Research
The research of this assignment was to explore slow looking as I learned about it by reading the first two chapters of the book.
From the book, I learned Slow looking is:
- Taking the time to carefully observe more than meets the eye at first glance.
- Happening in each of these vignettes, and it happens anywhere people take a generous amount of time to observe the world closely.
- An essential counterbalance to the natural human tendency
toward fast-looking. - Tending to be under-emphasized in general education.
- A shared human value.
After getting basic ideas of slow looking, I took advantage of this technique to begin the assignment. I went outside to take pictures of objects in the Oval.
After taking these pictures, I took a lesson called “Composition,” which is the deliberate placement of subject matter in relation to a frame. This element is crucial since it not only makes images more dynamic and visually interesting but also supports a mood, feeling, or narrative. I learned fundamentals of Composition and structural elements: proximity, angle, continuing composition, rule of thirds, symmetry, leading lines, diagonals and triangles, frame within a frame, and golden triangles and spiral. I then retook the pictures of the objects I took before taking the lesson. It helped me understand the importance of those elements when taking photographs and creating a composition.
Exercise
The first step of the Exercise was to choose a destination for creating a map. At first, I decided my destination to be the back door of Thompson library because:
- I was very familiar with that place where I visit there every day.
- The distance between the starting point (Hayes Hall) and the library was short, and I could visit the path anytime I wanted.
However, as I explored multiple paths with many approaches, there were limitations due to the short distance:
- There were not enough non-visual senses. I only could smell trees and hear the sound of transportation (car and bus).
- My recorded path was supposed to include a minimum of 10 steps according to the rubric, but mine only had five steps.
- There were only a few paths from the starting point to the library, which prevented me from exploring multiple ways.
I changed my destination to be Lincoln Tower Park, a soccer field, where I visit every Saturday. This destination had more paths, visual senses, and enough steps, so I believed selecting this destination would let me create a successful outcome. I used multiple ways to get there and decided my path, as shown in the image below.
I composed a written direction after following the path many times and based on my experience. I included 11 steps and what I saw and heard during the journey.
Then I followed the path again to take pictures of significant landmarks and symbolic objects.
Iterations
I honestly did not have clues of how to create my map. The instructor recommended the students iterate our project by creating a collage map. I knew the path and a visual representation of the map, so I drew outlines of the Oval and Lincoln Tower Park and cut-out pictures from magazines. Because my priority was a clear path from Hayes Hall to the field, I put red lines as a path to let it stand out in white-colored paths in the Oval. Collage was a great way to start to actually think about details I wanted to put on the map and gave me some ideas that would be useful afterward.
I decided to design my map as two-dimension and add five magnified images of important places or buildings throughout the journey, which would help users understand the direction and path quicker.
Production
The above image is a rough draft where I basically just drew the 2D map with the magnified images. I used Google Earth for my primary source, and the scale of the buildings was not as correct as the actual map, so I had to fix it afterward. I was overall satisfied with my drawing but still was unsure what to choose between smell and hearing as a non-visual sense. Half of my journey passes through the Oval, and the smell was the most important non-visual sense to stand out among other senses as I could smell trees, grass, damp moss, etc. However, when the journey passed the Oval, there were no unique or specific smells during the other half of the trip. Therefore, I decided to use hearing as a non-visual sense since there were many sounds I could hear, such as sounds of transportations (cars, buses, helicopters), people talking, etc. The instructor posted a PowerPoint called Map Tutorial, which showed how to add shadings of buildings and trees. After getting inspiration from the lecture, I put shadings on my map for visual appeal clear classifications between buildings and roads. I was supposed to use only one color for my map and chose green because most areas were filled with grass and trees. Then I added the path from the starting point to the destination with three colors filled (light, regular and dark green) for clear direction because my map is almost colored with green, and I believed just using one of them would not make the path stand out. I finally the last requirements, a map legend, and added a direction represented by a compass, which would help users understand my map better.
