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| Photo by Peter Silverton |
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| Photo by Annie Leibovitz |
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| Photo by Annie Leibovitz |
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| Photo by Massican |
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| Photo by Peter Silverton |
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| Photo by Annie Leibovitz |
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| Photo by Annie Leibovitz |
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| Photo by Massican |
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| Bethany – The 9 Emotions |
Photographs hold and can release emotions and specific feelings to those who look at them. While most of the time the emotions and feelings will be similar across the board of people, sometimes there may be clear distinctions in how people feel about the pictures. The feelings the photographer was trying to convey may become twisted and come out completely opposite. For most, a picture of a young baby or puppy may incite feelings of happiness and joy, whereas for someone who dislikes young children or dogs, the picture would reveal completely opposite emotions.
For this project, I wanted to take multiple pictures of many different items and scenes and interview people. I will ask my participants their ages and gender ,and then briefly question them. I will show them an image and ask them to describe the scene or item they are looking. This is where they would give me a possible hypothetical of what is happening in the picture. From there I will ask them to tell me the feelings they have while looking at the picture. I will write down in this blog exactly what the answers are that I am given.
Participants:
A - female, age 10
B - female, age 19
C - male, age 19
D - male, age 20
Picture 1
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| Photo by Natalie Carsten |
What is shown in this picture?
A - "Eating ice cream, grass, friends"
B - "Two young girls sitting on a picnic table eating ice cream"
C - "A girl with red hair, a girl with blonde hair, a picnic table, they are eating ice cream, a kid riding a bike and a family eating in the background"
D - "Kid on the left eating ice cream, a black blob in the back"
How does this make you feel?
A - "Hungry"
B - "The picture makes me feel sentimental about my friendships growing up and think about happy memories"
C - "Happy, makes me want ice cream"
D - "Nothing kinda chill"
Picture 2
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| Photo by Alex Burke |
A- "A mountain and a sunset"
B - "The picture is of a mountain with a sunset in the background, the river in the front shows a reflection of the view"
C - "Pink skies and a mountain and waterfall, and two people climbing to the top and holding their hands in the air in celebration"
D - "Sunset or sunrise"
How does this make you feel?
A - "It's cool"
B - "Looking at the picture, I am fascinated by the world and nature, it makes me feel happy"
C - "Drippy"
D - "Awesome sick picture"
Picture 3
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| Photo by Steve Tuttle |
A - "A baby"
B - " I see a baby sitting in the grass, holding a leaf"
C - "A minor, some toes"
D - "Kid holding leaf"
How does this make you feel?
A - "Happy because it's a baby"
B - "Happy and joyful, I like babies"
C - "Weird, why are we looking at babies"
D - "Nothing normal picture"
Picture 4
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| Photo by Joshua Roberts |
A - "Election, a crowd of people"
B - " I see a march or protest in Washington, DC"
C - "January 6"
D - "Captial bulding in DC"
How does this make you feel?
A - "Pretty bored"
B - "I feel neutral about this picture since I am unsure what they are protesting"
C - "Patriotic"
D - "Patriotic"
Picture 5
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| Photo by Veran Hill |
A - "Veteran's Day, serving the country, saluting"
B - "I see members of our military forces saluting the American flag"
C - "My friend, Jubril"
D - "American flag"
How does this make you feel?
A - "Proud"
B - "I feel proud to be an American and of all of the men and women who have put their lives on the line for our country when I look at this picture"
C - "Makes me want to go into the army and fight for my rights"
D - "Patriotic again"
Reflection
Photos affect each person differently. Each person comes from a completely different walk of life, age, and interests. Someone who does not like dogs won't say that they feel happy when they see a picture of a puppy. One of the people I interviewed was my little sister. I joke that she gave very "10-year-old answers." She gave very basic answers to my questioning her, and when asked what emotions she felt when looking at the pictures, she was stumped on what to say. This is different than the answers of a 19-year-old, who has more life experience, and the answers would be even more different than a 60-year-old. Peter Grof writes, "The variety of humankind can just as well bring about all the emotions you can think of. Compassion, fear, love, hate, sadness, happiness."