—moving and impactful.  One can see from this photograph how he improved to be able to tell a powerful story through his art.  Much of the time he uses himself as a model and, through body language, props, surrealistic post-processing, lighting, and color, hits the audience with an emotionally charged message.  This picture shows a little girl standing on a hill, prevented by a tall, suited man from seeing a tower of smoke billowing up in the distance.  This picture may have societal themes, such as showing the danger of the government trying to prevent us from knowing the truth in order to “protect” the people.  It may have more personal themes, expressing that we as humans are sometimes blinded by some unknown thing from seeing reality as it is.  Whatever the interpretation, it certainly tells a story much more than it would have had it simply been a picture of a grassy hill. 

While I can appreciate as art the type of photography that showcases a beautiful piece of scenery or landscape, these sorts of pictures seem more to me like the set of a story.  If you sat down in the audience of a theater and observed a beautifully designed set behind the curtain, you would probably be very impressed.  If, however, the curtain were to close in that instant and the audience began to file out of the theater, you would probably be left unsatisfied.  Where was the story? The actors? The conflict and resolution?  I feel similarly with photos that capture a majestic mountain range.  What a wonderful setting!  Where, however, is the story?  I could even go as far as to say that some photography that simply captures a smiling person with no other elements has achieved the same effect: there is a model—even a “main character,” if you will—but the viewer is left without a story.  Of course, this type of picture-taking has its place in our world.  Travel catalogs, family memories, and advertisements are just a few examples of places where we might appropriately see landscapes and portraits such as these.  However, in order for the viewer to actually take something away—some impactful, insightful, and emotional tidbit that they can use in their lives and in society—a story needs to be presented.  A story like Alex Stoddard’s in this photograph wondering about their role in society.  Are they the girl, blinded by a lack of knowledge or even an unwillingness to accept problems in personal life and in society?  Are they the tall dark man, attempting to hide the truth for fear of mass panic, disappointment, or anger?  It leaves the audience with a new insight.  Though the landscape, the models, the costumes, and other elements contribute to the power of the story being told here, it's all of these elements of this picture combined that impress a theme upon the audience's mind, one that may leave us hungry for more stories that will reveal even more about our society, our humanity, and ourselves.