"Change"
The first visual essay asks students to use both images and texts to interpret or elaborate on different notions of change -- the most "abstract" of all assignments.
Requirements: 1) Incorporate aspects of Merced or the university into the pictures; 2) Each photograph needs to have contrasting elements (rough vs. soft, bright vs. dark, etc.); 3) The accompanying passage, creative in nature, should not explain the meanings of the pictures but should aim to enhance or complicate the viewer's reading of the images; and 4) People cannot be the main subjects in this visual essay.
As the very first assignment, students are only beginning to explore the possibilities and complex relationships between imagery and text. Some already did a good job, but all will improve and grow, as the online and in-class feedback, and course readings and lectures, will help students develop their eyes and skills.
Feel free to leave encouragement or criticism for these students. Please be constructive; we are all learning to do better.
(Note: the texts and comments have not been redacted, edited, or corrected for typos or errors)
The first visual essay asks students to use both images and texts to interpret or elaborate on different notions of change -- the most "abstract" of all assignments.
Requirements: 1) Incorporate aspects of Merced or the university into the pictures; 2) Each photograph needs to have contrasting elements (rough vs. soft, bright vs. dark, etc.); 3) The accompanying passage, creative in nature, should not explain the meanings of the pictures but should aim to enhance or complicate the viewer's reading of the images; and 4) People cannot be the main subjects in this visual essay.
As the very first assignment, students are only beginning to explore the possibilities and complex relationships between imagery and text. Some already did a good job, but all will improve and grow, as the online and in-class feedback, and course readings and lectures, will help students develop their eyes and skills.
Feel free to leave encouragement or criticism for these students. Please be constructive; we are all learning to do better.
(Note: the texts and comments have not been redacted, edited, or corrected for typos or errors)
Conor M.
“The times, they are-a-changing.”
Same can be said for our little town, here. Sure, we had lots of visitors and business stop by on their way to Yosemite. All the city folk would stop in to see what life is like in our small farming community. Things were pretty quiet ‘round here, and that was fine. Nobody had any need for excitement or anything like that. We liked being in this tiny rural town because it was nice and quiet.
“The times, they are-a-changing.”
Same can be said for our little town, here. Sure, we had lots of visitors and business stop by on their way to Yosemite. All the city folk would stop in to see what life is like in our small farming community. Things were pretty quiet ‘round here, and that was fine. Nobody had any need for excitement or anything like that. We liked being in this tiny rural town because it was nice and quiet.
Tom M.
Marriage is an ultimate change. From one day to the next, two lives are intertwined forever, and life as each individual knew it is completely different. An engagement ring symbolizes so much more than a commitment; it is the symbol of transformation. Before a ring is bestowed on a woman’s slender finger, the couple, together, is walking on rocks. Each person has to step carefully in order to reach the water line, where instead of walking on rocks, they can float, effortlessly, together. While stepping carefully over the rocks of life, the moves each person makes can take the couple their own separate way. Often, on the way to the water, we do not see all the intricacies, all the color or all the life that a spouse provides; this is because we have not found our soul mate. While these rocks and the paths they lead us on may be beautiful, they cannot compare to vibrancy of reaching the waters edge; of finding true love. Those relationships, which never find the water-front, serve as navigation lessons.
Marriage is an ultimate change. From one day to the next, two lives are intertwined forever, and life as each individual knew it is completely different. An engagement ring symbolizes so much more than a commitment; it is the symbol of transformation. Before a ring is bestowed on a woman’s slender finger, the couple, together, is walking on rocks. Each person has to step carefully in order to reach the water line, where instead of walking on rocks, they can float, effortlessly, together. While stepping carefully over the rocks of life, the moves each person makes can take the couple their own separate way. Often, on the way to the water, we do not see all the intricacies, all the color or all the life that a spouse provides; this is because we have not found our soul mate. While these rocks and the paths they lead us on may be beautiful, they cannot compare to vibrancy of reaching the waters edge; of finding true love. Those relationships, which never find the water-front, serve as navigation lessons.
Tom M.
However, when that connection with another is found, the details of life are suddenly much clearer, the colors are more vibrant and the rough and uneven rocks are covered by water and one feels an effortless floating sensation. Love.
However, when that connection with another is found, the details of life are suddenly much clearer, the colors are more vibrant and the rough and uneven rocks are covered by water and one feels an effortless floating sensation. Love.
Alyssa M.
New year, new start
As the last ten minutes of New Year’s Eve finally arrives, the countdown to 2008 officially begins and the reality that 2007 is over starts to sink in. What thoughts are running through your head? Is it filled with expectations, hopes, and dreams? Or is it possible you have a long list of do’s and don’ts for the upcoming weeks? Like the blank pages in a book, a new year symbolizes a fresh start in a person’s life. It holds so many wondrous opportunities for the endless possibilities that are waiting to be taken. It’s a chance to gather all the knowledge you’ve gained from your past mistakes, and use it to help you grow into a wiser and improved new being.
New year, new start
As the last ten minutes of New Year’s Eve finally arrives, the countdown to 2008 officially begins and the reality that 2007 is over starts to sink in. What thoughts are running through your head? Is it filled with expectations, hopes, and dreams? Or is it possible you have a long list of do’s and don’ts for the upcoming weeks? Like the blank pages in a book, a new year symbolizes a fresh start in a person’s life. It holds so many wondrous opportunities for the endless possibilities that are waiting to be taken. It’s a chance to gather all the knowledge you’ve gained from your past mistakes, and use it to help you grow into a wiser and improved new being.
Alyssa M.
With each and every step you take, your loved ones will follow closely behind, making sure you don’t stumble along the way. Just as the spine of a book prevents the pages from falling apart, your family and friends are your ultimate support system, keeping you together in one piece especially in your times of need. The new year is a time to close that chapter to your past and open a new book of opportunities filled with crisp, blank pages that are waiting to be filled with the next twelve month’s worth of stories, thoughts, feelings, and memories. And suddenly, before you know it, the clock strikes midnight. It’s finally 2008! And that can only mean one thing- time to let go, time to stand up, and time to start anew.
With each and every step you take, your loved ones will follow closely behind, making sure you don’t stumble along the way. Just as the spine of a book prevents the pages from falling apart, your family and friends are your ultimate support system, keeping you together in one piece especially in your times of need. The new year is a time to close that chapter to your past and open a new book of opportunities filled with crisp, blank pages that are waiting to be filled with the next twelve month’s worth of stories, thoughts, feelings, and memories. And suddenly, before you know it, the clock strikes midnight. It’s finally 2008! And that can only mean one thing- time to let go, time to stand up, and time to start anew.
Benjamin M.
Merced, struggling for identity as it loses its agriculture and becomes another bedroom for the Bay Area and Los Angeles to fight over, surges and rescinds with hope as the UC brings its culture to the community. As the UC changes, Merced’s identity dies and is reborn, in dynamic lockstep; as Merced’s identity forms, it shapes the UC.
Merced, struggling for identity as it loses its agriculture and becomes another bedroom for the Bay Area and Los Angeles to fight over, surges and rescinds with hope as the UC brings its culture to the community. As the UC changes, Merced’s identity dies and is reborn, in dynamic lockstep; as Merced’s identity forms, it shapes the UC.
Benjamin M.
Change is a dynamic process. This appears in the subtle language that Merced speaks – in its hidden corners of music and art, in the landscape of churches that compete with business for commercial space. In our town, change is experienced as a hope that fades and surges. It is what is fundamentally distressing about the early spring – the confused tangle of life amidst death. The farmers in Merced know that the essence of change can be felt in the ground that they inexorably lose.
It is life and death interacting. Creation and entropy. Change is free energy become matter – captured for a beautiful instant in life, before finding free form again. Change is a glimpse at eternity.
Change is a dynamic process. This appears in the subtle language that Merced speaks – in its hidden corners of music and art, in the landscape of churches that compete with business for commercial space. In our town, change is experienced as a hope that fades and surges. It is what is fundamentally distressing about the early spring – the confused tangle of life amidst death. The farmers in Merced know that the essence of change can be felt in the ground that they inexorably lose.
It is life and death interacting. Creation and entropy. Change is free energy become matter – captured for a beautiful instant in life, before finding free form again. Change is a glimpse at eternity.
Nino P.
“The contrast between childhood and adulthood is often a clear cut line.” At least that is what I often thought to myself. I still have the same eyes I had back then. A different perspective but I am still the same. The only thing that “changed” was my surroundings. It’s not like I have forgotten my childhood, I still hold it as one of my most precious memories. It was back then, that the skies were the most blue and all clouds had their silver linings. But time has a funny way of changing us. Before I knew it the blue skies began to disappear and the Sun started to be replaced by fluorescent lightings that protruded out of the white ceilings.
“The contrast between childhood and adulthood is often a clear cut line.” At least that is what I often thought to myself. I still have the same eyes I had back then. A different perspective but I am still the same. The only thing that “changed” was my surroundings. It’s not like I have forgotten my childhood, I still hold it as one of my most precious memories. It was back then, that the skies were the most blue and all clouds had their silver linings. But time has a funny way of changing us. Before I knew it the blue skies began to disappear and the Sun started to be replaced by fluorescent lightings that protruded out of the white ceilings.
Nino P.
Although the surroundings have changed I am still the same. The library may have replaced the playground but I have not yet replaced the playground with the library. The lights that dangle from the ceiling are my new swings. The staircase that extends from the second to the fourth floor are my new slides. The chairs with wheels have replaced… Ok so I don’t know what they have replaced but they are tons of fun to play around with. And if I get kicked out of the library, the playground is only down Lake Road anyway.
Although the surroundings have changed I am still the same. The library may have replaced the playground but I have not yet replaced the playground with the library. The lights that dangle from the ceiling are my new swings. The staircase that extends from the second to the fourth floor are my new slides. The chairs with wheels have replaced… Ok so I don’t know what they have replaced but they are tons of fun to play around with. And if I get kicked out of the library, the playground is only down Lake Road anyway.
Kathryn P.
The philosophy of I-ching is centered around change, and the idea that because everything in the universe is perpetually changing, we must cultivate our own flexibility so that we may be well equipped to deal with the variability of situations which we will face in our lifetime. What is most striking to me is the concept of constant change. Nothing remains the same, even if it is just the context of time which has changed around it. The only inconsistent thing about change is the connotation that it bares.
Is change good or bad? The answer may be that it is situational, however I think that endorsing any qualitative judgment on a concept as pervasive as change stigmatizes a phenomena that cannot be stopped. Change, in my eyes, is neither good nor bad. It simply is change. That is not to say that change may not elicit a negative or positive response, because it definitely does, yet change itself doesn’t require a value judgment.
The philosophy of I-ching is centered around change, and the idea that because everything in the universe is perpetually changing, we must cultivate our own flexibility so that we may be well equipped to deal with the variability of situations which we will face in our lifetime. What is most striking to me is the concept of constant change. Nothing remains the same, even if it is just the context of time which has changed around it. The only inconsistent thing about change is the connotation that it bares.
Is change good or bad? The answer may be that it is situational, however I think that endorsing any qualitative judgment on a concept as pervasive as change stigmatizes a phenomena that cannot be stopped. Change, in my eyes, is neither good nor bad. It simply is change. That is not to say that change may not elicit a negative or positive response, because it definitely does, yet change itself doesn’t require a value judgment.
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