Visual Communication Assignment #1

Good Afternoon Bloggy Friends.

I hope all is well where you are. It's pouring in Philadelphia today. I'm spending my afternoon working in the box office at PTC. Afterwards I'll be meeting up with Bloggy Friend Bill. He's coming into town to see a friend's play this evening. I'm looking forward to that. The main reason I'm stopping by today is to share one of my first assignments at school. Many of my fellow classmates are utilizing the web to get their work out in the open. I'm not sure how far I'll go with this, but for now I think I'd like to do the same

My first assignment was a minor one in my Visual Communication class. In this class we are going to analyze visual images, both still and motion, and gather an understanding about how and why they play such a profound role in society. Our first task was to choose three photographs that we found to be particularly meaningful. We then had to answer three questions:

1. Describes the context of the photo..

2. Explains why this photo effects you.

3. Explains what meaning you get from the image.

Thankfully I have friends who are geniuses at photography and Photoshop, so I went directly to their Facebook pages to find images. Below you'll find what I came up with. Some of you may recognize them as your own work. I hope it's ok that I used them!

Final Grade: 25/25

Have a great weekend Bloggy Friends. I'll chat with you soon.

Love, Josh



I chose this old photograph (circa 1950’s) from a friend’s album on Facebook. It is a simple photo from a family album, but I find it very interesting because it plays tricks with the eyes. It took me a while to realize that the kid was actually looking into a mirror and not sitting in someone’s lap facing the photographer. What I see in this image is a doting mother photographing her seemingly happy baby. All seems well. The child’s eyes are fascinating. They seem to belong to someone who has lived much longer than his two or three years. I love the woman’s style and the graininess of the photograph.


I love photographs of nature. A friend of mine from rural Ohio took this picture early in the morning while waiting for the bus that would take her child to school. It drew my attention because of the focus/out of focus effect. With the focus becoming clearer as it works its way to the tip of the stem, it makes it seem as if the bud is bursting to bloom. This is a photo that makes me feel warm, but I can tell that it was taken on a cool, crisp morning. The colors are soft and subtle, which is a neat juxtaposition to the harshness of the stem.


This was a photograph taken during the 1960’s Civil Rights movement. Images from this period always move me in an extremely inspiring way. It reminds me that there was a time in our nation’s history when people actually stood up and fought for what they believed in. You don’t see much of that today – unless, of course, you count the crazy rioters at the healthcare town hall debates. In this photo I see strength and determination. The woman in the center, windswept as she may be, stands firm in her actions. The crowd stands in the center of a large city, a setting that seems hard and uncomfortable. The weather seems dusty and hot. This adds to what seems like their unwavering persistence to make a change.