How To Properly Use “Dangerous” AI
AI in the Gaming Industry
AI in the Film Industry
Kniberg, H. (n.d.). Generative AI in a Nutshell. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IK3DFHRFfw
Author: GABRIELC
Gabriel Changlee
Professor Scanlan
English 1121
29 September 2024
Lines of Green Near Pillars of Concrete
Photography can often be used as a reminder of what we once had. As John Berger stated in Understanding a Photograph “ (The most popular use of the photograph is as a memento of the absent.)” (20) We often take for granted the things and people we love until we lose them, left only with a fragment of time in the form of a photo. The idea that we can take something for granted until the moment it is gone and all we have left are memories and photos is sad but there is not anything we can do besides to know what we have and appreciate it.
Nature is one of the things we take for granted, the very trees that provide us oxygen that we cut down in order to make room for the cities to be built. Only to have the very same trees littered throughout the city placed in specific patterns locked to their positions like caged animals at the zoo. The photos used will be taken in New York around the downtown area which used to be where natives would farm and fish. Using lighting, foreground/middleground/background, and angle, I will explain and hopefully help you share the same perspective on nature that I do.
(Title: A Green Dome)
The first photo is at an upward angle with a ceiling of tree branches and leaves with sunlight leaking through. There are buildings in the background with very dull colors, making the bright green leaves of the trees stand out even more.
The photo has a very high reality effect and the bright sky beyond the green leaf colored sky due to the photo being angled from below the tree branches helps a lot with imagining being inside a forest during summer or spring. The bright green leaves whose colors can often elicit a calming feeling that helps you to feel even more at peace when surrounded by nature. Instead of the dull colored buildings (often tan, white, black, or gray) which reinforces the monotony and dullness of life, the leaves feel like they can give you energy somehow. The idea that these trees are caged in between giant concrete pillars is further reinforced by the fact that; even beyond the reaches of the tree branches, we can still see the dull buildings that house our everyday lives in the background with their symmetrical square shaped windows.
Imagine the scene of nature walking through a forest with leaf and rock crunching underneath your shoes with the scent of flowers in the wind. Now compare that to what we have now, where the not so very good smelling air within the city permeates your nostrils as you try to take in the rare sight of nature.
(Title: Across The Metallic Stream)
The next photo makes use of foreground and background. A tree on the right side of the photo seemingly tries to cover the sight of the building with its long extending branches. There is also a river of trees in the background of the photo. This is also a good time to mention how interesting the unique shape of tree branches can make a photo. Personally, the odd tree branches that extend whichever way the tree feels most comfortable in comparison to the straight calculated design of the building in the background makes for quite an interesting sight.
The street below the taken photograph is out of frame of the camera so all thats left are the trees seen and the building that the tree is trying to cover up. Try to picture the building not being there, a distant blue sky with a river flowing just under the frame of the camera. The beautiful sights and sounds of the river flowing taking you away. We have not exactly lost the ability to see such sights but, its not as frequent as it was for the natives who used to farm and fish while living here prior. From History.Com, New York City ”The first native New Yorkers were the Lenape, an Algonquin people who hunted, fished and farmed in the area between the Delaware and Hudson rivers.” While we did not lose the ability to experience such sights, we lost the ease of access to these things. I would gamble that many people don’t even know how calming it can truly be to be in one of these places.
(Title: Industrial Coffin)
This last photo will truly drive home the idea of nature being imprisoned like animals at a zoo with its use of foreground and background. There is a metallic fire escape in the foreground, giving the illusion of the tree in the middle ground being imprisoned behind bars. There is also a tree painting the background for an amplification of that feeling. The lighting provided unnaturally by the phone also wears off on the edges of the photo, leaving it in pitch darkness aside from the occasional windows lit up brightly.
This tree being imprisoned within metal and concrete can also symbolize us. Although we do indeed have the freedom to move, we often do not have the luxury to do so as much as we may want to or feel like we should. I do not necessarily mean to move permanently, but even a vacation to get away from the city is a form of luxury that we often take for granted.
In the end, the way I view these photographs as moments of nature captured and put on display for a false sense of comfort for humans is simply what I believe is within the photo but not shown. From Berger, J. “What it shows invokes what is not shown.” (20) Nature is one of the things that we take for granted and within these photographs we can see the very same nature we have “captured” and put on display. What we do not see is what was once there, the forests, swamplands, and farmlands that had previously been here along with the sense of calm that came with them.
References
- Berger, J. (2013) Understanding a Photograph. In G. Dyer (Ed.), Understanding a Photograph (pp. 20). Aperture. https://archive.org/details/understanding-a-photograph-john-berger/page/20/mode/2up
- . A&E Television Networks. (2010, January 12). New York City. History.com. https://www.history.com/topics/us-states/new-york-city
(Title: A Green Dome)
Humanity seems to have captured nature or at least parts of it and secluded it to specific areas within our industrialized society as if it were a domesticated breed of dog or cat that evolved over the years into their own specific breed of animal. I find these sights to be both quite sad and a display of nature’s brilliance as within the photo a sight both seen only within the untouched forests lay directly ahead and above us, with everyday city life looming in the background.
(Title: Across the Metallic Stream)
This photo taken of a tree line across the street where cars flow like water is very interesting. The idea that the tree in the foreground is both trying to block the building in the background in order to preserve the focus of the photo on the line of trees while also somehow seeming to grasp our attention to it even though it lies in the corner. The reality effect of the image being uphold by both the nature present in front of us, and the modernization seeping through the cracks and gaps within the branches of the trees is also interesting.
(Title: Industrial Coffin)
This photo was taken with the idea of a tree being compartmented into its own coffin of concrete, and rebar, and steel, and whatever else goes into the complicated process of constructing modern buildings. However, the lighting is far more prevalent of a factor within this image. This photo was taken in the pitch-black night and my phone automatically brightened pieces in the center focus of the screen. The dark night that nature will seemingly never forget to provide, is crept into the corners on the right side of the photo.
Within the writing of Teju Cole’s photo essay, my favorite photo is Suzhou Creek by Henri Cartier-Bresson. The photo, which I assume is taken to show the working lives of the men and their jobs as the centerpiece, showcases unique perspectives that will differ with each person who views the photo. To me, I can see an argument to be made for the men working together on what appears to be a boat to go out and fish. I could also understand the perspective of them having to do so in order to make a living for themselves, or maybe even the pride in fishing. Whatever the reason, the group of men upon the boat doing whatever it is they’re doing is complemented nicely by the reflection of the sky in the water they currently stand above. The contrast within the black and white photo of the beautiful sky and the man sitting down smoking a cigarette puts into perspective how differing the life of many may feel. The idea that despite the beautiful skies and possible camaraderie between the men on the boat, something may capture our attention and disturb us enough to need a distraction. Maybe he is worried about this expedition? Or maybe he just enjoys smoking. Either way with the tools on the boat and the anchor being held on it which may signify the boat taking off and the numerous ropes and other objects can lead to one’s perspective being shaped by the photo in whichever specific part of the image they look into the most. Whether that be the general idea of the men working together for me, or the simple idea of the man sitting and smoking, looking possibly toward us for others.
