Over the course of the Semester, I experienced the act of doing, and maintaining, research to a level I hadn’t necessarily experienced before. In Seminar, we started the semester reading about how to particularly execute a well, thought out research paper. This directly correlated to what I was doing in Studio, for at the time, we were doing “resear
ch” on different mediums in which we were completing out 7 Days, 2 Rules assignment. This continued over the course of the semester, and I eventually found myself inadvertently researching for my final paper, by observing my long-distance relationship. This act of observation was well defined through multiple assignments we were given in Studio, and my attention to detail was further refined as well.
Various types of research fed into my work in many different ways. Looking back, I now realize that almost everything that I observed and witnessed had some effect on my work. Going to museums adjusted my eye to form and color, observing people in libraries forced me to be patient, and watching my relationship grow and flourish held me to a simple point of self-reflection. That being said, the direction my work took was solely my own, and while the research/ observation did have influence as to meaning and context, my final piece was what I wanted it to be from the beginning.
Looking back, the integration of this semester’s Seminar/ Studio courses helped my final projects blend together effortlessly. From the beginning, Ron told our class to dive into something that interests us, and at first, I wanted to focus on the impact of technology on today’s generation, but hadn’t necessarily refined it down to the LGBT community, Without the integration of my Studio class, I wouldn’t have come across the idea to integrate my own relationship into my paper, and vice versa. That being said, I am more than happy with my final decisions and I really think the two works came together amazingly.
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- This photo accurately displays what I love most about light, and photography itself. The essence of the subject’s face is captured in shadow, and the light of the photo also plays into giving it a lighthearted and emotional feeling. Photographs like this make me weak in the knees – bright sunlight inspires me.
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- I decided to include this in my semester cache to further push the idea of love, or in this case, true love. Taken from a music video, Lana Del Rey is embracing her lover, and the grainy feeling of the photo give a sense of nostalgia I thought would be important to include. I felt as if the visualization of love between two was pertinent to my semester cache simply because I was driven by love over the entire year. It was something in my life that I couldn’t escape.
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- Both my Studio project, and Seminar paper involve the discussion of the LGBT community. Because I identify as a homosexual, I thought I would only be fitting to include the warm and passionate embrace between two men. I thought this was important not only because of the themes this photo portrays, but because of the warmth and depth viewers can get from it.
