Photo Essay

ME:

as told by my room

We were assigned to do a photo essay about a person, process or place.  So, out laziness, not conceit, I decided to do it on myself.  As I was thinking about the best way to go about telling this story, I remembered reading something intriguing (though now, I cannot remember for the life of me where I read it).  But anyways, I read that a complete stranger can describe a person better than that person’s best friend with only five minutes in said person’s bedroom.  As I was thinking about that, I remembered the Flickr Student Spaces portfolio in the book, which was a collection of pictures of different students’ bedrooms.  I wondered what things in my room are telling of me.

While I did this assignment, I did not really engage with my community in any way at all, little alone in a new way.  All I did was stand in my room, get mad at my camera for not focusing properly and take pictures.  No community involvement whatsoever.  However, as I was taking my pictures, I realized how this can help me engage with my community in a new way in the future.  Basically, I realized the importance of paying attention to the small things or “observing the ordinary”, if you will.  In my photo essay, I have pictures of a shirt with movie spoilers on it, the game Scene It?, a Robocop book, a plush Gizmo from Gremlins, and ED-209 from Robocop.  By noticing the relation between my various objects, one could conclude that I really like movies.

Therefore, in the future when I engage with my community, I can enhance that interaction by looking at the details, which will allow me to better understand the person with whom I am engaging.  By noticing the details, I will be more able to understand what is needed and the best way to proceed.  When I am more aware of what is going on around me, I will be more prepared to engage and interact with my community.