I’ve always been a huge fan of photography and have been trying to perfect my picture taking skills for years, hence, I am absolutely infatuated with the concept of image blogs. In my opinion, image blogs are similar to going to the portrait gallery in Washington DC, but being able to experience it from the comfort of my own home. Sometimes an image may not tell a story, it may be just about sharing, capturing or harnessing an image that is beautiful, unique, or intriguing. Furthermore, images that are designed to tell a story, don’t always tell a distinctive tale. The image may provide many different narratives, regardless of the capturer’s intended theme, depending on who is viewing it.
I immensely enjoyed researching the image blogs and of the ones in this module, Red Rule was awesome and definitely my 2nd favorite image blog! What a way to harness the amazing blessing of color perception and differentiation! It would be interesting to make a comparison between these photos and a group of photos with a different color theme such as, black, purple, or yellow. Would these colors stand out as prominently and as strikingly as the color red does? Another interesting way to use these photos would definitely be in the art education arena especially to discuss how color affects line and symmetry and perspective in photography or other art. These photos could be used as an activity to test to whether the color red always stands out first as the most noticeable in each image or whether things like, placement or different shades of red, contrasting colors, or other aspects of the photo determine red’s vibrancy or lackluster effect. Even further, these photos could be analyzed to search for pictures, shapes or other subtle images within the pictures. The possibilities for usefulness of this image blog are perhaps, endless, in my opinion. I’ve started visiting it on a daily basis!
The Plants and animals image blog was interesting, as well, and yet another favorite. I thoroughly relish capturing images of the plant world myself, so I could appreciate the images in this image blog. The photographs were indeed quite a dazzling display of splendor. In a classroom setting, the flower images could easily be used to analyze similarities and differences in the plant world.
Fliction is an ingenious way of telling stories of events through images, which I appreciated greatly. The individual posting the image doesn’t have to do much, except post a picture and see what people have to say about it! In the same way that a dance piece or a piece of artwork at a museum generates plenty of dialogue, a good amount of discussion can come from looking at digital images. For instance, some dialogue surrounding the Jane Goodall Camp image blog might bring up topics such as, the importance of paying close attention to detail, being meticulous, or thoroughly researching a project. The fliction images forced to me to think creatively, and I enjoyed that!
Knitting/spinning was an image blog that was not part of the suggested image blogs for my class, however, it turned out to be my favorite! From the title, one probably wouldn’t imagine that the images they would find here would be all that interesting. However, the photos are actually quite stunning. Knitting/spinning is an example of how a person can take a simple idea, a simple item, a simple image, and transform it into something extraordinary. Strategic placement of the items, lighting, and even the use of line symmetry greatly enhances the colors, the shapes, and aesthetic perfection of the items in these images You wouldn’t think that images of yarn and knitting stitches could be such a visual delicacy. And when I say visual delicacy, I mean the previous statement almost literally, as the photo in this particular image is so visually stimulating that it appears almost edible! I think that an interesting way to use these photos in a classroom would be to think outside the box and imagine other things that the photos appear to represent, in a way similar to the picture book, It Looked Like Spilt Milk by Charles Shaw. For instance, the photo above kind of reminds me of a plate of pasta. :)
Ansel Adams would probably be excited about image blogs if he were living today, as he once said, "A photograph is usually looked at - seldom looked into." I believe the ways in which individuals of the 21st century are utilizing the art of image blogging, somewhat fulfills the art of "looking into" photos.
