Sounds

I wanted to write this before I forgot...

I've been thinking about the way my source would sound if it were a noise - and you know when you're in a packed auditorium or resturaunt, and everyone is talking, but you somehow manage to hear one conversation clearly. That's what my source would sound like, the conversation that stands out in a room full of numerous other conversations.

I was also thinking that if it were music, it would probably be an instrumental - most likely foreign sounding, or something that you wouldn't normally think to listen to unless someone suggested it.

Source Project

From doing this assignment I learned that communicating my source was a lot harder than I thought it would be. I realized that what it comes down to is that it really is just things that inspire me. I just like random things - the way light posts line up, the way the wind might blow open a newspaper that was thrown on the side walk, the interesting physical features of a person, etc. I was apprehensive to take new pictures for this project because I didn't want to be trying too hard. So I looked through boxes of old pictures that I've taken over the last five years and found pictures that I felt showed what I was getting at.

The second hardest part was figuring out how to present them. I thought of putting them into a collage, but I didn't want to cut up the pictures in case I thought of something better to do with them. Finally, I just decided to mount them on black poster board because I wanted to show that there was no vague, hidden message. I just like things...

Sand Mandala Response

The the design that was created symbolized compassion. Each color incorporated in the design represents one of the four elements. The green makes a fifth element - space.


The monk made designs with a toothpick in the sand. Just before I left, he started to fill in the design with red sand.

These are the offerings that were placed on the altar. On the wall behind the table were textiles with the image of the Buddha on them.


Before the monk started constructing the sand mandala, he talked to the group about what Buddhism is about. He said that Buddhism teaches about ending the suffering in your life by learning how to be content with the things that you have, showing compassion towards other people, and living your life in the present moment - don't focus on the things you should have done, and don't think about things that are too far ahead in the future. Which is a roundabout way of saying happiness is found within yourself, and not the material objects the world has to offer.

I agree a lot with the Buddhist teachings. I think a person can only be happy by making the changes that they want to see in themselves. I learned a little about Buddhism last year and one of the teachings that change is neutral, the person who is experiencing the change makes it a positive or a negative. From personal experience, I've become a happier person keeping this in mind.

Photos Illustrating Time Based Concepts (Part B from 2/12/07)

These three pictures illustrates a duration of time. The poses show that time is going by slowly.

Wide shot

Close up

My Inspiration

My very first inspiration to even pick up a camera came from my family. My dad is a woodworker, and a lot of the furniture in the house was made by him. My grandmother is a painter and there are various paintings of my brother and I hanging in my mom's house. Various other relatives have (or have had) a profession involving art; graphic design, ballet, and music. One of my cousins graduated from MassArt a few years ago, and another cousin is graduating this semester. Both of my parents have always encouraged my brother and I to do the things that make us happy, all within reason, of course. Having constant exposure to artists, and constant support for my own art, has been a true inspiration to even want to pursue a career in photography.

As far as creating artwork goes, I feel that art is very theraputic and one of the things that inspires me is the things that I don't want to talk about. I find that my artwork is more true to my emotions, in the respect that I am not always willing to let people see on my face and in my actions the things I feel. One specific thing that inspired me to create art as my parent's divorce two years ago. I found that I wasn't willing to let it show that it was something that was on my mind and bothering me. So a lot of my art began to reflect what I was feeling, just to get the emotions out so that I could move on. Which is a long winded way of saying I'm inspired by my emotions to my life experiences.

When it comes to my photography, I'm inspired by life's minor details. My english professor wears black shoes with blue shoelaces. The first time I noticed, I obsessed over it until I got a chance to write it down. I think that it's because of this, my pictures are "documentations of objects" as I was told last semester. I write a lot, just the things I see and whatnot, and I treat photography as a quicker way to jot down my observations. I just like having a documentation of things I've, and I'm not sure why.

A third inspiration comes from my longtime fascination with foreign cultures and languages - primarily those from Asia. For as long as I can remember I have been curious to know how people in other parts of the world live. My high school offered Khmer as one of their language courses, and I took that for three years. One of my friends is Indian and a couple summers ago she went to visit her family in Tamil, India. She brought back a lot of pictures, clothing, and jewelry, and all I could think about looking through the pictures and whatnot was, "I have to go there." Some day I really hope I can go to Cambodia and/or India, or any foreign country for that matter, and photograph the things I see.