Photography is a strong form of storytelling. Many people agree with the saying “A picture is worth a thousand words,” and for good reason. Sometimes when talking to someone or writing something, words can not quite express what a person is trying to say. However, a photograph is able to convey emotion and a series of events with a single image. Thy can be used to capture moments or tell tales in such a variety of ways and that’s without editing. Using editing programs on photographs, people are able to convey something that perhaps does not exist in real life, like how a building will look on an empty plot, or a scene like a dream. I chose to tell the simple story of life with a dog. I have had my puppy for less than a yet, and he is my first dog. Before then, I had no clue what life with a dog was like. I wanted to share some of the emotions and stories of life with my pup, Alfie.
I loved executing this project simply because I loved documenting the little moments I saw with Alfie. From sleeping to playing to cuddling, there were so many fleeting moments I missed just because I didn’t constantly have a camera ready. However, the moments I did capture were representative of the moments I enjoyed. In this series, the picture I think was the “best” was the silly picture of my fiance moving Alfie’s lips away to show his little teeth in the middle. It is such a fun image and so indicative of the funny little moments we have with our dog. Overall, I thought the images told a good story of the moments a person sees when they have a dog. One of the weaker images I believe is the one of Alfie sitting in the upright position looking off to the side. As a photo, it is not the most exciting form of composition, but as a part of the story, it shows the silly things our dog will let us do with him, like sit him straight up.
If I were to do something different with this photo series, I would include more of the mundane images, like feeding him, taking him out to the bathroom, or the veterinarian visits. For this series, I wanted to emphasize the little happy moments we sometimes take for granted. As a dog owner, there’s the “puppy phase” when we are all absorbed in everything a dog does. As time passes, there’s some disinterest in every little moment. It is normal for interest to fade, as it does with most things, but I wanted to showcase little moments that happen often that are taken for granted. For example, the photos of Alfie sleeping show two different instances. One, where he is all snuggled up and looking peaceful and happy and the other where his eyes are half open and he looks silly with the whites of his eyes showing. It is something I felt I could share that maybe someone without a dog would find sweet or funny, and that was one of the objectives of this series.
Other photo stories I would like to tell are the struggles of living paycheck to paycheck. For that to happen, I would have to have access and permission to photograph other peoples’ lives to get a true representation of the situations people go through. Although me and my fiance live paycheck to paycheck, we have a unique advantage in that we are living with my parents in a fairly comfortable home and my mom still cooks for us every once in a while and we are able to use their groceries, appliances, and resources. For someone not in our position, the reality of living paycheck to paycheck looks very different from our reality. In order to tell the story of struggling families, I would want to adequately express the true struggles people go through having to make rent, pay for their own groceries, and even support their family. A photo series is a powerful tool to be able to portray this reality.
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