Photography Project

This is my 9 month old English Bulldog named Trubble. He is very fun loving, enjoys laying around the house, watching TV, eating, and playing with any human he may encounter. I found this "after" picture to be very compelling. The picture is now black and white except for his teeth and gums :) I like that you can see the innocence in his face as well as all of the detail. He has big eyes and lots of wrinkles in his face. He is always very happy and enjoy interactions from anything that breathes. I took a lot of snapshots of his face until I was able to get this one of his looking off into the distance with his nose and mouth off center (2/3 rule). I also blurred the focus of the background so it would eliminate those items from the picture and not be so distracting.

This is the original picture I took of Trubble laying on the couch from a distance. As you can see all of the items in the picture are rathering distracting. I also feel like the pattern in his coat and the pattern of pillows compete with each other. Then there is the bone off to left and the blue pig next to him. There is just a lot going on here. It's a good picture of him, but he becomes lost in the rest of the picture. I also don't get the same feelings from this picture that I did with the close up "after" picture. In the after picture his innocence was captured in the close up. When I look at this picture I just see it for what it is; a picture of a dog on the couch. I don't really feel it moves me or sparks any emotion.

NDCE and Education

Since beginning this course I have been trying to bridge the connection between the photograph information we have been learning about and lessons that I teach in my classes. I have come to the realization that the importance of NDCE is not necessarily about just pictures, but about what emotions you can evoke from creating the pictures and experiences. I never thought of all of the detail that goes into taking a compelling picture: narration, storytelling, meaning, etc. This rings true for lesson plans as well. Students are definitely more willing to learn if you are able to capture their mind in the beginning of the lesson. This could be through a number of different things such as poetry, discussions, video clips, stories, etc. The whole point of designing these compelling experiences through photography is to create a piece that tells a story and can connect to a person through their emotions, feelings, and possible past experiences. As teachers it is our responsibility to give life to the ideas and concepts that we are teaching. The easiest way that I have found to do this is by trying to connect to my students on an emotional level. I am excited to see what the rest of this class has to offer. I'm definitely no photographer, but I am having an exciting time learning about NDCE.