Photo Essay- Symbolic Action -Women Wearing Jewelry

Jewelry.  In some cultures and lifestyles, jewelry is a girl's best friend.  Wearing jewelry that looks expensive could symbolize higher class or wearing something that seems older looking could mean it was from a family member or an antique shop. And any type of jewelry could have a deep meaning to it.  But jewelry is the symbolic form of beauty.  Women wear jewelry to feel beautiful.  It attracts the eye and gains attention.  There are also many different ways that women wear jewelry.

  One way women wear jewelry is by completely covering themselves with it.  You can hear a women coming before you see her with all of the jewelry she is wearing  and the way it clangs together.

Other ways women wear jewelry is by only wearing the least amount that they can.  Some women don't want to be overly flashy or stand out so they wear just enough to make themselves feel gorgeous, while still blending in the surroundings.

There are also times when women don't wear jewelry at all.  Sometimes women feel that they don't need jewelry to feel beautiful and that naturally they are confident and feel gorgeous all on their own.  Also, women are sometimes just lazy and forget to put the jewelry they usually wear on before leaving the house.

There are times where women only wear jewelry to special kinds of occasions and events.  For example, weddings or parties or any type of celebration.  While some women wear jewelry everywhere and everyday no matter where they go.  There are so many reasons women wear jewelry and one reason why I wear this necklace in the picture above is because this necklace belonged to my great Aunt Margaret.  She and I were very close and wearing this necklace reminds me of her everyday.  So women have their own reasons to wear jewelry, whether it be an everyday occurrence or only once in a while or to remember a loved one or family member.  Wearing jewelry  can symbolizes beauty and personality.

America, Seen Through Photographs, Darkly-Susan Sontag

 In this essay, Susan Sontag talked about many famous photographers and other artists. A few that caught my interest are:

• Edward Steichen: He was able to take a photo of an everyday object or a place or person and make it beautiful even if normally it is not.
• Walker Evans and Alfred Stieglitz: The two people captured the "real thing".  They stayed with the poor farmers and learned their hardships.  They lived the life of the farmer and took that back to show the world.
• Diane Arbus: Arbus' photos create almost a world within a world.  A place where people who don't exactly fit into the "Norm" in society can go and live freely.
• Walt Whitman: Similar to Edward Steichen, Whitman could take an "ugly" picture but in the way he took the "ugliness" seemed meaningful and beautiful.
• All these photographers are able to create importance and meaning with their photography.  They make people look and make people care just by taking a picture at the right moment.

A Guide To The Unexpected Candid

Thesis Statements

William Eggleston's work captures the social and cultural aspects of life in the south by giving off a sense of loneliness in a world full of color and life.

"A pictures says a thousand words." Whether Eggleston wanted too or not he told a story through his photography and in that story he captures the social and cultures aspects of life in the south.

Susan Sontag refers to photography as a way of life, and Eggleston shows life in his photography. In a way photography can be classified as an open door to a world where a picture is more important than the real thing. Where people spend more time photographing an object rather than admiring and absorbing the beauty of the object itself.

Helen Levitt

Helen Levitt

Born: August 31, 1913

Lived in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn.

Dropped out of High School her senior year and started working for J. Florian Mitchell, a portrait photographer in the Bronx.

Her first camera was a Voigtlander and she would shoot photos of her mother's friends.

In 1935 she met Cartier Bresson and accompanied him on a photo-shoot along the
Brooklyn waterfront.

She began training herself as a photographer at museums and galleries.

Fortune Magazine was the first to publish one of Levitt's photographs in 1939.

The next year one of her pictures was included in an exhibit at the inaugural exhibition of the Museum of Modern Art.

1943 she had her first solo showing of her photographs at the same museum.

She lived a long live and recently passed away at the age of 95.

Photo Essay

While looking at Eggleston's photos I recognized a pattern.  I saw memories. Eggleston's memories.  I feel that in his photography he shows his audience what his life was like.  He shows important people and places and things that might have reminded him of his childhood.  This is why I chose to post a picture of my music box.  This music box was given to me as a young girl and I would play the music over and over until I fell asleep at night. This is an important memory to me that I captured to remind me of my past.