Portrait Book

Thinking of a central theme to this book was harder than expected. I wanted to add more to it than just a story of myself. I wanted there to be a greater theme. While looking through my original pictures for the assignment I began to consider some things Tyler had said about the nature of symbols, indexes, and icons and the way people viewed each of these. I remember Tyler saying that symbols for us are a little like what we would want people to see in us and an index kind of indicates what other people see in us on their own. There it was. Both are signs, but they speak differently for the subject. This was the idea that I went with: People's perspectives on a person.

The first image, my index, is my headphones. Headphones are designed for a solitary listener. The listener distances himself from everyone around him by placing himself within the music he listens to. It is all that exists to him, only the music and himself. I often wear my headphones around campus to avoid people (partially). It allows me to tune out the rest of the world and carry on with my own business with no interruptions. When people around campus see me walking around, I am usually by myself on some kind of mission with my headphones on avoiding all interruptions. I am solitary. And I imagine that this is how others see me as well. A loner who's only concern is himself.

The second image, my symbol, is a mess of black on a perfectly white piece of paper. There is a brush applying white paint back over the black to make the paper white again. The brush is fixing the mess. Also the colors black and white stand for wrong and right (like usual). What's wrong and what's right are major concerns of mine. I rarely act without thinking of the moral implications behind my acts (as long as I can logically see the cause and effect). I also strongly want to help people. Doing the right thing has been one of my major motivators recently in my life. The world is really dark and wrong place and I want to set it right. This is my symbol. This is what I want others to see in me beyond anything else. I want others to know that I want to help, I want to do things right, and I want to clean up this mess of a world humanity as made.

The final image, my icon, is a straight up portrait shot of my face. Gray and neutral background. No opinions or perspectives to interject. This image is what it is. It is to be seen for what it physically is. No judgement.

So my series of images (all views of me) are: a perspective of others, a perspective of mine, and no perspective at all.