Photo Essay

Reflection

Overall I think I did very well on the Photo Essay.  I covered everything I wanted to cover that was both in my purpose statement and design plan.  I did everything that I said I was going to do.  I fully followed my design plan. I would have to say the photo essay was much easier to do after doing the design plan and the purpose statement.  Without those things I think that I would have been extremely lost.  Some parts that I really thought stood out was the theme I picked for all my slides.  To me and the people that peer reviewed my photo essay, we all though the slides kind of represented a birth certificate. I really enjoyed this project because it is personal to me and it was very fun. 

Design Plan

Design Plan

Medium and Production: I am using photographs to portray my message and essay.  Since my topic is “Why is Adoption Important” I am going to take pictures of my friend’s brothers and family to portray how helpful adoption is.  I need to figure out how and what kind of action shots to take in order to display this message.  I not only need to take pictures of the brothers, I need to take pictures of how they interact with their family, to show how much of an impact adoption has had on them.

Strategies:

Ethos:  For ethos I want to come across to the audience that I have a concern for this topic.  I don’t want the audience to view me as someone who is pushing this or an expert.  I want to come across as someone who is displaying my concern for this area.

Pathos: I want the audience to feel emotional about this photo essay.  I am hoping some of the pictures will appeal to them as happy and uplifting.  I also want the audience to sense a feeling of sadness when they think about all the other kids that don’t have a home.  I am hoping for these emotions to help make a change in this area.

Logos: For logos my essay is passed on persuasion.  I am going to put a picture of a happy young adopted boy in hopes to persuade the audience that adoption is in fact extremely important in this society.  I need to also make captions that sometimes contain facts about adoption.

Arrangement:

I’m going to use PowerPoint for my presentation.  I will have somewhere around 8 slides.  Some of the slides will contain more than one picture depending on the point I am trying to get across in the slide.  I don’t want to overdo it with the pictures because I want the audience to get my point and feel emotional without overwhelming them.  My first slide will be the title page.  My second slide will contain 2 photos.  My first photograph will be of Jimmy, which was the first son adopted from China.  My second picture will be of Jack, the second son adopted from China.  My third slide will be a picture of them together trying to portray the bond they have formed even though they aren’t blood related.  My fourth slide will be a an action shot of Jimmy to show the audience his everyday life.  My fifth slide will be a picture of Jack to show the audience his everyday life.  My sixth slide will be the entire family to show the audience the bond the family has.  My seventh slide will be a picture of both Jimmy and Jack on their day of their adoption (they were adopted in different years.)  My 8^th and final slide will be a smile/laughing picture of them together just enjoying life to wrap it up to the audience how much better their lives got ever since they were adopted.

Purpose Statement

I am trying to communicate to the audience why adoption is important.  I hope that people look at adoption more because you are potentially saving a child and giving them the love and care they might have not received.  My hope for the audience after they see my project is that they will gain more knowledge on what adoption really needs and how much of an impact it has on the children.  I am writing this because my friend has 2 adopted brothers from china.  They are both disabled, one with polio and the other with severe learning disabilities.  This story has impacted me because I can see how happy the boys are with their family.  I realize how much of a better life they have now just because of my friend and her family.  The best possible outcome for my project would be for someone to even consider looking more into adoption and helping out a child in need.  The worst possible outcome would be for no one to learn anything or be impacted by my project.  Informing people about adoption will help society in a whole.  There are many abandoned and abused kids that need a home, so adoption is extremely important in this world.

Some characteristics that my audience should have is that they like children, they are somewhat thinking about wanting children or adding to the family, caring and understanding, loving, they should have a desire to help a child in need, and overall they should be a good person.  When my audience views my project I think there will be a lot of emotion running through them.  I think this because obviously adopting is a huge life choice.  You have to think about a lot of things before you can fully decide that you want to adopt.  I think if I can share a personal story about how adoption has changed someone I know then the audience will feel more connected to the project.  The characteristics that are most relevant to the purpose is that they like kids and that they have a want of helping kids.  I don’t necessarily think they the audience has to be thinking of starting a family or adding to a family because just being informed about adoption can help change a lot of things in the world, even if someone doesn’t actually adopt.

The project can take place at any time.  There is not a certain time this information should be shared because it is something that can take place any day, any month, and any year.  The project should be placed for people to view on either an adoption blog or website.  Also the project should be shared on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.  This project is something that I personally think should be viewed everywhere because it is such an important topic.  When viewing this the audience should either be at home or somewhere comfortable surrounded by family and friends.  Also another place this project should be placed is at a movie theater as one of the ads before the movie plays.  There the audience will be with a loved one sitting in comfortable chairs so they will feel comfortable while viewing this project.  Time and place shape the audience’s expectations because personally I think people take more in when they are with friends and family and when they feel comfortable.  If the audience was sitting on a hard bench all alone I don’t think they would get as much out of the project because they were in an uncomfortable setting.

Writing and Design

I've realized that written communication is really important.  It is very important to make what you have written stand out to the audience.  For example, if you have more pictures, more color, exciting font, etc., more people will pay attention to what you have to say.  No one wants to read a boring long paper without anything that sticks out.  People are drawn to animation and design.  I would rather read something that had a colorful font and some pictures here and there, than read something that is just a 3 page paper of words.  All in all I learned the more you make whatever your writing stand out, the more people will take the time to view your work.

What I think about blogs

I think blogs are a good way of getting your opinions and thoughts into the world.  I do not think a blog can be very useful.  When I think of bloggers I think of people who really enjoy journaling.  I do think a blog could have a use for me. There are a lot of things I have opinions about that I have not yet shared with anyone.  It would be a good way for me to get my thoughts and ideas out there for people to see. I think a writing class would use a blog because it can show the class the many styles of writing.  I think we will use a blog in class to share our work with others so they can learn things as well.  I think they will be personal blogs, because they are blogs about what we think so obviously they will most likely contain personal thoughts.