WP1: Statement of Purpose

One of the overall themes of this class is the idea that all things can be considered "texts" and therefore all things also contain some sort of rhetorical meaning. For this first writing project, i am exploring the rhetorical techniques and strategies used behind photographs in particular. I am an architecture major and have an interest in large buildings, so I chose a documentary photograph which seemed to reflect these interests. It is entitled Barcelona Nights and was taken this summer by Liam McAllister. The photo consists of two very popular buildings in barcelona, the Hotel Arts and Torre Mapfre, as well as some palm trees, a few other short buildings and some bright street lights. It is my opinion that this photograph and the way in which it is composed, has the particular goal of acting as a reflection of the local culture itself.
The primary audience to which I will be arguing this point will be my teacher, however it is also important to consider possible secondary audiences because this project will be published online and available for anyone to see. The most likely secondary audience would be my other classmates. Keeping these audiences in mind, I will compose my project in a manner in which the ethos, pathos and logos will appeal to both My teacher and fellow classmates. This means I need to make sure I use language from the book to establish credibility with the teacher and I need to make sure all of my ideas are well developed so even my classmates can see where I am trying to go with them.
The next important thing to remember while writing will be the medium in which I am creating this text. As an online blog post, I need to take into account that my work is going to be read and interpreted from a computer screen as opposed to the pages of a book. This may mean altering spacing, wording, or sentence structure to make it more eye friendly when viewed from a monitor. This also means that I can and should incorporate elements such as hyperlinks, photos, and other multimedia items to help convey my point.
The context of this project is also an important thing to consider. By context, I mean the situation in which my work is or will be viewed. Although my project will be online for awhile, the most important context to consider is the fact that this will be turned in online, as a class project. It is to be reviewed and graded by my instructor, late in the first semester. He will likely be grading many other projects at the same general time, so it is a possibility that attitudes formed by other classmate's projects may reflect onto the grading of mine. This means that it may be advantageous for me to try to write my project in some sort of unique, yet acceptable style, so it can sort of "stand out from the crowd."
The idea I want any audience to take away after reading this paper will be that the city of Barcelona becomes a completely different place at night than it is during the daytime. How during the day, the beach, small shops, parks and marinas may be the center of attention but at night, they almost dissapear into the shadows of the highly urbanized nightlife. I plan on mainly focusing the analysis in my paper on the lighting teniques used in this documentary photograph which convey this point.

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.