Thesis Statement

When envisioning a day in the life of a photographer it seems pretty easy right? Snapping a few pictures, living life simply, and thriving every day? ... Unfortunately it's not just that easy. Us as photographers must have skill sets that range from advertising to business to creativity and everywhere in between. If an artist wants to make it in the world of photography he/she must have the professional capability to appeal to a large audience of people and draw attention to their product. After sitting down and speaking with someone who works in the professional world of business you can learn there is a lot that goes into appealing to your audience and bringing the attention of the largest possible array of customers.

Questions for intervewee

• What are your best writing strategies?
• How did you become such a good presenter/writer?
• What is most important when writing or presenting an argument to an audience?
• How do you present yourself depending on the audience?
• What is the best way to draw your audience in?
• How can you use word choice to better state your argument?
• In what ways can you implement Pathos, Ethos, and Logos into your writing?
• What pieces of writing are your favorite?
• Which pieces are the hardest for you?
• What audiences are hardest for you?
• What strategies do you use to research a new idea or new material?

Week 6 blogpost

I found the reading this week to be relatively easy to read. The first reading and second reading were both formatted in a conversation like style which was pretty cool. The writer also gave lots of examples to help you understand exactly what he was talking about which was helpful. The main idea of the first reading was regarding how you present your words in an argument will change the viewers perception of the message you are trying to get across. One of the ways he was talking about expressing this would be through ethos, pathos, and logos. Every audience you are trying to reach will have a different message, for the most part. If you are trying to guilt people or touch people right in the feels then pathos would be your greek/latin expression to go with (I have narry a clue if pathos is even greek or latin). Incorporating ethos into an argument would entail you to choose your words suitably for the audience or topic you are trying to express, whether that be your grammar, formality, etc. Then logos would be very factual based statements. Logos is best used for the hard headed businessman who are all FACTS FACTS FACTS. I personally think that in order to make a really strong argument ALL THREE of these strategies have to be applied to your message. With all three of these your audience has no choice but to side with you. Think about it here, throw out some pathos to draw the audience in make them feel interested in what you're saying emotionally because that is when people really listen. After you have their attention is some ethos to help yourself sound more credible and relatable to the audience. Then finally seal the deal with some logos to make the audience certain that what you are saying is factual and true. What more do you need to win an argument than that! These strategies can be applied in everyday life or the business world. Try it out and see for yourself!

E-mail (Draft)

<<Interview for English Class at Brooks>>

Hey Doug,

hope all is going well with the family and it's starting to warm up over there in Chicago. I am writing to you regarding an assignment in my English class at Brooks. I know that you have led several meetings to huge groups of people and write all of your own material. Conducting yourself strongly to an audience of people in a business manner is a huge part of the photography world as well. I was hoping at some point this week we could have a chat about the writing aspect of your career and how you present your ideas to an audience. I'd love to have the pleasure of interviewing you and hope to hear from you soon!

Best Regards

--

Trevor Morrison

Week 5 - Excellence in Communication

In all honesty, the reading this week was unnecessary in my opinion. I started reading the chapter thinking, "okay, yeah this makes sense, I understand why you would do that." Then it just got simply repetitive and way too extensive. The message that was being expressed was very simple and could have been presented in a much simpler manner. The major thing to take away is that you have to choose your forms of communication depending on your audience and also choose the message you're sending depending on the audience. I thought the fact that they discussed instant messaging through an entire section of the chapter was a bit ridiculous. The difference between instant messaging, emails, and letters are very apparent. Each one of them is different for whatever message it may be you're trying to get across, simple as that. I have been writing emails my whole life and think I have a pretty decent grasp on being able to successfully write an impactful and professional email, bringing me to wonder what the purpose of the reading was for me specifically. Don't get me wrong, several parts of the reading was helpful and there were some good tips to throw in my bag of email conventions, but overall it was some pretty simple material.

Assignment #1

So, this week I looked around for a few artist statements.

Much of what I found was small little blurbs about the artists work, where they started, and what influenced them. I pulled three different photographers work that I thought was cool and assessed their statements for why they do what they do.

The first artist I chose was James Hickey. He had some very interesting images of people that I found pretty cool. His artist statement went somewhere along the lines of -- "Professional Los Angeles photographer, creating artistic fashion and lifestyle images with unique style. These are often identified with vivid color, and expression. The images tell stories and ideas of people who are full of beauty and life. With a solid technical workflow, state of the art studio, and a love for the craft James Hickey brings a consistently contemporary style to his images." To me this says James Hickey is a fashion and lifestyle photographer that has a certain style to his images that tell a story and draw your attention as well. I think it is safe to say that his genre of photography is shooting people or fashion. The way he worded his artist statement was in a way to let people know what he does while maintaining simplicity. It is not super wordy or informal. This tells us something about the audience the artist is trying to appeal to. He's not directing this statement towards his friends or someone like that. This is potential clients he is appealing to! It goes to show how the rhetoric plays a big role in the genre and how he presents his personal genre.

The next artist that I looked at was Kiko Ricote who shoots lots of lifestyle type photography, some documentary-type photography, and some travel photography. His artist statement went something like, "Native of Venezuela Kiko started working as a model at the age of seventeen, for the next six years he was working in Europe where at 23 started to test for the best modeling agencies in Milan, Munich and Zurich, at 28 he left to Sidney were he lived for a year still working as a model and a photographer, next stop Los Angeles were he opened his first studio and spend there the next 7 years working in commercial photography . Mexico City was next in his agenda were he spend the next three years working with the best agencies like Mc Cann, Erickson, Walter Thomsom, BBDO, etc. For the past 10 years he had been in Miami where he opened one of the best studios in town, working exclusively with advertising agencies. Today after 27 years dedicated to the field he is confident to do a great job no matter how complicated the assignment is." As you can see from this artist statement, he goes more of the "history" route. This way, you can see his experience and where he has been across the world and who he has worked with. He is currently at a very prestigious studio shooting photography for advertising agencies. His genre is kind of all over the board, but I would pinpoint him as more of a commercial, people, lifestyle oriented photographer. His style of photography really makes the viewer feel that they are present in the photograph in my opinion. I think he has worded his artist statement in a way that attracts more customers. It is more oriented in a way to list his previous work and how far he has come rather than explaining specifically the different types of photography he shoots. This differs from the style of James Hickey's artist statement in a sense that he is talking himself up in a way where Hickey was just explaining what he shoots and what kind of look he is representing in his photography.

The final photographer I pulled for their artist statement was Setia Nugraha. Nugraha's artist statement was much different from the previous as well. He states, "Street photography has a great influence to my work. I believe that when we are standing on the street we can explore our imagination, social responsibility, and of course sharpen our eyes and heart.
As long as the wheel of life spinning around, we will not run out of idea. As time goes by, and I realize, things we have been through, things we have done, in fact can result a piece of work. Creating work can be carried out everywhere, anytime. It does not depend on time and place." This artist statement falls in the genre of imaginative, fine art style photography in my opinion. His work is more based off the idea that there is beauty in every aspect of the world whether it's a sidewalk or a gorgeous valley. I think that his artist statement is worded in a way to appeal to other artists who can become inspired by him and what he is trying to do with photography. To make the unseen seen, to find beauty in all, to help the viewer see the world through his own eyes. This is different from the previous because it's not saying what he shoots exactly or who he has worked for. It is more oriented around his influence and belief in the world of photography.

Artist's statements have a huge impact on what viewers or customers they are after. You can clearly tell an artist is a commercial photographer and shoots for business and to get paid by the way he/she presents their artist statement. If it is in a way such as Kiko Ricote where it states the history of the artist and what prestigious work they have done that is going to be shooting for more of the business of photography crowd, opposed to Setia Nugraha who is shooting for the ambiguous and creative realm of photography.

Week 2 Blogpost -- Rhetoric!

Hello all readers!

This is my first post so please excuse the informality.

Anyways, I thought the readings for this week were pretty interesting in fact. Especially since one of them was in fact a comic. Yes, that is right I am a 3rd semester college student reading comics for English homework. Isn't life sweet guys. I really thought the idea behind the comic was interesting though, in all seriousness. They utilized the imagery and ability to appeal to our eyes while expressing their thoughts. I believe that is why we are more likely to pay attention to something formatted in this way, in the correct context of course. I'm not going to put a letter to the president of the United States in comic book format just to get my point across and heard. That would be unethical ladies and gentleman. The ability for the public to hear all alien encounters and experiences is a serious matter and should not be presented in comic book form. 8) I also appreciated the Murder Rhetorically reading as well. It was kinda "fun" i guess some might say... but the content was interesting. The main idea of what the writer was trying to get across in my opinion is, there is a certain way for speaking in certain situations and to certain people. We all will speak in different ways according the what we mean, what we want, or how we feel. We have grown accustomed to this and almost 'trick' people per say with the way we speak. We put on our puppy dog eyes and beg for what we can, don't we guys. Don't fool yourself you just simply want something and want to appeal to the person you want something from, simple as that. Overall, cool material and interesting reads!


Peace & love