Hello again! I hope everyone is doing well during this time of unpredictability and adjustment. After working on it for several weeks, our photo essay projects are finally done. Here is the link to my website, I’d love for you to check it out! (https://cattad3.wixsite.com/communities) As part of the project, we were asked to reflect on our process. This way, you will understand the decision-making and thoughts that went into the final product.
The purpose of my photo essay is to share three communities I am part of that have shaped who I am today. Each of these communities have a significant meaning to me and my life journey. I chose the community focus over the identity focus for this project because I truly, truly value my community. I am so grateful for all the people I have connected to in each of the three groups who make me feel like family. I want people to learn what is important to me after visiting my site.
I have never made a website before, or created a photo essay. So, this was a completely new experience for me. I really liked it! I found the process to be very enjoyable and did not feel like I was actually doing “homework.” At times it was difficult for me though. I had a hard time finding relevant, original images to go on each page. After finishing this project, I prefer this type of “essay” over a more “traditional” style essay that I am overly-familiar with. I feel like I got more creative with this project because of its format. Also, I am a very visual person, so being able to have my “essay’s” focal point be images was really awesome!
I chose a website layout that emphasized the pictures. I wanted those to be seen before the words. I found that giving my audience several images to look at then tying it all together with a passage at the bottom of the page was effective. I wanted to make my website look clean and simple, but still fun. I added in colors that would make it more interesting to look at, but did not overwhelm my audience with an expansive color palette. Additionally, I made the background of each page relevant to the community that was being discussed. For example, I chose a patterned background with moving shapes to emphasize creativity for my “creators” page.
As I mentioned above, one of the more challenging parts to this project was the visual aspect. I had an idea in my head of what image I wanted to use, but I often could not find the right one. That meant I had to turn to Google to find what I needed. This of course makes my site less personal as there are less original photos. I am really bummed that I was not able to include more original photos because personally I love seeing other people’s unique and fun images of friends, family, and places. I chose each image because it represents an aspect of the community that it is connected to. For example, I included a video of my high school’s marching band on the “creators” page because one way I am involved in the creative community is by being a musician. If you navigate my site, you can see that each visual ties back to the overall community.
When writing my passages, I wanted to sound as genuine as possible. I wrote in a casual, warm tone that I use when talking to my classmates. I did not want to sound formal because then that would sound too stiff, and maybe make me seem like this distant, unreachable character. Instead, writing more casually makes the audience feel more closely connected to me as a student and as a young adult, which is what I want. As you can see after clicking around on my website, I wrote a passage for each image (except the ones of me on the home page because those are self-explanatory) and a passage at the bottom of each page to sum everything up. I wanted to give context for each image so the audience would understand why I included it. The text at the bottom of each page gives more of an overall understanding of what the community means to me.
I strongly recommend you watch through the videos I included in my site because I chose them for a reason. Other than that, I just want to say I had a really fun time making this website.
If you want, comment below on some images or sentences that stuck out to you after looking through my site as well as communities that you are a part of in your own life. I put a lot of work into it, so I hope you enjoy! Stay healthy, and talk to you later!
Clarissa
WritinginSocal 