The Treachery Of Images

Dr. Seuss, an author and illustrator of 41 known books from the 1900s, once stated, “You can find magic wherever you look. Sit back and relax, all you need is a book.” Uglies by Scott Westerfeld, is sure to make a reader find the magic within reading.

In the article, “Appearances Are Destructive” by Mark Mathabane argues about how students in school do not focus on learning anymore, but mostly focus on their outfits. He agrees that by providing dress codes will be an effective way to maintain safety in schools. According to Mathabane, dress codes is a solution for students to get on track on their studies, but rather it will not be against freedom. In addition to that, Mathabane claims, that girls pay a lot of attention to their clothing because it gives them respect, to look more attractive, and they feel, they look cool. Mathabane disagree that outfits should be the primary goal for many students, instead of achieving academic success; therefore, dress code will be a solution to have

It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words, but maybe they are worth far more than that. Pictures, although seemingly simple in nature, are extremely complex. Far too often, people overlook what a picture truly is. When a person looks at an image, they most likely see only the image, nothing else. Many people do not look deep enough into an image to fully comprehend the true meaning of it. However, when an individual begins to truly study an image in an attempt to understand the true complexity of it, they will be surprised at what they overlooked before. As stated by French Realist Painter, Gustave Courbet, “Fine art is knowledge made visible.”

The “Photographic Icons: Fact, Fiction, or Metaphor”, written by a photographic critic and writer Philip Gefter, represents the various situations lying in a photograph and how these situations can affect the authenticity of the photograph. The article also refers to the success and failure of fictional and metaphorical photographs in disclosing the reality.

The Bourgeois society is represented in the top half of the painting; tall office towers line the city sky which is a dominating reminder to Americans of a chance for prosperity. The Statue of Liberty sits in the distance; Frida pushes the ideal of Western strength and freedom to the background, which realizes the possibility of American economic failure. The water is a dark grey, reflective of the dreary years of the depression era. A collection of six industrial smoke-pipes reach high from behind the commericialist towers of the city. They seem to acknowledge the defining role of lower class workers and industrial society in the prosperity of America.

In the story The Veldt, Ray Bradbury uses vivid imagery to transport the reader to a lush African veldt and describe it in rich detail. This imagery describes the characters in the story as well as it does the locations. Listening to The Veldt, your imagination crafts a picture of the characters and their home. Other readers may argue that this story has a different meaning. There are many ways to interpret why Ray Bradbury has used crafts to enrich his writing. However, there is only true reason that the author has used these crafts to communicate the writing’s true meaning. This reason is to provide a more realistic story to his readers. And by using this imagery, he is able to create a detailed image in each reader’s mind of the story, its characters, and, most importantly, the settings.

In Ishmael Beahs memoir A Long Way Gone the author’s natural images reveals his scramble to stay mentally stable. Understanding Beah is only 12 years old; Beah is confused as he loses all his family and friends and scrambles to stay alive as he runs from the rebels who have brutality kill anyone who stand in there way. To begin, in the stillness of nature Beah struggles to keep his mind from wondering.

Most pieces of art have a deeper meaning than what is simply expressed on the surface. Through emotions, symbols, and motifs, an artist can portray a unique story; however, despite the use of creative symbols, distinct stories can show a similar theme. Two such examples are the short film Destino by Salvador Dali and Walt Disney and The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, which share the common theme of “the struggle of obtaining dreams”. Based on what is shown in these works of art, it is a challenge to attain dreams.

Analysing two emotional photographs came across. The pictures visually shows verbal abuse demonstrated on a young boy and girl which makes an effective pathos appeal. The boy cries by a hand formed from scaring words such as “fool” and “Moron” around his neck. As the child cries and is filled with discomfort makes the viewers are moved in an emotional way. The girl cries because a fist made of words strikes her in the head.

Imagery is often used to allow the reader to develop a fuller understanding of the plot, characters, and setting. In Erich Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front, he uses imagery to help the reader understand the experience of war. Imagery allows the reader to comprehend Paul’s thoughts and to relate with the other characters. It makes the war realistic and provides a deeper understanding of the war because it affects all of the senses. Remarque uses imagery to emphasize the themes of war and to demonstrate the contrasts of war during battles and in the meantime.

Marcel Duchamp stated that "It was his achievement to treat the camera as he treated the paintbrush, as a mere instrument at the service of the mind” (Biography.com, 2017). In addition, the photogram might seem expressive and abstract, yet on the contrary, it is the precise medium to document the everyday objects in an unrepeatable and somehow uncontrollable way. The artist cannot predict how the selected objects will be recorded under the light sources that were tampered with. From the first glance, the image completely dissociated from its original subject, allowing one’s memory to fill the gap. Yet below its surface, the image is an accurate documentation that captured a moment of psychical intensity. It revealed a new visual experience, using objects in the simplest way. One can say that the use of this medium disclosed reality more preciously due to its invisibility and mysterious representation (The Museum of Modern Art, 2017).

Discuss the use of imagery in two stories of your choice. How do the various images work in a particular story to bring its subject matter into focus? Is there a central image? And how does this enhance or confuse or complicate the effect of the story?

Why I choose this image to work up and do analysis of. Well as a photographer it touches on a theme that I and other photographers must deal with. The idea that someone can get something for free. Just because we are photographers or even a regular artist that we are all just dying for more exposure and are willing to do whatever you want for some “good exposure”. I don’t think that most folks are all the self-severing, they are just unaware how much time and money goes into producing a good image. And suffer from this misbelief that this is just someone’s hobby and not their lively hood. Form the text of “trust me I am a professional Photographer I don’t work for free” and with the camera, lens, and SD cards in the middle. It

Several images continue to linger in my mind from the novel All Quiet on the Western Front. The scene when the men are severely disturbed, specifically Detering, by the wounded horses affects me in a personal and emotional way. While reading this scene, I felt my body quiver from the thought of seeing and hearing this devastating moment. I related to Detering on wanting and needing to put these poor, suffering creatures out of their misery. This scene produced this everlasting image in my mind because horses are my favorite animal. When I am around horses, my mood immediately changes and I am filled with utter happiness. Another image that perpetuates my thoughts is when the narrator Paul takes cover during a bombardment behind a coffin in

Photographs are used to document history, however selected images are chosen to do so. Often times these images graphically show the cruelty of mankind. In her book, Regarding the Pain of Others, Susan Sontag asks, "What does it mean to protest suffering, as distinct from acknowledging it?" To acknowledge suffering is just to capture it, to point it out and show somebody else that it exists. In order to protest suffering, there has to be some sort of moral decision that what is shown in the photograph is wrong, and a want from the viewer to change that.