Post 10: Research

The photograph I chose, Barcelona Nights, was taken this year on may 26th. It is located in Barcelona, Spain. Sense I felt that the center of attention in the photo was the two buildings, it is important to find out alittle more about the purpose and history of them. The two tall buildings in the center of the photo are the Hotel Arts, and the Torre Mapfre. Both are located just across the street from the Mol de Xaloc Marina. The torre Mapfre is known as one of the cities most famous buildings. It is 154 meters in height (40 stories), has a facade composed of granite and stainless steel, and includes a helipad on the roof. The Torre Mapfre is used mostly for commercial purposes, however, it also includes an observation platform ans well as several bars at ground level. Right next to it, is the Hotel Arts which is located in the Marina Village in Barcelona. It is also 154 meters in height but its design is much more comprised of aluminum. As the name implies, its main use is a hotel, but also includes a fitness center, casino, shops and a restaurant. When looking at the function of these two buildings, one may assume that they have no real relationship to each other, but If one looks at the fact that they are the exact same height and located right across the street from each other, it can be inferred that the architects intended for the buildings to share some sort of relationship to each other. Both buildings are of great importance to the city of Barcelona, one for its businesses and the other for tourism. Going back to the photograph, The fact that these two buildings seem to be of top importance of the visual hierarchy, possibly reflects the real life importance of the structures to Barcelona, or at least the value of them in the eyes of the photographer. The lighting in the photo forms a triangle and directs some attention to the top of the buildings, this may be draw attention to the matching heights of the buildings. Since the Hotel Arts includes restaurants and a casino, it makes sense that this area in general would often be a very popular place at night time, matching with the title of the photo. The contrast of light in the photo may be trying to represent that at night, attention is drawn from the dark area, the shore, and towards these to buildings in the center of the triangle of light.

Post 9:2nd pre-write

For this post, I will focus more on the technical aspects of the photograph "Barcelona Nights" that I briefly discussed in post eight. In my opinion, the main vectors of attention in the Barcelona Nights photograph are the two high rise buildings near the center of piece. I feel this way because In addition to the buildings being centered, they also form the peak of an apparent triangle as well as heavily contrast with the illuminated night sky. Everything else in the photo seems relatively short in stature and doesn't really stand out of the darkness. In the photo to the right,if you look closely, you can see the same two buildings a ways down the coastline. In this photo neither of those buildings command anywhere near the same amount of attention. In terms of logos, if the photographer did indeed wish for the two buildings two be the center of attention, centering them in the piece automatically creates a balance and hierarchy that is very easy for any audience member to follow. For pathos, I believe the photographer relied on the lighting to set a "mood" in the piece. For example, when most people see light, they feel some sense of energy, so naturally, having light encompassing these two buildings implies that there is a certain energy about these buildings at night time. I feel this point also drifts abit into the rhetorical appeal of Barcelona Nights. Bright lights two both sides and the top of the two buildings form an apparent triangle figure, which appears to be funneling light from the peak of the buildings down to the city below. I believe that the intended rhetorical appeal is something to the effect of how the large commercialism or tourism factor in Barcelona is what keeps the city going or fuels it through "nights" or the dark times. Reffering back to the photo I put up on this post, I think it is important to remember that these two buildings, while tall, usually dont stand out that much with respect to barcelonas massive coast, especially during the day. The Use of black and White as the only colors in Barcelona Nights, could possibly be used as a means to express a sort of simplicity reffering to the fundamental or driving force of the city itself.

Post 8: Photo Project

For my first writing project, I am choosing to examine this documentary photograph. Its title is Barcelona Nights and it was taken by Liam McAllister, may 25 of this year. The main reason I choose this photo origionally is because all my life I have been interested in sky scraper type buildings, and one day, as an architect, I hope to build them myself. I feel that the main focal point of this photograph is the to tall buildings. They are located in the center of the photograph, create a contrast with the relatively flat surroundings, and also apear to form the mid point of a triangle with two other bright points in the composition. As far as subject matter goes, this photograph contains two tall buildings, some bright street lights, multiple palm trees, and then a few small maybee one story buildings. Another major component of this photo is that it is taken in black and white. This photo was taken this year, so the reason for greystyle is obvioulsy because the author chose for it to be that way, not because of a lack of technology. As a result, the photo is sort of divided into two different sections, what is iluminated, and what is not. Beings as the title of this piece is "Barcelona Nights," it is possible that the author is using this proticular color scheme to draw attention to what he feels is important at night in barcelona. There is even a large part of the photo where you cant even see what is there due to the darkness. Another interesting contrast in this piece is that everything, besides the two buildings, appears to be very low to the ground and dark in color. While this strategy might be used to draw further attention to the buildings, it could also have ambiguous meaning. For example, this could be saying that the small town, beach lifestyle is being overshadowed and over looked due to the large urbanization of the area. I will attempt to explore these ideas further in my upcoming project.

Past Experience with Photography

My past experience with photography has only been the typical take random pictures with my phone and occasionally use a digital camera on vacation. It has never been what i'd call a "hobby" of mine, but I still do place value in obtaining good pictures, specially in memorable moments. Id say my favorite pictures Ive ever taken would be photos of the rocky mountains when I go snowboarding. To me, mountains are the most incredible thing visually in the world, due to there massive size and magic appearance. Another time I have enjoyed taking pictures was when I lived in Australia. I knew I wasnt going to be there forever, and everything seemed so unique and new, so I wanted to make sure that I would have a way to remember how great the experience was. I was only in 5th grade at the time, so none of my pictures were that great, but I had the opportunity to take pictures of things that most people will never have the opportunity to see in their lifetimes. For example, I used an underwater camera to take pictures at the great barrier reef, I took pictures from the bottom of a 300 foot waterfall in the rainforest, I have a picture om me with 3 parrots on my shoulders, I took pictures of the opening and closing ceremonies during the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, ect. I guess in a way, having captured some of these special experiences through photography is what makes me value it because im sure I would not remember my time in Australia nearly as well without all my pictures from there. The last way I would say that I use photography quite abit would be for things like facebook. Although these are rarely high quality or meaningful pictures, they often reflect just what is going on in my life at that time. I still feel like im close to some of my friends from highschool because I can see whats going on in their lives and they can see whats going on in mine.

Blog post #6: Music Video Logos

Logos refers to the structure or logic behind an argument. In my previous couple blog post I reflected on the rhetoric and strategies used in the mucic video, Become the Bull, by Atreyu. In analyzing the logos in this video, I feel it is important to think about the relationship between the video itself and the lyrics of the song. The first thing I noticed with the structure is that there is a consistent switching back and fourth in the video between the people running from the bull and the band performing. This really builds on the lyrics, "back and fourth, the struggle consumes us all," because it uses structure in the video to match the words of the song. This also works to create a contrast. For example, when the audience has more than one thing to follow going on in the video, more focus is drawn to the consistent lyrics of the song. Because of this, I really feel that Atrayu wanted the lyrics, not the video to be the main focal point of the audience. The video is also almost completely filmed in black and white, which also draws less attention to the visual aspect of the video. If one looks at the relationship between the video and the song and how it appeals to reason, You see a mob of people that appear to be running from a bull. At the end of the video, it is revealed that they were actually the ones charging towards the band. In terms of reason this can be viewed as a metaphor referring to the lyrics, " become the bull." It is also important to consider why atreyu chooses to spend such a large portion of the video focusing on them performing. With respect to logos, as I stated earlier, atrayu is trying to draw focus to the lyrics of the song, through this video, so when time is spent watching the band speak the words, at least in my mind I pay much more attention to what is being said. The band's facial expressions and body language also help to more effectively convey their message. Finally, I felt that the main purpose of the video is to simplify what was being said. "Become the Bull," can be interpreted many different ways and I feel that the band uses this video to logically show the audience what they mean. The story in the video consists of basically people who look terrified of something, running through the streets, and at the end of the video they all stop. Naturally I think the message this sends is, "Stop running." I think the message Atreyu is trying to send is stop running from your problems, and take control of them.