Unit 7 Activity 2

These are two pictures with a side-by-side comparison of the women. One is an obvious exaggeration of appearance, the other showing different hair. The top image shows the extremes of how a woman could look either attractive or unattractive. The right side is obviously more appealing, her face is more composed, her makeup is clean, her hair is made, and the lighting is better. The second picture is much more subtle, on the left the woman's hair is frizzy, and neat on the right. It's advertising a hair product, most likely. But it seems ridiculous to say the left side is less attractive. The media does play a huge part in what is or isn't attractive. Nearly all media revolves around fashion and appearance. Commercials tell people what is or isn't necessary to look better, celebrities bring in new trends, when looking for what is or isn't appealing, you look to a celebrity. To an extent, admiring these celebrities is a good thing, it gives confidence, something to strive for, and dreams. You can admire someone, but integrate the style with yourself. But completely obsessing over something in the media is not a good thing. You can become so self-absorbed in mimicking somebody or wasting your life trying to be something you just aren't

Unit 7 Activity 1

"Make a personal list of the categories you belong to or have conflict with and visual symbols that are associated with each. Aspirations and expectations should also be listed."

Age/ Generation - A teenager in this new generation of technology, which is rapidly changing and developing. I feel a lot of pressure now, preparing to become an adult and going to college. Suddenly all of these things are being thrown at my face that were just never emphasized all too much until now.

Gender - Male - a lot of times I almost feel looked down upon being there are many stereotypes of a "man" I just don't fit. I enjoy art and music, I'm not big on sports or fighting.

Race - White - I don't really feel any expectations or certain aspirations I'm supposed to conform to or try to have.

Religion - None (Atheist) - This affects how my family views me more than my peers. My mother's side is fairly Catholic and many would just see me different if they knew I didn't believe in a higher power. My mother just blows it off, she'll sometimes show her concerns, but most of the time it's out of her mind. My father has always accepted my views, and is one of the main reasons I have this view. He  is not an Atheist, but has open views of religion and has always welcomed new opinions.

Class/ Caste - Middle Class - Sometimes I feel like I'll end up being stuck into this class. I don't worry over it, but I'd like to achieve dreams above it. The older I get the harder these dreams seem to get.

Personality - Quiet and introverted, deep thinking on subjects. This one definitely harms me; I have trouble breaking out of my shell, and often end up by myself. It's just really hard to be open and converse with people I don't know. I've been told that it sometimes comes across as snobbish and that I don't want to associate with people; it's just really conflicting to speak up and express myself with strangers

Intelligence - Fairly smart. I could probably have more opportunities if I tried for them. I guess I don't utilize my intelligence

Political Persuasion - Leaning towards a democratic view. Belief in equal rights and a fair amount of government involvement for those in need.

Unit 6 Distortion Assignment

This assignment was heavily based on editing a photo to obvious degrees and bend reality. The particular assignment I chose said to make a cover for a book that is about paranormal phenomena. I based my subject on astral projection, and depicted a "soul" leaving it's sleeping body. It is hard to see, but the soul has open eyes, as if it is waking up from the dormant body. To achieve this effect, I edited three different images, adding opacity masks and using a blurring tool. I then merged them together, giving the appearance of a leaving spirit. The hardest part of this project was getting everything to blur without it looking choppy or having defining lines that would make the image look fake.