Catcalling Project

I'm doing a photo project that involves me dressing in what makes me happy and what makes me comfortable and then taking pictures of the men that hit on me, or cat call me. I've only been out shooting one day, but this is what I have.

I live in a world where I dress like this

And men like this

"Imma have to smoke a blunt and think about this"

And this 

"She's the hottest thing out here"

Address the man that I'm with to still degrade me 

If this is the world you're okay with, then you're part of the problem. Men see me as an object, and congratulate  the man that "has" me, out of respect for him, NOT respect for me.

Here's to a new life

Last Photo Projects

These were the last two photo projects I did for my photo class, and I'm really happy the way they turned out. I went around to local businesses both in Cleveland and Columbus and talked to the owners for a bit and got them to hand write a description of their business, and after all was collected, I learned the painstaking process of binding a book. So here are the videos!

Cleveland

Columbus 

Storyboarding project 2

This is my story boarding project that is obviously supposed to be a storyboard, but I feel like it works by itself.

Apologies if it looks terrible, my HD file is so large I can't even upload it to Vimeo. I should probably figure out a different way to export them.

Independent study Spring 2015

Instead of doing a thesis project, I'm looking to do an independent study on my idea, of which I really need to narrow down. Because while the violence in video games lighted this fire, I'm not sure I actually want to incorporate or how to use the comparing of the acceptance of violence and the acceptance of sex and nudity. We're in a strange society where public nudity is frowned upon and even wearing a crop top can get you labeled in a second, yet advertisements in magazines, on billboards and in teen stores, such as Hollister and Abercrombie are half naked men and women. 

Below are a couple articles that I need to read that my dad sent along to me that deal with comparing America's view on nudity compared to other countries. 

I feel like the bottom line, the striped down (no pun intended) message that I want to get across is that nudity and sex will always be a part of our society, or it will cease to exist, and the naked human body doesn't have to be so taboo. 

Or even the way sexually active women are perceived compared to sexually active men, this whole saying of the key and lock is bullshit, sexist, and ridiculous, and makes me more angry than the amount of violence accepted in video games. 

I really want to take a whole semester and narrow down and explore this issues, that very well might always be issues. 

http://www.diyphotography.net/boobies-privates-introducing-your-children-nude-photography-nsfw

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/38107946/ns/travel-destination_travel/t/europeans-nudity-just-grin-bare-it#.UvwYWPldXTc

http://mtdremer.hubpages.com/hub/Americas-Fear-of-Sex-and-Nudity

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2012/11/why_is_public_nudity_illegal_the_offense_principle_the_bible_and_taboos.html

Thesis project

For some reason I keep finding myself in classes that are mostly juniors instead of sophomores, which has led me to thinking more and more about my thesis project. Although I tend more toward commerical photography, weather it be weddings or documentary, I think I want to go in a different direction for my thesis, which probably isn't what I'm supposed to do. I want to explore more, that's what art school is for after all, isn't it?

I started thinking about this idea when I was talking to Tyler. I was on a spree of asking random questions he never really knows the answer to, but he does his best to explain it to me. He was playing Call of Duty Ghosts on his new PS4 after Christmas and the extreme violence in this game is absurd, I mean truly. There are headshots, you're stabbing people in major arteries, up close and in very high definition, even though it's animated, its disturbing.

it is rated M for mature, which is equivalent to R for movies, you have to be 17 to buy this game and is suggested for those above 17 (but parents buy this game for their kids without even thinking about it).

So getting to the question, I asked Tyler if there was a rating above M, like NC-17 for movies, and there is, it's AO, or adults only so 18+, which I feel would discourage parents more for buying a game for they're children, or at least do a little more research. There are 26 games in the US rated AO, All of them for sexual content. There is only one game on that list that is AO solely for the fact of Violence and Gore, which has a release date that was cancelled however was created at a time where graphics were much worse, this is the more violent image I could find, and isn't half as bad as the recently released Mortal Kombat

Thrill Kill-Rated AO

Mortal Kombat 2011- Rated M

Getting to my main point, violence seems to be so much more widely accepted for the younger audience, but god forbid they see a nipple. 

I feel like violence should be taken considerably more seriously than nudity and sex. Violence doesn't have to exist, even though it probably will. But SEX, and the NAKED body will always exist as long as there are people. We're all naked under our clothes and most of us are a result of sex. Violence is so common place in video games, and especially games with multi-player, you know younger people are playing because there are boy who are on their headset whose voices haven't changed yet! and they're KILLING PEOPLE. If the argument for violence being okay in video games is that it's not real, then the same should be said for the human body and sex. It's not real either, so it's okay right?

I'm probably rambling at this point, but in a nutshell my idea for my thesis project is to take pictures of the naked body in everyday situations, where people expect to see you clothed, weather it be in a coffee shop, grocery shopping or just laying on the couch, where most people still wear some sort of clothing. This will probably require going to a nudist colony, because there are laws of public indecency, but I feel like this is important point to get across. I've already written this much about with doing minimal research, if I really took a whole semester to do research and execute this, it could be a really strong statement.