Week 01- An image in my mind
Please describe your relation to an image of your choice. Your image can represent/ depict anything: a relative, lover, a public event, the representation of a deity or an abstraction. The only requirement is that it had some particular significance in your life; AN IMAGE YOU HAVE A PERSONAL RELATION TO.
It is not necessary to post the image in our website (but keep it at hand please!), for now we are just going to concern ourselves on the nature of such relation.
The image I have chosen is an image of my mother and I on the beach when I was a young girl. My connection to this image is fairly obvious; the image, to me, represents my relationship with my mother. More specifically, I believe that the image represents three particular things about our relationship:
1. Our closeness. My mother and I remain extremely close, even though I have lived out of my home province for over 5 years now. While we are not similar in every way, I am largely a product of her influence and it shows in the way that I live my life. The image I’ve selected reflects this closeness, as my mother is holding me in a close hug in front of her. It is also very clear that we are related by looking at both of our faces in the image, and our visual similarity makes me think of how connected I feel with her even when she is not physically with me.
2. The changes in our relationship. While my Mom and I have always been very close, this image shows how our relationship used to be a very different one than it is today. As opposed to the friendship-like relationship we have today, this image reminds me of a time when she was purely my guardian, keeping me safe and guiding me through life. Her age in the photo is also very close to my current age, which makes me feel a sense of transition, where I am now somehow fulfilling her role in the photograph – as an adult that will go on to have her own children and act as a mentor and support system for them.
3. Her sacrifices. Interestingly, my mother is not a big fan of beaches and hot weather. However, in the image, we are sitting on a beach and are squinting against the very bright sun. Taken together, these qualities of the image remind me of how my Mom, when she was a similar age to me, made sacrifices in her life to make sure I was happy. She compromised on things, and did things she would never normally do to ensure I was living my best life. Because it reminds me of her selflessness and unconditional love, I keep this photo close with me at all times.
Nice to meet you and really impressed by the feelings you have.
Mother plays an important role in our life and she runs out the youth and takes care of us at the expense of her own time. As we grow older, we begin to build up our social circles and sometimes forget to stay with her. After reading your comment, I’d like to spend more time with my parents and sister.
Week 03 Weekly Challenge: Image of an Image
https://imgur.com/a/GiAZO
A warm image with the theme of family. Love it!
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Ca-9mOfIXkOHuwueooAzX7ZbyFpmMGHe5oHsbFABXIg/edit?usp=sharing
I choose the photo of my little sister when she was born for few months. The photo is about I smiled at the camera and my sister is lying in the cradle. I love my sister so much and from all the photos of her, I think that her birth has the most significant meaning for me.
To begin with, it is the first time that I think I have to grow up in order to take care of her and share the burdens from my parents. Secondly, before her birth, I was worried that my parents would love her more and ignore me, so her birth is a symbol of emotional change, because I found that my parents did a great balance between us and due to her birth, I started to know how much my parents love us. Also, this photo always reminds me of the gender discrimination in my family, especially in my grandparents. In my family, there is a tradition that only the boys can have a special first name but girls cannot. Therefore, I did not have the special name; before the birth of my sister, my grandfather prayed for having a boy but it was still a girl. Although I was a kid at that time, I could still see the disappointment and discontentment from my grandparents. It is a symbol of gender discrimination and it is common in China. Finally, I left away from my hometown and it was hard to see my parents and my sister, so everytime I look at this photo, it allows me to think of my family and I miss them so much.
As you can see, this photo is a symbol of my growth, emotional change, gender discrimination and longing.
Week 03 Weekly challenges – Image of an image: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1ivy37uOdQ1VtEzKqpIsxRrsV8uOslu7K
Hi Hedy,
To me, although the overall color tone of the image you create is warm, there is a creepy atmosphere implied; this may be caused by the “stereotype” of horror movie scenes. The red footprint you put on the door seems to be announcing someone’s arrival, while the door of 606 seems to be opening at any time, which to me both reinforce the weird feeling.
Hi,
I really appreciate your interpretation! I tried to create a warm atmosphere with a red footprint in a heart shape – as an implication of newborn baby. However, it is possible that different people have different analysis due to the distinctive experiences, emotions they have. Thanks for you response!
Exactly. It’s warm but not in a comforting way. It could totally be a shot from a thriller or action movie.
The content of this image also makes you ask a lot of questions.
Yeah, after the class, I recognized that so many people have this kind of feeling! Thank you for your response!
Hi,
When I firstly saw this image, I felt it is somehow surreal to me since the scene shown in the image is ordinary and usual in our real life but being “placed” in another different way. Therefore, I think there are so many hidden messages and emotions behind that need me to figure out. It seems that the door is waiting for me to open in order to show me something (maybe it’s not just the footsteps of growth, like some subconsciousness remaining in the deepest mental states; somehow like a movie scene in the film Inception; also reminds me of the door of Department of Mysteries in Harry Potter). And the unique yellow tone of the overall image gives me a sense of warm and mystery.
Thank you so much!
It really has a lot of deep meanings and messages inside the photo, and I guess the feeling of thrilled is mostly due to the red footprint and color settings.
The image I chose is one street in London, Canada. The photo looks very common, just depicting the blue sky and the quiet neighborhood. But this is the place I stayed for two years’ high school life.
I still remember my mixed moods I took the photo at that time. I was 15 years old at that year and I grew up with a very independent personality. Therefore, when my parents came up with the idea that I would study abroad, I was very looking forward to experiencing a different life. However, when I arrived in London, my high school’s city, I started to realize the importance of my family accompanying. My residence was ten minutes’ way from the school and the photo was taken on the way to school. Actually it is not just one photo, I keep taking it every day in my first month’s arrival although they are the same scene. I sent the photos to my parents to record my life.
Besides the lonely from the image, I still held the expectations at that moment. The blue sky, the block, the people…all the things are new to me and had a large difference in my hometown, which made me have the confidence to start a new life. Until now, every time I saw the image, it would remind me of my tough life at that period and gave me the strength.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BeO2FDYhiAC/?taken-by=cheerchercer730
Hi,
From this image, I can see the geometric pattern and the vortex in the center. And I can imagine the feelings of confusion, complexness which is beyond expression. Your image allows me to think of the story in the context.
I really enjoy looking at this. There’s an aesthetic to this that really draws me in.
The image I chose is a photograph taken by myself when I was in Yokohama, Japan. It was the side of a building standing right in front of the Yokohama Art Gallery. The way how nature and concrete iron building combined together is very interesting. And I started to explore more into architecture and its relationship with environment from then on.
Compare to images, I feel more related to words and texts because they deliver information and emotions in a more simple and efficient way. So initially I wanted to choose screenshots of chat history with my friends. Words are also visual images as we look at them and understand them using vision signal. Then I realize although images do not affect me as much as languages and words do, it do have impact on me and when talking about things that shape my present life, I can trace back to certain images. For example that architecture in Yokohama raised my interests and encouraged me to apply for UBC environmental design. Though the program has shut down last year, the image still leaves good memoreis.
The image I chose is a photo I took when I was a Freshman in High School. It is of my brother and my cat in my backyard. My brother is holding the cat up to his face, smiling, while my cat stares straight at the camera, wide-eyed. The picture is also in black and white, and was taken with my mother’s old manual film camera.
I keep this picture on my wall by my bed as it reminds me of home. My cat is very important to me in my life, as I got him when I was very young, and I often pick him up (as my brother is doing in the photo), pet, or play with him to relieve stress. Being away from home, I miss my cat a lot. I like this picture of him particularly because of his wide-eyed expression; it makes me feel more like he is there, not just depicted in the photo, and so far away from me.
My brother is also in the photo, so the pic also helps remind me of my family. As I mentioned before, though not depicted in the picture, I took the photo with my mother’s old camera. In addition, my dad was the one who taught me how to operate the camera properly. So even if not all members of my family are depicted in the photo, they are present in it in some way or another.
The reason I took this picture was for a photography class I was taking at school. It was basically the first actual art class I took. I was already in love with drawing, but taking this class, I began my journey with learning about art, especially that there are many ways to create it. I keep this picture on my wall, not only to remind me of my family, but because it is a work, that I, with my own hands, took and then developed and printed. It’s not digital at all, but it helped open my eyes to the many different processes of art that aren’t just doodling in notebooks.
Hey Elspeth nice to meet ya! Really love your post, I am an animal person also. I have a dog and 2 cats back home, all from a young age and can totally sympathize with you about missing them. Its tough to be far away like that and reading this makes me also miss my family and pets. I also really love the details in your post like the film camera, thats so cool! I’ve always wanted to learn about film photography and the whole development process, to me film images seem more genuine and have much more thought put behind them appose to digital where you can just point, shoot and hope for the best! Thanks again for the wicked post!! – Will
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VYckPuNtydt9Bw1So9H6STT-vxZSylXhxD9xBSggxHs/edit?usp=sharing
My selected picture is a picture of an pair of old and parallel bars standing in a messy grass. The parallel bars were bounded with several wood sticks and the rust on it is quite obvious. The grass field is disorganised and dirty with plenty of wild plants growing wildly.
Though the whole image does not demonstrate a beautiful view, it is precious for me. Because it carries lots of unforgettable memories of me.
This pair of small parallel bars are located in a small county of China. It is too small to find it even in a local provincial map. My grandparents had lived there before I was 10 years old. My mother had suffered from depression since I could remember. I was sent to this small county and lived with my grandparents when I was very young. My grandparents lived in a small suite of a building in a big courtyard. There was a big backyard in the big courtyard. I always played with my little friends there. In the spring we always bought big tubes from our homes and collected snails together; In the summer, everyone of us would prepare a 2-liter big empty coke bottle and collect grasshoppers together. I can still remember that I could fill up the bottle with the grasshoppers in 2 hours! In the autumn, we would use a long wood stick to hit the pomegranates and loquats from the pomegranate tress and loquat trees. When the fruits dropped off from the trees, we picked them up and divided them equally to everyone. I could still remember the taste of the first pomegranate that I got. Actually, it was not that sweet, it was sour and bitter. But the happiness it brought to me overtook the bitterness of the fruit itself. In the winter, we would dig a whole on the grass ground, and baked yams together. Every time when we are tired of playing, we would climb on to the top of the parallel and watched sunset together, then we suddenly realized that, one day had just passed.
I shoot this photo many years after I left that small county. Every time I look at this photo, I could not help thinking how time flies and how simple the children’s world was. The difficulty of my life is getting higher and higher as my age increases. The things and people around me keeps changing and getting more and more complex. It is impossible to fix a friendship or build a new friendship with a 2-cents snack. The sun is still the sun that I watched when I was young, however, the mood of watching the sunset has changed a lot. I miss my childhood and the friends of my childhood. Where are they now? What are they doing now? I think no one knows, everything stuck in the time of the day that I left.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1o7ZCq_A4jhUnumzytk1mtYPBJ5dFD3qN68AXNP1k9sQ/edit?usp=sharing
Hey guys, the image I am choosing was taken at the end of February last year. It is a little of of camera inception because the photo is of me from behind taking a photo of a fellow UBC swimmer at nationals last year, but the main thing that stands out in this image is the fact that I am wearing a pretty big neck/back brace. To most people this image just looks like nothing out of the ordinary, just a guy taking a photo, but to me it means so much more.
In early December in 2016 I experienced a pretty gnarly ski accident and as a result of that I broke 2 vertebrae’s in my neck, my C-6 and C-7. This was extremely traumatic for me, I had to wear that neck brace in the image for the next 3 and a half months straight with no exceptions of taking it off. I was on the varsity swim team so immediately my season was over, as I would get my brace of mid March and the national championships were at the end of February. It was a huge set back, but I chose to keep my head up (pun intended) and to let this incident change me for the better not the worse. Looking on the bright side by saying “hey, this could have been a lot worse, I am pretty lucky even to still be here and have full use of my legs.”
Being a filmmaker I knew the only way I could share my emotions about this was to make a film about it, and thats what I did, showing the ups and downs and my positive attitude throughout. If your curious about the video I will link it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BCkK77027k&t=7s
Not trying to do a shameless plug, just thought you might be able to understand better if you saw the short film.
Moving forward I knew my season was over but I didn’t want to let the team as well as myself down, so I traveled with them to nationals in Quebec as the team photographer. I was so glad I did, it was amazing to be at the event and watching all of my closest friends succeed at such a high level, both the mens and the women’s team took home the national championships and to be a part of that even though I didn’t compete was simply amazing. For me this image is very powerful because it shows that I did not let this injury get the best of me, I continued to do what I love and I believe that in turn being in such a positive head space helped with the healing in the future.
It just goes to show, theres a story behind ever image, something that might mean nothing to you might mean the world to someone else and vice versa, thanks for reading and I look forward to reading all of yours, cheers – Will
https://www.instagram.com/p/BeU1KZKDL5w/?taken-by=willdickson_visa210
In my image from week 1 I talked about being positive in hard times, no matter the situation and reminding yourself there will always be light at the end of the tunnel.
My chosen image for this assignment is a photo I took in Romania during the summer of 2017. It is a one point perspective photo depicting the inside of a garment factory. The factory workers are lined up at the centre of the photo and disappearing into the vanishing point. The lights hanging from the ceiling of the factory act as leading lines for the photos. The environment in the is not particularly organized—unfinished products are scattered on the counters next to the workers, the workers aren’t wearing uniforms, lighting fixtures and electrical cords are not organized.
I took this photo when I was tagging along on a business trip in Europe. We were visiting garment factories in Romania––looking for potential investments. It was my first time in Romania, and our Italian business partner offhandedly joked about how “Romania is just like Cambodia but white!” It was funny, we all laughed although the statement was somewhat racist(?)
There’s personal significance in this photo because it was my first experience of getting to know the insides of the fashion industry. Technically people aren’t allowed to document these places but I was on this “business trip,” therefore I had the chance to play around with my camera and take some interesting photos for documentary purposes. During this trip, I learned about some scams in fashion and how the words “Made in Italy” is mostly a joke for some brands. Nowadays, everything is “Made in China,” things that are made in Europe has always been perceived as something that’s more valuable. What the public doesn’t know about some brands unnamed is that they are actually producing in other parts of Europe, and export the products to Italy to put on the “Made in Italy” tags.
This trip was a more in-depth learning experience for me. It showed me how ridiculously over-priced things are, and how capitalism is deeply embedded in our society. During the first week of class, prof briefly mentioned automation. I personally think the fashion industry challenges the idea of automation. Are the luxury handmade products ever going to be made by robots? Perhaps not in the next ten years but some time later.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1KyH3YryYzVp15CtLEl3ZKCk0Ye5ZXLsT_YMEsWjBEZE/edit?usp=sharing
Hi,
I love this pic! From this image, it looks like a matrix with mysterious story behind. Although it is a statics image, but the composition of the line makes it dynamic. What is more, the background and foreground make a connection to convey a feeling of arcane, somehow dangerous due to the unknown and untouchable atmosphere.
The image I choose is a picture I took in August 2015, the day I left Taiwan (the place I stayed for almost 10 years) for starting University in Canada. It is a picture of the city taken from the window of the airplane while taking off.
For most people, starting university feels like the first steps into adulthood; but for me, it is more like starting a new life. Canada was a complete stranger to me back then, I have never been to Vancouver (or any parts of Canada) before UBC. I was not very happy with my life back in the middle and high school days I spent in Taiwan. I always had the thought of maybe going back to San Francisco (where I’m actually from) would’ve been better. However, too many of the people from my high school were going to universities in California. I wanted to start fresh and become a different person so I decided to come to a place that (hopefully) no one knows me.
This picture marks the start of a new life and my determination of becoming a better self. I am not very good at letting bad things/memories go and I overthink about life (and literally everything in general) a lot. Whenever I feel stressed or start doubting myself with the decision of coming to UBC, I look at the picture to remind myself why I chose to come here.
Week 3 Challenge: Image of an image
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Owo1EmVbs9Ta78Y9AJwNxgxI12eR0C8ullC-Hh_FkTc/edit?usp=sharing
My chosen image is a photograph taken by myself on September 19th, 2013, which is four years ago. The picture was taken from a specific angle where it seems like that I am using two of my fingers to hold the bright full moon like holding a shining pearl, whereas the background is quite dark that the edge between houses, streets and plants gets blurry. Meanwhile, due to the fact that the moon is so bright, the sky doesn’t seem quite dark even though it is late night, which brings up an interesting contrast compare to the blurry darkness of the grounds.
The main reason why I chose this image is that it is the first image that came across my mind at the moment when Dr. Pina said that we needed to choose an image that we have a personal relation to; but still, this is not the only reason. Another reason would be that the date I took this photo is quite meaningful that it is the root of the significance of the image—it was Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival in terms of the lunar calendar. In Chinese culture, Mid-Autumn Festival implies the notion of reunion of the whole family and family members are supposed to gather and have a grand dinner together. However, because I have chosen to study abroad in Canada, I have not been able to spend the meaningful festivals like the Chinese New Year and the Mid-Autumn Festival together with my family for about four years already as the Canadian holiday calendar are quite different from the Chinese holiday calendar. Besides, instead of celebrating the solar birthday, I used to celebrate the lunar birthday with my family, which is the day before the Mid-Autumn Festival, while I haven’t been able to do it since four years ago. Thus, this image reminds me of the past relaxed reunion time with my family which was full of happiness, warmth and sweet.
However, on the other hand, what the image reminds me is not negative to me; instead, what the old good time makes me think of is that I realized I have grown so much and become much more independent compare to the past me. From being homesick to overcoming all those difficulties brought by cultural shock, I notice that my strength gets stronger and I become tougher than the past. Also, the pleasant memories acted like a booster on my way of learning, driving me to become a better person in order to become the one who brings all those happiness to my family in the soon-coming future.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1UaZg1thhGVVHYTNadLXgA3Eh0_Qx4bNFDP6LCkcPdUI/edit?usp=sharing
Hi,
From this image, I can feel the strong loneliness and fear due to the isolated moon and man. The background is dark and the bright moon stands out. Maybe… it is a relation between urban life and individual meditation, or sth else.
When seeing this image, I feel cold, not just the physically cold, but also mentally cold. From my perspectives, the coldness in your image can associate with the isolation and loneliness. But, the image to me can also give me a feeling of “warm” since the boy seems to be sitting in the front of a big french window with serenity.
The image that I have chosen is a photograph of my dad and I at our family’s cabin on Okanagan Lake. I am just a baby. We are sitting on the dock and for whatever reason, I am biting the peak of his hat. For as long as I can remember this has been a favourite image of mine, mostly, I think, due to the light-heartedness of it. However, thinking deeper, I realize that it may resonate with me so strongly because it is an early depiction of our unique bond. My dad and I share many common traits, including creativity. He is always the first person I turn to when I need someone to hash out an idea with or ask for suggestions. He has also always encouraged me to pursue my interests, which I am thankful for because without him I don’t think I would have taken the first leap into discovering my love for visual art. The photograph also captures a certain silliness, reminding me of this past Christmas dinner. The two of us started cracking up over some inside joke, while the rest of the family had no idea what was going on. Because of all of our similarities, I have always felt that my dad and I have a mutual understanding of one another. I can honestly say that no one gets me in the same way he does, and for me this image is the perfect representation of that.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1w882m9COKpF2vFaPR2yH269EtBRCrMx0/view?usp=sharing
The image I picked does not look particularly interesting. In fact, when I saw it for the first time after I got my film developed, I was confused as to why I took the photograph. Then I remembered. I wanted to take a photo of this tree, which appears very small and unremarkable close to the top of the frame on top of a steep, sandy hill full of patches of shrubbery and rock.
Hours before I took this photograph, Vanessa and I were starting what we believed to be a very casual hike to see the Hollywood sign in Los Angeles. While there were quite a few people at the beginning of the trail, there were many forks on our path and we began to see less and less people. Eventually we ran into a guy from Finland who moved to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career, his name was Mattias. Mattias had neglected to bring water on a hot Los Angeles day, so we gave him some of ours and invited him to join our trek. Somehow, the three of us ended up behind the Hollywood sign, not quite what we had intended but we decided that that was fine too.
We decided to make our way to another viewpoint that was connected to our trail and hike down from there. Pretty soon we found ourselves next to the Wisdom Tree, but we couldn’t find any other trail but the one we had come from. We looked around and saw that there was a road at the bottom of this hill, but the way down was super steep and pretty sketchy looking. Mattias volunteered to go ahead and scout it out, and soon Vanessa and I couldn’t even see the guy anymore. We looked at each other, unsure because we were unwilling to follow this stranger down this potentially dangerous path. At the same time, we were worried about this guy and the fact that he didn’t have any water with him. About ten minutes later, we see Mattias and his plaid shirt appear at the very bottom of the hill. From where we were, he was not even an inch high and the path down looked very unpromising. We felt that we couldn’t just leave him standing there waiting for us, and if this guy wearing skater shoes and no water could get down, we could probably do it too.
It was sandy and therefore slippery, not at all like the friendly roots and dirt I was accustomed to on the North West Coast. Vanessa and I awkwardly scrambled down, getting sand in our eyes, sometimes hanging onto rocks and brush while dangling our lower bodies around looking for footholds. We alternated between fearing for our lives, laughing at our stupidity, and cursing this strange Finnish man for leading us down such a dangerous path. It took us more than an hour to get to the base of the hill where Mattias greeted us with a, “situations like these are why I’m glad for insurance”. We asked him how in the world he got down in such a short amount of time, and he said he had trained in the military for some time. Information that would have been helpful had he provided it before leading us off a cliff.
Though the image is not too remarkable, I’m very fond of it as a reminder of how Vanessa and I survived what went from an innocuous stroll to what could have easily become serious injury.
The image I picked is a Polaroid of my 18th Birthday Party.
I like the format polaroid because of its an instant memory in your hand. And because of the price of the film you use it only to capture moments that are worth it.
It’s a group picture with my closest friends. I even got the ones that hate to be on pictures to appear on it.
In France, the majority age is on the 18th birthday. It was my last birthday in Chile, I finished high school and a few months later I left my family to start College. This basically meant that I had to start to worry about adult stuff. To balance that, I hosted a afternoon party like we had in elementary school, with candy bags at the end.
Everyone was pretty stressed about what was going to happen after summer, and this afternoon was a parenthesis. Everybody enjoyed themselves, met new people and ate hot dogs.
I don’t take a lot of pictures and when I do, I don’t keep them for a very long time. Finding a good picture for this assignment was pretty tricky. And I can see that a lot of you wrote a looooot about your pictures.
But there’s not a lot to sayabout my pictures. It’s just a really soft memory of joy and calm and sometimes you don’t need more than that
http://louiseschubermann.tumblr.com/post/170066715763
I posted it on the wrong page ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Hi,
When I saw this image, I felt a contrast between the pop stuffs and kind of depressed surroundings. The pop things may symbolize the pleased and playful time along with the growth of the author, and the depressed surroundings may manifest the difficulties in life. So I think the author may want to generate a sense that even if life is a contradictory thing that mixes with joy and sufferings, we still need to make a good living in our own unique ways.
Originally, I wasn’t going to choose an image that was a photograph. I feel as if my photos do not fully capture the energy and power that encompassed me while I was taking the photo. My plan was to choose one of my sketches that I hold dear, but evidently went to a photograph. Whenever I do take a photo, it would almost always be a scenery photo. From a young age, I’d always go on camping and outdoor activities, which helped spark my love for the natural scenery. The image I’ve chosen was during my trip to Hawaii this winter. There were many photos that I took, but I felt that this one specifically was the one that brought me back to the cliff edge where I took the photo. It was a vast view of the ocean, close to dusk where you can start to see the orange sun reflect onto the clouds. The bottom of the photo showed hints of the greenery from the cliff, and the reflection from the ocean made the scenery more beautiful. These photos will always remind me of the specific trips I took, as well as the times and people that are behind the camera. But there will also be moments when I see an amazing shot that I can take, but refuse to do so. I believe that some of these images cannot be fully captured via photograph, and would much rather have it imbedded in my mind. I chose my image specifically because out of the many photos I’ve taken, I feel that this is one of the very few that reminded me of the exact moment I took that photo.
Another reason for me in choosing this image is that these types of trips will start occurring less in my life. Many of my family members are growing older, and some of them won’t have enough time to come together to experience a scenery like that one. In a way, this photo feels like a type of goodbye and a movement to the future.
https://imgur.com/a/bGrQw
My chosen image was taken by myself last year in my hometown in China. An old building which was constructed in 20th century is the main subject in the picture. Actually it’s relatively hard to see this kind of building in downtown area today, especially a modern department store is just adjacent to it with a continuous stream of customers in stylish clothes every day and night. It’s said that the building would be pulled down and rebuilt some day, but due to some unknown reasons it is still reserved now. I returned to my hometown last year in December to see it on purpose, in order to arouse my special and important memories and feelings toward that building again.
I have lived in that building since I was in kindergarten (maybe even earlier), but not with my parents, actually with my grandparents. My parents were busy with their works and only came to see me during weekends at the time. I began to live with them after the first year in senior high school. That’s a long period of time that I had strong emotions with the old but familiar building. It’s like a totally safe harbour that could prevent any storm outside. More accurately, my emotion to the building is tied hard with my emotions to grandparents. It’s a symbol of love and a sort of mental sustenance living with my grandparents. And two years after I moved out, my grandparents moved to a new place as well. From then on, the only way could reconnect me with the building spiritually is to revisit the old haunt. Among the memories, in particular, I would never forget the window of my grandparents’ home on the fifth floor. I included it in the picture naturally when I took it on a slope in front of the modern department store. It’s the slope that I always passed through on the way to school (both elementary and junior high school). By looking at the window again and again, I couldn’t remember how many times I ever turned back and looked at that window. It’s like the small window has huge unbelievable magical power. Only I know there would always be a warm gaze from the window. My grandma always saw me off through her eyesight, through the window. When she saw me, she waved her hand, and I waved back. Then I turned back again, walking to school with peace in mind. That may be one of significance of the picture which is the love from my grandparents.
Another significance for me would be an emotional sigh that “how time flies”. The things are still there, but people are no more the same ones. What’s worse, surrounded constructions have almost all been rebuilt or updated, only “stand” the old building as it “did” in old days. It’s like an old person in his twilight standing among a group of vigorous young men. A strong contrast between the life and the death jumps out. The old building has accompanied me in the most of the years in my life so far, now it seems like it is ruthlessly abandoned by the era, by the modernization.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/12WbLqeCj7tvns-bhuvJzpYYffGyA1cGeOuhmfcHHCv8/edit?usp=sharing
Hi,
The image confuses me but conveys a special emotion to me: it’s like a tunnel (maybe time tunnel) to deliver sth. The color setting provides audiences a feeling of unknown, just like the universe – No one can fully understand the universe and it was an unknown territory, which means a place or activity that people do not know much about or have not experienced before. It is mysterious!
Week 01 Challenge- An image in my mind
The image I have chosen is an art project I did few months ago. In the image I was embraced by the Goddess of Democracy on UBC campus while I was dressing in red, as if the goddess is bleeding. I have this peculiar connection with the goddess’ statue, that the event happened behind the scene had completely changed my understanding on politics, and to some extent, helped me established a brand new world view based on my own interpretation on the event. Therefore, the goddess as a motif, has a significant relationship with me.
To be more specific, the Goddess of Democracy is as known as the representation of the Tiananmen Square Student Protest occurred on June, 1989 in China. Not until I went abroad studying did I have a chance to access this part of history (since back in China the officials blocked any related contents, we have no access to the truth). So having access to the entire event in a sense evoked my political awareness, since then I started to care about political conditions, democracy, human rights and etc. I started to get along with people who have same mind with me. The goddess of Democracy as a symbol of the Tiananmen Event, is a pivotal point of my life that awakened me from numb and brought me into the real world.
I took this photo with all my love in the reverence of people who sacrificed their life for democracy. Deep inside, I always deem myself to be one of them. Every time I pass through the statue, I see myself inside of her.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1JPp7BE04xod7j3i9e5VK815H5Wyvsahw/view?usp=sharing
My image has a very special meaning to me. It is a photograph made by my father when I was eight months old. He took it on my very first vacation in southern Germany. The photo shows my mother, my father and me in the middle, while all of us are looking in the hotel bathroom’s mirror. My parents stand very close to each other: My mum is holding me in her arms and my father is holding the camera, which you can assume because of the flash’s reflection close to his shoulder. He is smiling, while my mother and I look rather surprised, as if we did not know, that he would take this picture so early. The flash highlights all the dirt and stains on the mirror, like there were glowing particles around us. Furthermore, you can see two toothbrushes and one toothpaste on the board in front of the mirror. As the focus is rather on the mirror’s stains, we are underexposed.
Even if the picture at first sight looks as if it went all wrong, I really like the atmosphere of it: no fake smiling or posing. A happy, young family, standing close together and caring for their baby. The bathroom’s atmosphere and the three of us being so close together, creates a feeling of intimacy. The image captures a love, I have barely ever seen between my parents. On the one hand the picture shows an old love, on the other hand it looks so modern, as if it was taken yesterday. Out of the many hundrets of photos my parents took of me when I was a kid, there is not any other picture in a mirror. Back then, when they only had an analog camera, a mirror picture seems like a waste of film. In my opinion, a mirror-selfie is something very modern. Taking as many pictures as you want on digital cameras made it possible.
So, for me, the image depicts an old reality in a modern setting. Therefore this image feels incredibly real and evokes many feelings – like love and family support – in me.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Z-57FJKTcEZ0C1liR2WfwvjgEUufQioH/view?usp=sharing
Hi,
This image draws attention really! It is combined by some emoji – a way to signify, to symbolize, to suggest sth. It is a representation of family members, a warm family. And the background seems to tell sth. The general color is warm, demonstrating a feeling of warm and cozy. I have to say that it is a good idea to combine the modern symbols and photography.
If I had to choose one image to depict what my childhood was like, it would be this one. That is me dancing with the little boy in the image, and to the right of me is my dad, and all around me are cousins, uncles and family friends; it takes place in Dominican Republic in my grandma’s house. Although I was born in Atlanta, GA, I grew up most of my childhood in the DR because my dad is Dominican. Therefore, the DR is home to me, and although I am not a big believer in borders or nationalities, if I had to put it into those terms, I would consider myself more Dominican than American because it was the first culture I lived in, and most of the happiest memories of my childhood, and my life were there. Dominican culture as an entirety is very happy, and exuberant– it’s seen through its people, the music, the food, the sports, the art– everything. And that, all of that, is captured in this photograph, where we were dancing and eating and celebrating life for no reason at all more than just being happy to be alive and being with the people we love. I still try to carry these values from my culture into my everyday life, especially since it is so easy to get sucked into the stress that comes from living in a westernized country. I often stare at this photograph, and others of my childhood in the DR, and I wish I could jump back into that moment and live through it all over again. It makes me wonder how different my life would have been if I stayed in the DR instead of moving to the states, who would I be? Would I still have ended up here?
If I had to choose one image to depict what my childhood was like, it would be this one. That is me dancing with the little boy in the image, and to the right of me is my dad, and all around me are cousins, uncles and family friends; it takes place in Dominican Republic in my grandma’s house. Although I was born in Atlanta, GA, I grew up most of my childhood in the DR because my dad is Dominican. Therefore, the DR is home to me, and although I am not a big believer in borders or nationalities, if I had to put it into those terms, I would consider myself more Dominican than American because it was the first culture I lived in, and most of the happiest memories of my childhood, and my life were there. Dominican culture as an entirety is very happy, and exuberant– it’s seen through its people, the music, the food, the sports, the art– everything. And that, all of that, is captured in this photograph, where we were dancing and eating and celebrating life for no reason at all more than just being happy to be alive and being with the people we love. I still try to carry these values from my culture into my everyday life, especially since it is so easy to get sucked into the stress that comes from living in a westernized country. I often stare at this photograph, and others of my childhood in the DR, and I wish I could jump back into that moment and live through it all over again. It makes me wonder how different my life would have been if I stayed in the DR instead of moving to the states, who would I be? Would I still have ended up here?
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gExXKgAnXRaQSlU2Ud6qUZxEnaJe394R8XxnsRlaJfE/edit?usp=sharing
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jtiPZj9Xg_yCycmTVGjnkH3z3nnX6IlNG2iBoEyE7Ss/edit?usp=sharing
The photo I chose to pick is a picture of me as a kid sitting on my bed. I love reminiscencing about the past and cherish my childhood very much. When I look at the picture it is sort of an escape for me- for me to remember a time in my life where I was worry free and care free. There are some things in the photo which hold a special place in my heart and brings me happiness to this day.
In the photo you can see stuffed animals behind me on the bed. I used to love playing with stuffed animals and would have tea parties with them every week. I would bring my prized doll, doggy, out with me everywhere I go and I even created a whole world for my dolls which included different areas in my house. To this day I still assign names and place personas on my stuffed animals, although not as seriously as I did before of course.
On my lap was my blanket which I’ve had since I was a baby. I remember my blanket fondly as I used to wrap it around me and pretend that I was a caterpillar transforming in to a butterfly. I also remember shaking in fear and hiding under my blanket frequently at night during thunder or wind storms. Today my blanket is tattered from my many years of use but still lays next to me in bed.
Lastly are my Sailor Moon pajamas. I used to absolutely love watching Sailor Moon everyday on TV. Often times I would go out in to my backyard, use a broom as her staff and pretend to transform in to a sailor scout. It also reminded me of the days where I would repeatedly attempt to draw the different Sailor Moon characters with pen, only to throw it out with frustration at my failure. Just recently a remake of the series, along with new collectible items, have been released, both of which I have seen and bought.
When I see this picture, I not only feel happiness, but I also begin to forget my worries today as an adult. It provides a momentary haven for me of warmth and bliss. As I look at who I have become today in comparison to my younger self in the photo, I am glad that I have still retained some of my child-like qualities as a reminder that I will always be young at heart.
Week 3: An image of an image
https://drive.google.com/file/d/10UM8Q0L1N4tyX7LW0ld12UyNnOKTyHv-/view?usp=sharing
Week 3: An image of an image (sorry wrong link in the previous one)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1H1TVAVcq-vbCQTnhZHO5Z23yY13eqLcK/view?usp=sharing
Hi,
It seems that the image is in simple color: yellow and orange. However, it represents a strong emotion – warm and snug. The mild color and simple composition provide strong emphasis in color, and allow the audience to feel instead of interpret.
The Image I chose is a photo of myself and my girlfriend taken before we were together. It was taken in our first year in university, around the time when we had first met each other. The picture itself shows myself and her walking down a street at night with heavy rain coming down. Both of us are walking side by side away from the camera, each with one arm around one another. This photo is especially important to me because I feel it symbolizes a relationship between two people that was always there from the beginning. Since we weren’t together for this, I think it’s amazing to be able to look back on a moment captured in time and say to yourself “I guess it was meant to be”. Even if we cant predict the future, I think its awesome to have something in the back of your head that implies that you always knew what was going to happen, even if you didn’t expect it. Nowadays we’ve been together for a while, and I have plenty of other great memories and photos that look much nicer (quality wise) , but this one will always stick in my mind as one of my favorites.
The Image I chose is a photo of myself and my girlfriend taken before we were together. It was taken in our first year in university, around the time when we had first met each other. The picture itself shows myself and her walking down a street at night with heavy rain coming down. Both of us are walking side by side away from the camera, each with one arm around one another. This photo is especially important to me because I feel it symbolizes a relationship between two people that was always there from the beginning. Since we weren’t together for this photo, I think it’s amazing to be able to look back on a moment captured in time and say to yourself “I guess it was meant to be”. Even if we cant predict the future, I think its awesome to have something in the back of your head that implies that you always knew what was going to happen, even if you didn’t expect it. I know this sounds really sappy, very time i’m with her, I always feel content and happy, and this picture proved to me that those emotions were always there. Nowadays we’ve been together for a while, and I have plenty of other great memories and photos that look much nicer (quality wise) , but this one will always stick in my mind as one of my favorites.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hFy6huqq0MkhpDRjQT2xFugFkUKwDi9JvDyOOO6uzyI/edit?usp=sharing
Hi,
I have to say that it is dramatic and dreamlike! The clock and the background (mixed color) is separately represented but the fuse of the two elements allow the audience to think of their relationship.. I guess the theme is sth about the time. It is interesting that this image evokes the powerful emotions in the audience – anger, fear, sadness, joy, etc. We think of our dreams.
I wasn’t in the class until after this assignment was due so this is late.
I chose an image of my rabbit Bonnie. I’ve taken a lot of pictures of her over the 12 years I had her but this one in particular was the last photo I ever took of her before she passed away. It’s not one of my best pictures of her but it brings about a lot of emotions.
She’s tucked into her carrier with a blanket and her favorite stuffed toy. She’s looking at the camera- grumpy that she was at the vet. We were taking her for a regular checkup, anxious of course because you never know what the vet is going to say when you’re bringing in an elderly animal. On that day nothing really happened, she had as good of health as any 12 year old rabbit could.
Looking at this photo makes me sad but it also reminds me of her so it’s bitter sweet. I’m reminded less of the feelings of that moment and instead I think of all of the moments I’ve had with her and all of the moments I will have without her.
The colors changed a little during the export from my art program but it still gets the feelings I wanted across.
http://yuyukami.tumblr.com/image/170064100445
I tried to upload it differently but I use a program on my Ipad and it seems that the colors on it seem to be off. I would like to pass around my Ipad so people can see the colors that I intended since they are a key part of my interpretation of this assignment.
The image I always start off to remind the past is the photo I chose for this challenge. It was taken right after my graduation ceremony from the high school in Shanghai. I was at the left edge of the photo extending my arms upward, holding the graduation certification in my left hand. In front of me are four of my best friends in the high school who established important part of my personality and the standard of judgement. The photo implies the stating paint of my college life and the end of my high school life, as well as the life in shanghai in where I had lived for 9 years since 9 years old. The feeling of nostalgia to my home country Japan was going to be fulfilled from that point, and detachment from my old friendships were going to happen from the day of the photo.
i had the feeling that the people in front of me would be replaced with new friends I would be close in the future college life since we are going to leave Shanghai, one of them going to US, one of them going back to Japan, one of them going Canada, and it meant difficulty in reunion at the same time at the same place. Even though I was satisfied in the result of choosing my own university and be able to go where I could develop my own ability, there were still the hunger that depart with my friends evoked, that I should go to see them and know the environment they are surrounded. As the result, although it took a while, I came to Canada as an exchange student and still in contact with all of them, reaffirming our bonds and the future relationships.