Arrival
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During the summer of 2016, my grandmothers were allowed to visit the United States. It was a very different place compared to their home back in Burma (a third world country also known as Myanmar). Despite the new environment, they arrived with a smile, a sense of excitement, and wanting to experience more. This photograph, inspired by Paul Calhoun, shows their emotions on they day they arrived at the United States of America.
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Description/Meaning
This photograph was taken at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport a a few minutes after my grandmothers came out of the airport terminal. They came seated in wheelchairs with a tag with my dad's contact information pushed by two attendants. They were amazed by everything and their faces lit up when they saw us. It has been years since our grandmothers have seen our family and there was a lot of happiness. One can definitely see their sense of awe and happiness in this picture. My grandmother on the left is showing a sweet, happy smile, and my other grandmother is engrossed by her surroundings and she also has a smile on her face. Coming from a third world country (Burma), they were very amazed by everything. Ordinary everyday things like microwaves and laundry machines amazed our grandmothers as they have only heard of them.
Immigration in America is a very common subject that hits home to many people. Even though my grandmothers had to leave after about 3 months, they experienced exactly what an immigrant had to go through. They went through the application process, the wait, the plane ride, the arrival, and the new lifestyle. At first they were a bit anxious, but as the days went on, they started to feel more and more comfortable. They started to act like how we did and even started using the unusual technology. Even though they didn't stay for that long, they were catching on to new things, such as using a washer and dryer, and were making observations between the two different cultures. Their initial arrival here is very similar to what my family had gone through. The application process, the plan ride, and then the adjustment to the new lifestyle-which took the longest time. While adjusting to the new lifestyle, they implement a little bit of their own culture. The United States is a melting pot of different cultures and without all of the immigrants, the U.S. would be a very different place. Different cultures bring different traits and you can see that in our society.
Immigration in America is a very common subject that hits home to many people. Even though my grandmothers had to leave after about 3 months, they experienced exactly what an immigrant had to go through. They went through the application process, the wait, the plane ride, the arrival, and the new lifestyle. At first they were a bit anxious, but as the days went on, they started to feel more and more comfortable. They started to act like how we did and even started using the unusual technology. Even though they didn't stay for that long, they were catching on to new things, such as using a washer and dryer, and were making observations between the two different cultures. Their initial arrival here is very similar to what my family had gone through. The application process, the plan ride, and then the adjustment to the new lifestyle-which took the longest time. While adjusting to the new lifestyle, they implement a little bit of their own culture. The United States is a melting pot of different cultures and without all of the immigrants, the U.S. would be a very different place. Different cultures bring different traits and you can see that in our society.
Inpiration
This piece was inspired by Paul Calhoun, who is a photographer who primarily photographs portraits. I had the pleasure of working with him, and throughout this process I was able to learn about his work. Calhoun just doesn’t take portraits of random people. He takes portraits of people who have a story behind them. All of his photographs have a story behind them and you can see it in the photographs; some of which convey poverty, immigrants, and politics. An example is "Dirt is My Favorite Color." It's a portrait of three young kids but you can "read" their story and know about what they go through without ever talking to them. I had seen Calhoun's work in the previous school year and thought it would be interesting to try documentary photography. After finding out that my grandmothers were coming, it was the perfect time to try it. It has a lot of meaning to it and it's something that hits close to the heart.
Process
Knowing that my grandparents were visiting, I figured it would be a great time to try out photography documentary. Firstly, I had to buy a camera. Previously, I had been using my dad's Nikon D5300, but my mom bought me a camera right after school ended, so I began to use that one to take all of the pictures. I had gotten the Canon EOS Rebel T5, which was a bit newer than my dad's Nikon so I had to learn how to adjust all the settings. It wasn't too hard to figure out and I got used to it fairly quickly. Throughout the year, I had been experimenting with the ISO, aperture, and shutter speed so I taught myself how to adjust those settings to get the picture I wanted.
The night before my grandmothers' arrival, I charged my battery, cleaned my lenses, and cleared my SD card. So we got up early in the morning, and got into the family van. We took an hour long ride to Chicago and waited patiently for them to come out of the terminal. My mother was getting very anxious, and they finally came out. They were the last ones. So right when I saw them I took pictures of them. I was trying to get pictures that showed their interest and happiness. They were wearing clothing from Burma, so they stood out. This was something I wanted because I wanted to show a contrast between them and the environment. When they greeted us, I was able to get more pictures of my grandmothers' hugging and talking to my parents. Finally, I had to stop taking pictures because I had to carry their bags to the van.
Throughout the summer, I took more pictures, but they were more like vacation pictures so I didn't think of using those for my studio. Vacation pictures and documentary photography is very different. So when school began, I looked through all my pictures, (more specially, the first pictures at the airport) and chose the ones that could possibly work.
The night before my grandmothers' arrival, I charged my battery, cleaned my lenses, and cleared my SD card. So we got up early in the morning, and got into the family van. We took an hour long ride to Chicago and waited patiently for them to come out of the terminal. My mother was getting very anxious, and they finally came out. They were the last ones. So right when I saw them I took pictures of them. I was trying to get pictures that showed their interest and happiness. They were wearing clothing from Burma, so they stood out. This was something I wanted because I wanted to show a contrast between them and the environment. When they greeted us, I was able to get more pictures of my grandmothers' hugging and talking to my parents. Finally, I had to stop taking pictures because I had to carry their bags to the van.
Throughout the summer, I took more pictures, but they were more like vacation pictures so I didn't think of using those for my studio. Vacation pictures and documentary photography is very different. So when school began, I looked through all my pictures, (more specially, the first pictures at the airport) and chose the ones that could possibly work.
These are a few of the pictures that I took from that day my grandmother's arrived. The pictures I took weren't that good, except for one or two. Many of the pictures I took were blurry and were incorrectly exposed, which was probably because I was rushing, trying to get as many pictures as I could. My pictures are primarily the back of my subjects which is not good; especially since I am trying to photograph portraits and I want to show their faces. Then, I chose the picture that I thought was the best and that was the one of my grandmothers under the arms of my mother. Using Adobe Lightroom, I adjusted the vibrance temperature, and saturation to make them cooler and softer. I did this because I thought that even though the warm colors portrayed happiness, its seemed too intense for my liking. I wanted to portray a happy, yet chill tone. There was also some other edits such as adding more highlight, more contrast, and more. I also used Adobe Photoshop to fix some of my mother's dark spots because she wouldn't of let me use the pictures unless I did some editing to them. For that, I just used the "Spot healing tool" which easily gets rid of small blemishes. I also ended up trying a black and white version, but it showed more of a somber mood, which was the opposite of what I wanted.
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Conclusion/Reflection
I have always taken pictures, but documentary photography was different. While taking the pictures for this project, I wanted to show a story whereas my other pictures usually show landscapes. I focused on trying to capture emotion by taking photos of the faces of my subjects. Concerning the process, I should of taken pictures in front of my subjects so I could of gotten more shots of their face. I also should of taken more time to take my pictures, since quality is better than quantity and many of my pictures were blurry. The blurriness could of also been avoided by using a faster shutter speed. Some of the photos were underexposed and if I continue to keep taking pictures I will become better and faster at taking the correct picture. For the editing process, I didn't have to do much and I was able to manipulate it the way I wanted to, so I thought I did an alright job on that. All summer, I've used Lightroom to edit my pictures, so I was a bit more familiar with that. In conclusion, I had a fun time trying out documentary photography and I will continue to take these types of photos but remember to implement what I learned in this project.
ACT Questions
1) Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause-effect relationships between your inspiration and its effect upon your artwork.
My inspiration, Paul Calhoun, is a photographer that practices documentary photography. I saw his work and I was inspired to try portrait photography. Prior to learning about his work, I usually took pictures of landscapes, and "vacation pictures" for my family, but now I have a wider range of experience.
2) What is the overall approach (point of view) the author (from your research) has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The approach that Calhoun uses is to take black and white photographs of his subject's face with a digital camera. I was inspired by his choice of subject, which was people.
3) What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
Some generalizations I discovered about photography was that only nice things make for good photos and that you can only take pictures of beautiful people. I have come to the conclusion that these ideas are both false because an ugly photo with a lot of meaning is beautiful.
4) What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The central theme and idea around my inspirational research revolves around documentary portrait photography and trying to tell a story through the environment and emotions.
5) What kind of inferences (conclusions reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning) did you make while reading your research?
Some inferences that I made while reading my research was that my first photo will not be the final one, I will have to edit them, there will be a lot of trial and error, and that I will learn a lot from this project.
My inspiration, Paul Calhoun, is a photographer that practices documentary photography. I saw his work and I was inspired to try portrait photography. Prior to learning about his work, I usually took pictures of landscapes, and "vacation pictures" for my family, but now I have a wider range of experience.
2) What is the overall approach (point of view) the author (from your research) has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The approach that Calhoun uses is to take black and white photographs of his subject's face with a digital camera. I was inspired by his choice of subject, which was people.
3) What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
Some generalizations I discovered about photography was that only nice things make for good photos and that you can only take pictures of beautiful people. I have come to the conclusion that these ideas are both false because an ugly photo with a lot of meaning is beautiful.
4) What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The central theme and idea around my inspirational research revolves around documentary portrait photography and trying to tell a story through the environment and emotions.
5) What kind of inferences (conclusions reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning) did you make while reading your research?
Some inferences that I made while reading my research was that my first photo will not be the final one, I will have to edit them, there will be a lot of trial and error, and that I will learn a lot from this project.