Sh0w and T3ll

On Writing December 8, 2009

I’m tired of writing. My brain hurts. I don’t want to put any more words on paper. I don’t even enjoy the physical act of writing like I usually do. The funny thing is I go through this process every semester. I start out the semester, full of fire and creativity. I’m ready to pour out genius onto paper. The last two semesters have been busy ones outside of school so writing has been a chance for release. A way to pour my stress onto paper and do something useful with it.

The problem comes when I get towards the end of the semester. I’ve been writing papers and stories and poems and one liners for months and the words have started to get forced. My creativity is growing really thin. The only thing I can seem to do is journal. If I am writing about things that are happening in my life, I can write. But if I have to make something up, or even regurgitate information I can’t seem to do it.

One of these days maybe I’ll figure out how to pace my writing so I enjoy it for extended periods of time. Maybe it will be better when I’m not required to write things that I don’t want to write.  I don’t know. Either way, right now, I’m tired of writing. I want to go take some pictures.

Wedding Photography December 5, 2009

I have been thinking about something interesting the last day or two. Why is it that people have someone to take pictures of their wedding, but they don’t have someone to write about their wedding? Brides literally spend thousands of dollars for a photographer to capture their big day, but there is no one writing down what the preacher says. No one is recording the words in their vows or the toasts given by friends. I wonder why?

This has been on my mind because today I am shooting my first wedding alone. I’ve done a few as the photographers assitant. But today I’m on my own. I have been thinking through all the shots I need to take, trying to make sure I capture every important moment. The family pictures are the ones that have me most concerned because if I miss a family member then I’m in trouble. The family pictures are the equivalent of the guest book, only more copies of them get made. I have to get all of it, or part of the day will be missing.

Wedding photography is an interesting phenomenon. A good photographer will capture all the emotion of the day in a picture. But there is still something missing in the recording. Photographs will catch the look in the groom’s eye when he first sees his bride, but they won’t record what he says to her at any point during the day. The picture will catch the emotion of the father as he dances one more time with his baby girl, but not what makes everyone laugh during the best mans speech.

I love what photography does. I love all the things that can be caught in a picture. I love the feeling of taking a moment in time and freezing it, preserving it for the future. But I also wish I had someone who would come to my wedding and write down some of the things that people say. I want a wedding journalist. Someone who will do what a photographer does, freezing moments and preserving them, but with words. Maybe someday I’ll figure out how to do that for someone else.

What a Photograph Says November 28, 2009

He was standing on a fence post, leaning half over, watching the “yeaves falling”. She stared down at the flower in her hand, her beautiful blue eyes pensive and soft. He toothlessly grinned, mouth wide open and eyes sparkling with excitement. All of them telling a story without saying a word.

Photography does that, speaks without saying anything. The words don’t tell the reader what really was happening. The first sentence doesn’t let you see the three year old who is fascinated with the fall colors. The toothless grinner could be an old man, not the six month old baby boy that he is.

Photographs tell stories differently than words. They evoke emotion that can be interpreted differently by every viewer. In the written word, the author tells the reader what is happening. They describe the scene through their own viewpoint and that is the only viewpoint the reader will get. In a photograph the viewer interprets the scene for themself. This scene could be a back yard or a park or a fence in a cemetary. The viewer can look at a photograph and feel all kinds of emotion; nostalgia, laughter, peace, or anything that comes to them, rather than having the photographer tells them to feel.

As the photographer this can be a scary thing. I am used to being able to tell my readers how to interpret the scenes I set before them. When I take a picture I have no control over how it is viewed and I cannot be sure that the viewer will see what I saw in the picture. When I took this picture of my little buddy Jon I saw it as a perfect expression of Jon. But for someone who does not know him that expression will be lost. They will see him through the eyes of a stranger who can appreciate the quality of the picture and the sweetness of his expression.

They will look and come away with something. That is one of the main beauties of photography.Writers have to get someone to read their work to get a reaction. Photographers need only a glance to make an impression. Whether that impression is good or bad is the sign of a good photographer. A good photograph will get a second look.

Show, Don’t Tell November 14, 2009

Show, don’t tell is one of the favorite mottos at my current place of employment. The best way to sell our furniture is to show customers what a quality piece they are getting, don’t just tell them about it. Flip the chair over and show Mr. Smith with lots of kids the sturdy frame he is getting. Turn the cushions over and show Mrs. Johnson that there is real leather all the way around, no vinyl. Let Brad and Kelly sit in everything, take off their shoes, and get comfortable. Even the customers, like Ms Kittridge, who are looking for a particular style sometimes change their mind once they sit on a different sofa or recliner.

Show, don’t tell has also been pounded into my head in my creative writing class this semester.  As we have been writing fiction and critiquing each others stories, that is a favorite phrase. If you can describe the sad feeling, show the reader how your chacter is feeling, don’t just tell them. If you can describe the setting, than show the audience about the gorgeous fall day. Don’t just tell them it is a gorgeous fall day.

Whether they are trying out a new chair, or reading a new book in that chair, people like to try things out for themselves. They like to experience the new things and come to their own conclusions, rather than going on someone else’s. I am working on incorporating the concept, show-don’t tell, into my sales pitch and my writing and plan on getting a positive response in both areas.

Video Games and the Future November 12, 2009

Children need to be offered the chance to become literate in more areas than just print. Computer literacy, visual literacy, video game literacy, these are all areas that require different skills to become competent and literate in them. Computer literacy requires knowledge far different than print literacy. There is a need for understanding technology in a different way. The children in today’s society need to understand how these different forms of literacy affect them.

When children (or adults) learn to play video games, they are again learning a new literacy. According to James Dan Gee, author of “What Video Games Can Teach Us About Learning & Literacy”, literacy is more than just understanding words on a page. It is about understanding the meanings that words and pictures take on depending on their circumstances. Video games combine words, pictures, and life-like situations and require that players be literate in all three and the combination to play the game.

One game, that Gee writes about, is played by young children. The game Pikmin requires a variety of interactive skills, problem solving skills, and gets harder as the game progresses. Players learn what position each character in the game holds, what skills they possess and when they can use them. This is what Gee calls an active learner. They continue to learn and use the things they are learning throughout the game. It requires situational awareness, something that is an important key to literacy. If a reader is not aware of the context they are reading, they will not understand the content. Situational awareness allows a person to understand what is happening and the reason for it.

Children who become educated and literate in more areas than one become much more adaptable. If they are print literate and computer literate they have a great chance of succeeding in life. The National Project to Expand Technological Literacy, started by President Clinton in 1996, was developed with the dream that all the children of the 21^st century would be technologically literate. Unfortunately, the data collected for this project leads to the conclusion that the poorer and less educated people are, the less access they have to computers, despite President Clinton’s plan. Schools work to provide the technological education that students need, but without in-home access, much of this information does not get used enough to be useful.

Children are the foundation of society. What they learn is what the future society will know. Adults have a much harder time learning new things, so it is the children who will push society forward. Those who start young, developing the skills they learn in games such as Pikmin

Pikmin

, will be strong leaders in their communities as they get older.

Method & Influence November 10, 2009

Writing as a technology has been beat into my head this past month in Prof. Tweedie’s class. Everything used to record words is some form of technology. I really liked the way that Jay David Bolter talks about it when he says that every form of writing requires some form of method (Bolter, 16). Writing is not just something that happens. It requires knowledge of the technology that is being used as well as knowledge of the information being written. Often readers pick up a book and critique the author, sometimes saying they could do better, without realizing the complexity of the process. The technology involved with publishing a piece requires more knowledge than writing a letter on email.

Another aspect of writing that some people assume is that changing writing technologies influence society. People fight new technology because they are afraid that it will be bad for society as they know it. What they don’t realize is that the technology is not what makes the difference, it is the words written with that technology. As Bolter says, “technologies do not determine the course of culture or society, because they are not separate agents that can act on culture from the outside”. (Bolter, 19) The technology only produces what the writer tells it to produce. That is what changes society and influences culture.

One thing to remember about writing technology is that it builds on itself. Each new invention for writing took from the old technology and worked to make it better. That is what new technology is all about, improving on the old. Paper survived longer than papyrus. The printing press allowed for more books to be produced than handwriting them. The computer took something from every form of writing that ever existed and made it better.

Writing technology will never stop changing. It will keep reinventing itself as writers try to find new and better ways to write. But the important thing is the writing itself. Technology influences writing, but I think the message is the important part, despite what Marshall McCluen says.