Category: ENG1101 Project #3

For my juxtaposition project I chose to be more meaningful and try to take a photo of something more casual. I just so happened to have taken a picture of two buildings that happen to intersect between each other. One building was roughly rigid, eroded, and looked very old. On the other hand, the other building was more like a common style skyscraper in New York City. The juxtaposition in this picture was the view and perception of what’s considered new and old or ancient and advanced. It’s crazy to think that in a civilization/economy as advanced as New york city is so ancient but also advanced at the same time in the exact same space as each other.

The way I see Juxtaposition is that there is a lot of things going on in a photo. From the very top of the photo, to the very bottom. To the left and right as well. To me the photo shouldn’t be clearly right away. People should have time to look at the photo adjectively and be able to make their own opinions about the photo. They should think about how a photo shows juxtaposition. For an example I will be showing a picture of a place around Fulton street. I took this picture because there are objects in the picture that takes a lot of empty space in the picture. To me the way this photo shows Juxtaposition is the relationship between a dark tone and a light tone and size comparisons. The photo I took a picture of shows multiple cars at the bottom. A large building on the right and a bunch of smaller buildings on the left. The car at the bottom is dark red color and the rest are a grey color. The red pops out because not only is it a different color then the rest of the cars. It’s also the closest to the camera. Making it appear bigger than the other cars by comparison. On the left side of the photo that I notice was that it has more dark and bland colors than the right side. For example, there is a person the is black silhouette of a man on the bottom left and a grey structure above him. The buildings are also fade towards the back and there roughly the same color as all the other buildings. Another thing I notice on the left side was that there were more trees and street lights.

Now on the right side of the picture was that it has a large building that takes up most of the right side. It has much lighter color compared to left side’s darker tone. This building is what really makes this photo stands out the most. All of the other buildings in compassion aren’t as important. There just there to make the larger building more noticeable. Putting more focus on the building. Just like the photo goes from dark to light when going from left to right, the does the same thing going up and down as well. For an example, there are bright and colorful clouds at the top of the photo. And the more you go to the bottom the photo to get darker, shown by the dark red car and the grey buildings. This adds a lot of contrast and depth to the picture. The beautiful sky above and the dark and boring ground below gives you mixes feelings. At first glance you would think that this is just a parking lot. Nothing special about. But you can some interesting things about this picture. Like how previously stated that there is a relationship between dark tone and light tone. Like the sky is blue but the red cars reflect the sky is grey supporting the dark and light comparison.

Even though there are some differences between the left and the right side of the picture, there are some similarities. Like how they both have cars on both sides, a long chain gate that goes across the picture, they both have a bunch of buildings, and how the cars and the buildings line up with each other, for example the red car is the biggest and the most noticeable car compared to the others. The same goes for the building in the back. The other buildings are smaller and more basic looking then the one on the right. This photo gives somewhat of a urban vibe. The rusty guarders and buildings all the way at the back, a bridge. The construction cones, The dying tree in the middle of the picture, moss next to entrance to the left, a dirty puddle next to the car on the left, etc. The second most noticeable thing in this picture is the black silhouette of a man at the bottom left. Why is he there? Nobody knows. It’s so random. It’s like this guy came back here to where he used to live back when he was a kid. Supporting my claim that this gave a urban vibe.

Continue reading “Project#3 Juxtapositions Final”

As the day set, and the class was ready to head out for the field trip to New Lab, I already had in mind of the  new juxtaposition I wanted to focus on while working. For the first idea I had was the juxtaposition on buildings or landmarks. I already took pictures of the place I had fixated on, knowing the directions of how to get there and all. I center my eyes on the church details compare to today’s modern ones where its all geometric, glass, metal lines which not one single attribute.  I felt like buildings where to easy for me for this project since downtown Brooklyn had a good couple of them all around. I thought of the idea of timeless while the world around it was evolving and moving forward to futuristic designs. I still kept my same thought of that timeless theme, but on a new subject: vintage cars. I wasn’t thinking about the cars that’s been throughout the 70’s to 2010’s. No, I wanted those rare unique ones that isn’t easily spotted in the city. So as soon I walked out those college doors, my journey begins.

I have pay attention to every car parked and on the road while walking with my classmates. I saw one I thought that will be good car, but it was an early 2000’s one that has this dull colors that most New York City has. The irksome dark blue, red, gray, and the classic all black, in which I called them the dying colors of the city, even though its the most popular one. As we got closer to our destination, I still wasn’t able to find a good  vintage car. All I keep spotting was deliver trucks, buses with crowds which I personally avoid, motorcycles, and more present- day cars. This was going to be a tough challenge I thought to myself. That finding “the one” was gonna be more harder than I thought and I simply needed pure luck. We have finally arrived to New Lab, which the area itself look like a factory where workers worked at since the early 1900’s. However, it did reminded me of a small town, well actually a ghost town since it felt like the class were the only people there. As we continue to work around, discovering landmarks in the area, walking through what felt like a maze since we had to turn back and redirect ourselves that felt like ages. We were finally on the right path. While working down to a street that felt like a long hallway, the class were broken up in which some where all the way in front with the professors and the rest where midway or back following the rest, my luck has came.While I follow the crowd,  I encounter “the one.”   Parked between the two regular cars, it was a small bright yellow car that has fail to blend in with the rest. As the area looked boring, that car in this area would have stand out no matter what, even with yellow taxi cabs.  The car looked timeless and that’s exactly what I was looking for to all day.

After the picture I took of the yellow vintage car, I saw visual relationship between of the vintage yellow car, and the modern days. You see, vintage are unique and rare in the world, especially in the city. Depending on which vintage you want and the quality, ranges from prices to high or low. Some are more expensive than your everyday car where some were used to own by celebrities who passed away. However, most of the time, depending on the brand or company, they are affordable. Now, the very difference between the two cars, is that the classics have mechanical parts that hard to come by to get replace and isn’t electric. Like some modern day ones so you gonna need a good gallon of oil in case you don’t wanna stop for gas, just like the classics so that is one similarity between the two. Even though from the outside might look nice or lovely, the inside however might have some discomfort. With certain classic cars, they lack of airbags which can leave you in a huge risks of injuries or accidents. No air conditioner also will be missing so you might as well get used opening up your windows for the sweet air on a hot summer day, so in case you do wanna have all the advantages, you can head to the local  car store to see if you want to add any adjustments, and independent parts stores for any missing parts or readjustments.

If you are thinking about buying one, better get used to all the attentions since people love to look, stare, and take pictures if they can. It’s also wise to remember that a vintage car isn’t as fun to own if you don’t fully enjoy driving it. If you choose to modify or upgrade, do so wisely and with caution. Upgrade suspension and brakes before making it faster, and try not to chop the wiring harness into an indecipherable mess when you’re adding electronic conveniences. Also an essential tip is that you’re going to develop a very sharp nose for the smells of burning oil, electrical fires, boiling coolant, and unburnt hydrocarbons in your car’s exhaust to ensure the safety of yourself and the care of your car.

I chose to take a picture of old stores on the front compared to the clearer residential buildings in the back. What’s striking is that they kept the stores the same which might make me think that the store owners may have kept their exterior the same because of nostalgia reasons or they simply didn’t have the funds or right to renovate their storefront. The story I could imagine from this is that people were attracted to how New York’s shops are so close together and wanted to live closer to the street with a variety of shops. However, the existing apartment buildings were too old thus they needed to create a highrise to meet with the demand of new tenants.  If I had to do some research on this project I may look up if the owner is currently occupying the building, when it was created and if they own rights and responsibility for these stores. I could also see when the highrise was created and if possible see an image of how the daily life on that street looked. If it seemed lively then I could perhaps conclude that it was an attraction to live there at some point.

The story that I decided to work on is “Here Poverty and Privilege are Neighbors; Income Gaps are a Source of Resentment and Guilt by Janny Scott because the word poverty was the first phrase that my eyes first caught before reading through the stories. Every single day I see many homeless people roaming around the streets and I always wonder how did they ended up into this mess and as a New Yorker, I believe it’s important for me to know about the issues between society and poverty and why are there people falling behind our backs. My expectations though this article will probably be the problem of the the populations and high income tax, it makes sense to put these reasons for the cause of poverty because it could be difficult for people to find available rents homes or apartments and income taxes are very high on these days now. For instances, in New York City, there are millions of buildings and/ or other facilities surrounding the city and most of them are unavailable rent for the cause of the dramatic increase of the population and the income taxes rapidly increasing and for some cannot catch up and they end up bankrupt leading to poverty for themselves. It would also be great what New Yorkers think about other people from different states or foreign people.