For this assignment each member of the class was asked to choose 5 objects in their possession to photograph. Because we are in college, the objects that I have recognizes as important to me are objects such as sweatshirts, shoes and jewelry. I looked through my room in hopes to find objects that stood out to be considerably important to me that I could photograph.
The first most important object to me at school is my bed. For my entire life I have always considered my bed to be a safe and calming space for me. Coming to college I was worried about having a bed that i wasn’t used to or wasn’t comfortable sleeping in, but to my surprise i have adjusted to it very well. It was my goal to make it as similar to my bed at home, which was easy because they are the same size. I decided to buy duplicate sets of the bedding that i had at home to replicate the feeling and comfort. When I was deciding to make my bed an important object to me I went back and fourth in my head whether or not i should make my bed look perfect. As shown, I decided against changing the way it looked because it didn’t show the reality of what it always looks like. I shared my object in the most natural form.
The second item that is very important to me is the ring I wear on my left middle finger everyday. In 2015 my grandfather passed away and we all visited my grandmother to help her and each other cope with the grief of his death. He was very interested in playing card competitively and for every game and tournament he would attend he wore this ring on his pinky finger. As a young girl I had always recognized it and asked to have the same one and I would always get the response of “one day”. As a Christmas present the following year my grandmother had wrapped the ring in a little box and given it to me. As a teenager my Mom would let me wear it for special events with the fear of me losing it. When we decided that I was old enough and mature enough for the responsibility she told me to take care of it and let me take it to college where I have worn it every single day with the thoughts of my grandfather looking over me. When deciding how to take and frame this picture I experimented with it on my hand and on my desk, but I struggled with making it the focus of the photo. After taking a number of photos I was able to capture it as the main focus of the photo instead of my chipped and half painted fingernails. This picture specifically caught my attention with the light reflection on the eye. The shine of the reflection reminded me of my early memories of the ring and its importance to me.
Another item that is important to me is my sorority sweatshirt, because it represents the organization that I have recently joined as a second semester freshman. The object represents the relationships and bonds between me and my peers. Joining a sorority was important to me because I spent my first semester having difficulty branching out of my comfort zones and finding a close group of friends. After being offered the opportunity to be apart of a close knit sisterhood I have met many friends that i would not have been able to reach out to on my own. I decided to position the sweatshirt on my floor to make sure that the entire design was visible, and I used the hood and sleeve to add the presence of texture into the photo.
At first glance people look at these shoes and think they are dirty and disgusting, but these are shoes that have literally brought me to where and who I am today. As a sophomore in high school I bought these shoes as a form of retail therapy after going through a very difficult time in my life. I proceeded to wear these shoes almost every single day for the remainder of my high school career. I have memories of my dad and I cleaning them with bleach on a warm weekend afternoon and the time my best friend spilled her bright red 7/11 Slurpee all over the left foot. These shoes have carried both me and my many friends to borrow them through difficult and good times which makes them impossible for me to get rid of. I decided to photograph them next to one another while they are uncleaned because it shows the wear and tear of white sneakers. The edits and changes that I made to this picture shows the worn white color and the effects of bleach on the white canvas. I used this angle because it captured both the inside and outside of the shoes which show the rips and wear on the heels of the show.
The final object that is very important to me is a sweatshirt that I obtained during high school and has become one of my favorite clothing articles that I own. Although I never bought this sweatshirt or played for Gilman’s all boys lacrosse team, it reminds me more of home than most clothing that i brought to school with me. Almost everyone from my hometown and high school friend group has worn or had this sweatshirt at some point during their life. During high school my friends and I would watch the Gilman lacrosse games from the hill or from the running track in between interval sets. We were their biggest fans and these sweatshirts became a traveling hoodie between us all. At the end of high school almost all of us had one that we could take to school at the end of the summer. I decided to capture the hoodie in this way because you can notice the shape of the object as well as the reason it because important to me. I included the neck line of the hoodie because it shows the wear and discoloration from continuous use over the past few years.
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