"Please, It's All About Popular"

or, "my favorite pictures from our epic week of dailyshoot 2010."

alternately, alternately entitled, "things that suck: putting image links under "visual" instead of "html" and having to redo all of your links."

(the last one didn't have the edge I was going for)

Hey everyone, great job last week! I had an excellent time going through all of the pictures and appreciate those of you who dropped by to take a look at my stuff. We are all winners.

Day 1:

Carlie's "Green Veins" takes the foliage day prize because I love the lighting and the way you can see the veins that are necessary for plant life so vividly.

Day 2:

It's all about the fathers and sons. I did a picture of my brother, Luke, and his baby. Jim Groom depicted what I envision for Luke and Truett's future-- frolicking in the front yard, having "conversations," and just general adoration from both parties to the other.



Day 3:

I didn't particularly like this day's prompt, but such is the nature of a project like this. Ed captured a photo with the creativity I could not muster and I love the incorporation of the actual pocket in the picture.



Day 4:

Jessica hit the target with this bear. I couldn't put my finger on it for the longest time, but now I think I know why it's my favorite. Most of the time, in "real" life, when a person looks at you straight on like the bear is in this picture, they are spaced out or just taking in what you're saying. People don't just look at each other and smile for the sake of smiling.

Bears do, apparently. I also really like Bear's hoodie-- awesome!



Day 5:

I guess I just have this thing for little figurine thingys, but I really like how debonair Stephanie's frog looks up against the lamp stand and how his stance is reflected in the base. A nice departure from the traditional mirror avenue that most of the class (including myself) took.



Day 6:

I don't know how the mailroom people do it, but I am so glad they manage the chaos. Morrgan perfectly captured the behind the scenes mess they have to deal with, and I love the entire composition!



Day 7:

The red stripe, the bridge and the trees make this photo of Jenn's. So perfect and so *classic* Fredericksburg. Well, really classic for anywhere.



Day 8:

I never knew there were so many ways to stack books! I loved how Ashley arranged hers-- reminded me of Jenga. Which reminds me of college life. Not because we all sit around and play jenga, but because my mind feels that scattered sometimes-- that on the brink of collapse. This would especially be true if I was trying to master the subjects represented by Ashley's stack of books.

A Whole New World

that's where we'll be. You and me.



(click the link. i promise.)

(full disclosure: I only read 3 of these over the summer)

Nowhere to Go

5 of these pairs of shoes actually were just around the apartment. As I cleaned up the apartment, I realized that I could line the shoes up to be symmetrical. I added a few more pairs for effect.

Image Story Impact

I am an indecisive person. So "alternately" assignments kind of stress me out.

I got over it.

Once I just decided to do both.

As for the image story from online that has impacted (that is passive voice and is terrible) me, I choose the raising of the flag over Iwa Jima.The whole story (according to Wikipedia) can be read here. It was the second flag raised over the island that day, since the higher ups decided the first was too small to be seen from surrounding territories and also wanted the first flag as a souvenir. The "real" story behind the image itself is highly disputed. There are questions often raised about the authenticity of the shot-- whether or not Rosenthal staged the photo. There are questions regarding the identity of the soldiers. There are more serious moral questions about the bond campaign that the soldiers were forced to be a part of in the days following the battle. So much emotion wrapped up in a single image that ultimately exists today to rally support around the Marine Corps.



For a long time, that's all I saw it as. A victorious, patriotic image-- no questions asked. And it is that. Look at all of the reproductions, the statue, the museum. Then, on a college searching trip to Virginia with my parents, I saw Clint Eastwood's 2006 Flags of our Fathers. I knew at that point that I wanted to study history in college, but this helped create for me a new idea of history. There is what we see, and then there is the story behind that image. There is not a lot about history-- that which is written about the past-- that is true. There is just strength in the collection of many perspectives.

I got to see the statue in D.C. on that same trip and I fell in love again with history and the new perception of it that was forming. The idea that you can question events, research them, and come to a conclusion regarding them that is your own based on the evidence that is not at all your own.

As for an image from my own life-- it's slightly less heavy.



What is happening here, you ask? So one day my roommate Claire (you may know her) got herself locked out on our balcony at the crack of dawn. Of course, Katie and I were not yet awake. Or conscious, apparently. So Claire knocked and knocked and knocked. Near tears, she banged. Fist and all. (You know where this is going).

Until, presto. Katie and I never really heard a thing. Or we at least heard something but failed to investigate. Thus we were left to wake up and find this note, hours later. It's quite cryptic.



(when Claire came home we reenacted it. Hence, the photograph.)

College.

alternately entitled, "I will miss this."



there are so many things happening in this picture, it's ridiculous. (it might even belong on Tiffany's blog).

I was originally going to take a picture of only the candy bowl platter, until I zoomed out and realized that the surroundings only add to the chaos.

And to me it's beautiful. Because it's college. And I will miss this.

What do you spy?

"Here We Go"

I remember when I was little.

(are you on the edge of your seat?)

Once my grandmother heard the appropriate number of seatbelt "clicks," she'd put the car in drive and speed off down her steep Texas driveway proclaiming, almost just stating (as if exasperated by the struggle to get us all wrangled into the vehicle) "here we go."

That's what I think of when I see this picture.

That and the unconditional love I have for my 1998 Sunfire. He's a sportscar, I'll have you know.

Image Story: A *Love* Story

A gnome became a real boy named Jim Groom who went on a joyride and found a girl and asked her on a date. She went home, caught her reflection in the teapot and was displeased with the appearance of her hair. So she dyed it last minute. They went on a date the the park with matching lanterns. Afterwards she received a "mushy" text.

We All Scream

I know what you're thinking.

I think.

Ice cream is sticky.

Yes.

But first. It's soft.

Just ask Addie.

She'll tell you it was worth the sticky hassle to first have fun with the soft, cool summer's relief.

Like with life, the good (however fleeting) most times outweighs the bad.

So for the purpose of daily shoot, I'm calling ice cream soft. We'll deal with the sticky later.

One Hand in My Pocket

Day 3: Contents of my pocket. Since I left my wallet at home on a road trip to Chattanooga, the 3 cards that represent my life shacked it up cozy in my pocket all weekend.

Complementary "Objects"

Day 2 of daily shoot: It doesn't get more complementary than father and son, does it?

Kind of Perfect

This weeks assignment is, well, kind of perfect.

I guess-- since, you know, we're four weeks into the semester (what?!?)-- I should introduce myself and the theme of this blog.

By the title one can assume that the content (that I'm putting out there to engage the internet as a producer-- mere consuming will no longer do. That's according to "the Reverend" Jim Groom) will revolve around photography. What scares me about that, friends, is the standard involved in engaging one's self in "Photography." Capital P.

It means taking myself seriously, right? I should be confident in my ability and all. Photographers have people hire them to create images of their lives and happenings.

I believe people are constantly creating their own images of life and happening. The camera need not be involved for that. And for that matter, neither should a photographer be hired as a third party. An event is no more special for having a picture of it. Does that make me a better or worse photographer?

I think it hardly makes me a capital P photographer at all.

It just makes me  person who loves life. A grown-ass girl who believes in a God-- and Son and Holy Spirit-- that gives life. And Who takes it away. Who is to be praised.

It makes me a 21 year old who loves people and home and adventures and fun. Who is compelled by stories and concerned with hurt. I'm a college student who doesn't want building-block experiences to go unnoticed or unappreciated.

I'm not creating the images. That's taken care of. But I long to capture them. To, you know, make it last longer. Whatever it happens to be on a given day. You never know.

I'm not the best editor, I haven't a lick of official instruction on how to operate my camera, and I often take 20 shots to get 2 good ones. That's on a good day. But I have things worth cherishing. And so I do. With my heart. Then with my lens. Hopefully with my words.

That's where the blog thing is, well, kind of perfect.

A Fight to the Death

Today's Daily Shoot assignment was to showcase the beauty of living foliage. Just in time, too, since the green leaves that sprawl onto my cement balcony are beginning their seasonal fight to the death. An excellent Friday reminder to love the green while I can-- the beautiful orange haze will befall the foliage in due time. Death is not always scary.

Goin' To the Chapel

Father of the Bride in 6 Frames:

The Good 'Ole Days

I confess-- before class on Tuesday, I had no idea what the difference between the Web and the Net actually was. Matter of a fact, going back to my last post, you will see that I used them interchangeably.

That is going to be harder and harder to do as the days pass, apparently. And I will look back to my post on 9-7-10 (on my iPhone, of course), sip some lemonade (while driving my car, of course) and then probably tweet from my pocket (or possible directly from my mind?) about the good 'ole days when the net didn't cost me anything and the web was a promising frontier. When moguls weren't "finding choke points" by which to get rich. I'll reminisce about the days of the world-"wide-open"-web and bitterly discuss the world of capitalism with my grandchildren. I'll look back to 9-9-10 as the day of warning-- the day I learned the real difference between the web and the internet and finally knew why to foresee a time when more stuff would supposedly make life more convenient and come at a higher price to me, when really I'm happy as a clam to sit in front of my computer screen and browse to my hearts desire at very little cost to me. I don't need the perpetual latest and greatest.

But.

Oh, there's a but. I also actively participate in facilitating the future of an app-led existence. Before I knew I really wanted an iPhone, my family had a plan and baby, I had one. Which comes in handy for speedy texting and, yes, twittering, and navigating my directionally challenged self across the country from Arkansas. The internet is, in this sense, still integral to my daily existence. But so is, for that matter, the web.

And so, these are the good 'ole days. When I could have both. Today is a day that I can take my big, bulky computer to class to take notes and facebook even as I show my "implicit acceptance of a nonweb standard" by using ever-more-convenient apps. (As an aside, we used a coin-flipping app in a class trivia game the other day instead of a real coin. I find this telling).

While this is coming at a price to my Dad, who chose to gift me with the latest and greatest in technology, I'm happy to have my cake and eat it too. But once I'm buying? Well, let's just say I'll miss the web.

Then again, I already miss the days when I wasn't "locked in" to facebook simply to keep up with the times. I find it as stressful as Jim Groom describes it. So why am I still in? Because it wouldn't be the "good 'ole days" without it.

I'm sorry if this post is long and boring. I'm merely trying to soak up my time with the generative web while it will have me. Bigger and better is on its way, I guess. But I have to say, I'll miss this.

Living on the Edge

"Leverage customer-self service and algorithmic data management to reach out to the entire web, to the edges and not just the center, to the long tail and not just the head."

-Tim O'Reilly, What is Web 2.0

In short, Web 2.0 is the web I've unknowingly watched come to fruition throughout my 21 year childhood (I just turned into an adult, so I can write about those days fondly and with much wisdom from hindsight.-- One drawback to written communication via the internet? Communication tools such as the sarcasm I just called upon are less easily detected. So I'll just blatantly call the sarcasm. I digress). I've always known the internet to be a progressive entity-- always changing. Up until reading, "Web 2.0," however, I always attributed changes in web technology to the collective ideas it embraces and allow. I never before thought that somewhere in the history of the internet there was a monumental shift in software framework to allow the existence of that collective fluidity.

I suppose my point is that there was a change that occurred, allowing for the inclusion of many people as cooperative programmers and administrators, before the web as I know and engage it became possible. Technology's own survival of the fittest, if you will. I never knew to distinguish between 1.0 and its superior sequel-- the age of flickr and wordpress and google and geeks being cool.

I'm glad to know of the literally life-changing change of focus for web features, because as a person very much on the edge of self-service and data management (as in not one of the majorly contributing, centralized and crucial computer geeks) I am one of those lives changed by the 2.0. I am no stranger to advocating its benefits-- even before I could put my finger on the details of the technological innovations geared towards a broadening user base, I was preaching its gospel. That is, I became the first amongst my group of friends to engage the web through blogging, flickr, twitter, and youtube (I feel like that sounded like I'm trying to make myself sound cool, when I am well aware that the phenomenon of the modern internet is made possible by the fact that many thousands were joining in these programs at the same time as me. Thus, I am not that cool. But then, these advancements make each person feel that cool. That's the magic of playing the web towards participation). Even then, I believed strongly in the power of the potential audience out there through the world wide web. What makes Web 2.0 run, though, is not the volume of the audience, but rather the volume of users.

Web 2.0 is marked by a list of competencies expected of each new company. The first item on the list is a company characterized by free services (ie, the database that is google) as opposed to the obligation to purchase a server and individual software tools. As seen in the decline of Doubleclick and the subsequent rise of Overture, as in the rise and fall of Netscape, Web 2.0 is not so much about publishing or the power exerted by advertisers as it is so much about consumer participation and the collective power of many small sites.

A second requirement for a 2.0 company is the control of data sources-- exemplified by hyperlinking (driven by repetition and intensity), yahoo! for cataloguing information, ebay for collective market exchange, and Amazon (utilizing user engagement to distinguish itself from other data sources). Insights from these basic principles lend themselves to the creation of even stronger links that do not just control information sharing between 2 sites, but rather allow for a continuous stream of information from any given site.

The third competency deals with owning an application's core data, given that the majority of information on the internet is not actually published with rights. It is not only important to own the core data, though-- 2.0 is largely based on trusting people with dispersing that data and letting go of the hard boundaries of copyright. Fourthly, Web 2.0 exists to provide a service, not to sell a product. It wasn't until reading this that I thought to be truly appreciative of the free service of google and flickr.

The fifth principle stems from the idea of free information sharing-- making data available to different audiences through syndication instead of controlling information at strictly two ends. Number six involves making use of the web and the design of 2.0 to give quality to single devices not traditionally tied to the software of any one computer. Number seven leaves the door open for more successful models for business and development, driven by the competitive nature of growing user experience.

This is the nature of the modern internet. There are still questions in my mind regarding the collective function of (what are to me) broad terms such as server and interface and domain and software and coding. But I recognized in this article's description of 2.0 the face of the internet I have come to know well--as a person merely populating the edge of the web with a little blog space and some flickr photos.

"Greatest Story Ever Told"

After the first class, Professor Groom shared with us a link to what he called "the greatest story ever told"-- that is Robert Shaw's Jaws sililoquy. While that post was not necessarily an assignment, I believe the ability to respond to that thought and have it "count" within the academic sphere, as well as the creative freedom that this forum called the internet allows, speaks to the message conveyed in our first "real" assignment-- Garder Campbell's Cyberinfrastructure (or "the bags of gold") lecture.

Therefore, I will begin this post with one of my favorite movie moments that captivates me every time. It might be the Michael J. Fox/Michael Douglas combo. They aren't necessarily telling a story in the clip, per Robert Shaw, but the clip itself tells a story about a citizen's responsibility to both question leaders and be prepared to differentiate between good and bad leadership.

Lewis: "People want leadership, Mr. President. And in the absence of genuine leadership, they will listen to anyone who steps up to the microphone. They want leadership. They're so thirsty for it, they'll crawl through the desert toward a mirage, and when they discover there's no water, they'll drink the sand."

Andrew Shepherd: "We've had Presidents who were beloved, who couldn't find a coherent sentence with two hands and a flashlight. People don't drink the sand because they're thirsty. They drink it because they don't know the difference."

I feel the responsibility to know the "sand" from the "water" is especially important as rapidly growing technology creates faster, easier access to information regarding what issues we choose to engage and which leaders we choose to represent ourselves as individuals and as a nation to a world that is ever-connecting.

We have a new alphabet.

This is, perhaps, the most revolutionary part of Campbell's lecture for me. Maybe it reflects my relative immaturity in regards to all things computers, that the most elementary of concepts helps me to understand the most complex of concepts as we tackle and engage the web this semester. For a long time, though, I've  considered myself merely a consumer. Google is something you do to get information. But to give it? To express my own ideas, with my own identity? Certainly that is too complicated for me to approach.

Then again, I wouldn't say "no" to a bag of gold, would I?

So I am reaching out my hands, that they might be filled with a new currency. Complicated as it may be at first, this is the stuff of relevance and change and revolution. Gardner Campbell's theory of personal cyberinfrastructure is, at its core, the invigorating message that I have something meaningful to share. Servers and domains and webspaces may sound confusing, but somewhere in there is an identity I have to be willing to claim for myself. The web already knows who I am as a consumer-- it is just that good. It is high time that introduce myself to the web as a producer.

What  I already love about the structure of this class and Campbell's vision as the framework is that it basically exists to introduce us to a new alphabet and provide thought-provoking prompts. We choose the words we form with the letters and I am confident that will prove to be a diverse collection of ideas. Isn't that the point?

I believe Campbell would agree-- and have something much smarter to say about it. It is time to explore the expressive capabilities at our fingertips and appreciate the ability to do so within the academic realm. This is the alphabet of higher education. And while mine might not be the "greatest story ever told" (I assure you it is not), I am excited to learn a new forum through which to tell it and to hear from others through their own design.