Document

For my Document project, I was planning to photograph/document the homes throughout the city of Milwaukee. Milwaukee is not the biggest city in the US but it definitely is larger than most and as a result, has many different, distinct neighborhoods. The types of homes (styles, age, quality), the neighborhoods, the properties the houses are on, all differ from area to area or may not be traditional houses but multi-family homes. Also, Milwaukee has been know for being one of the most segregated cities in the US, so I thought that documenting the different neighborhoods would be something interesting to capture. As I work on collecting these photos, I also plan to see how the houses in different areas become distinctively different in comparison to their proximity to one another which may be only a matter of blocks.  The areas I photographed were the North, NorthWest, West, South, and East sides and the most southern part of Milwaukee (near the Airport).  When I took the photographs and looked at them as a whole, I realized that the defined neighborhoods of Milwaukee did not necessarily change much in style.  The most noticeable changes were in the quality and/or ages of the homes.  When the changes did occur, it was not from neighborhood to neighborhood, but in a radial pattern.  The type/style of homes started out very similar to one another but then gradually changed as I traveled further away from central Milwaukee.  The houses in the NorthWest and most Southern part of Milwaukee turned out to be the most different from the other neighborhoods.  I would assume that these differences occurred in a radial pattern due to the year the homes were built; closer to Downtown the older the houses.  Though there was the occasional change in style in some areas, where homes would distinctively change in a matter of only a few blocks and then go back to the typical style in those areas.  My hopes were to document something visual interesting and also give a closer perspective of how diverse Milwaukee really is because we may not always pay that close attention to our surroundings when driving or may never have to go to a certain area of the city.  From documenting these homes, I learned of this radial pattern of how the house style changed and how different, yet similar, Milwaukee really is.  Please do not assume that this photographs are an accurate depiction of these neighborhoods.  These photographs are general samples of the homes in these areas and do not represent ALL the homes in those areas, but they do still give you a general idea of the changes that do occur in the homes/neighborhoods throughout Milwaukee.

Light

When look back over the photographs I took for the light assignment, I realized that what all the photographs had in common was Szarkowski’s “frame” concept. When searching for what objects to take a photograph of, I was selecting them, not conceiving them as Szarkowski describes. The photographs show the viewer what I intended them to see and nothing more. The frame of the photographs blocks out the surrounding areas, which are common, everyday settings, but the photographs themselves show something more isolated. The photograph of the light reflecting off the water and the cement looks appealing, but it is simply a puddle in a parking lot that would go unnoticed by many. The same applies to all the other chosen photographs. You cannot see the surroundings but only the way an everyday object is seen emphasized by light though my camera. I decided to go with a mid-day sun and a nighttime setting for the photographs to capture the differences of lighting during opposite parts of the day. The sun plays an important roll in the daytime photographs but at night, the moon or other unnatural light is the dominant light source. And to take a different direction of only exterior shots, I choose the light on the wall, which had an interesting look. I walk past this light everyday and never really noticed what it looked like before taking that photograph. Another concept Szarrkowski discussed was of “time.” I noticed this is the photograph of the flag. The flag is captured as being still. In reality, it was whipping around furiously. The photograph captures the flag but pauses time, taking away the effect of motion, which was not an issue with the other photographs. .

Photojournalism 232

Favorite Time of Day

My favorite time of would have to be the morning. As painful as it may be to wake up early all the time, I feel better about myself and the day ahead knowing that I haven't slept it away. If there would have to be a specific time period of the morning I would say it would be about 7:00am- 9:00am. I like the tranquility of the morning; it seems simple and calm when the sun is rising and not many people are out doing their daily routine yet. Unlike popular opinion, I am not partial to bright, clear sunny days but I do like the sun in the morning. So a sunny morning and a overcast/cloudy afternoon would sound good to me.