Adbusting

The ability for an advertiser to influence popular beliefs and undermine critical thinking is arguably the greatest asset in attempting to promote a product or brand.  Many companies do this regularly, causing individuals in society to believe that performance and livelihood can be improved by simply purchasing the right brand.  This is especially prevalent when advertising for sporting goods, as the producer of the good must convince people that their brand is worth buying over myriad others.  In my opinion, Nike has established an advertisement presence greater than nearly any other sports brand by individually targeting male and female children and young adults alike.  This print ad features Lebron James in mid-jump, presumably about to dunk the basketball, and asserts that any spectator wants the dunk to happen, so much so that he or she will scream with anticipation.  This is predicated by the fact that the observer will notice not only the incredible athletic feat, but also the brand that labels the basketball players main third-party asset - his or her shoes. 

This all comes together and targets those young boys and men who watch the sport and recognize the skill and talent required to be good at basketball, as it is implied that James is a great player with the will and ability to win games.  The audience then is given the impression that the brand and style of shoes that Lebron James wears have great impact on his skill as a player, equal to if not greater than the hours of practice and experience.  This means that a male observing this ad should purchase Nike brand sportswear if he wants to become a more competent athlete without any real training.  I wanted to undermine this assertion and illustrate that Nike is effectively telling consumers what to think and eliciting an emotion that will result in product sales - an end result that supersedes Nike's support of a winning team or great athlete.  This was accomplished most by slightly altering the most well-known Nike trademark, "Just do it" and making a more realistic phrase, "Just buy it".

Documentary Photo - One Hellenic Night

America is unique in that it is a country not limited to definition by any single ancestry; instead, it is a veritable melting pot of culture and ethnicity.  One of the great things about this aspect of America is that individuals from myriad ethnic backgrounds are able to share their heritage, customs, and beliefs with literally anyone.  One such instance of cultural crossover that takes place every year in Tucson is the Greek Festival, hosted by St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church.  Here every person with Hellenic association, from first generation Greek-Americans to converts with no recorded Greek blood, share their love and pride for the Greek culture.  Some of the main attractions at the festival are the Hellenic dance troupes,  comprised of young children and old teens alike, who perform authentic Greek Dances.  These dances provide an amazing forum for exploring culture, as each troupe will often represent a different region within Greece through its dances, and as such a different aspect of the overall Hellenic culture.  Even if individuals do not have time to participate in the dance troupe program, they are still welcome to dance and contribute to the festivities.  This extends to everyone who attends the festival, as the troupe dancers will give scheduled and impromptu lessons to anyone that wants to learn and dance with friends in front of a live band.  The end result is something not to be missed - a fantastic mingling of cultures built around jovial amicability and shared interests.    

Color

While taking these photos, I was trying to focus on the wealth of rich colors that can be attained both at night and during the day.  Because of this I have one shot in daylight and two at night, taken using a long exposure time.  In the day, I think a deep blue sky contrasts the brown wood and the green of the adjacent shrubbery.  At night, the lights of the nearby city and the passing cars illuminate the lower parts of the sky (and the photo) while the upper portions remain a rich dark blue, and the wood and metal of the large doors reflect this gradation as well.

Texture

There are many textures to explore in the natural world, and in my opinion some of the most interesting are those intrinsic in wood.  For each of these pictures there is at least a bit of emphasis on the grain of the wood that makes up the large doors which were the foci of my pictures.  In addition, there were many interesting patterns in the metal used to encase the wood, as it appeared hammered and distressed.  I tried to capture these but still keep an interesting picture by adjusting the focus and attempting to maintain image aspects like the rule of thirds.

Perspective

  

There are a lot of interesting pieces of art and architecture around Arizona, and this is always one of my favorites when I pass by it.  I chose to take these pictures because of the variety of options for different angles and different styles of photo.  In addition, there were a great deal of reflective surfaces, which I think can add intrigue especially when there were so many pictures of the same object.  One of my favorites is the picture where the many different reflections are pointing in different directions up the length of the mirrored wall.