Asgmt. #3: Don't just Do something, stand there!

Part 1 :No Photos! Yet...

DAY 1: (Wednesday)

Dirt in between the treads of my boots.

Ethernet cables, different color, Yellow and blue, one going up, one going down.

Crack patterns look like a face in the sidewalk.

The fade of wood grain in the sun off a table, one side bleached white and the other side golden, as from the original stain

Girlfriend tucks laces inside of her shoes when taking them off.

Indentations in the wall where chairs have been thrown up against them

A trail of dropped paint down a set of stairs

Guy on the bus with his shoes falling apart at the toe

Water bottle cap pounded into the dirt

People's water bottle stickers, Messages, favorite brands, logos, and funny sayings

DAY 2: (Thursday)

The outline of a phone in someone's pocket

At the neckline of someone's shirt

A pole that has paint from where cars have scratched up against it

Black marks that look like they've been painted on the curb Where buses have scraped their tires

Keychains swinging back and forth on backpacks

A kid pushing a pull door

Various people's fingernail lengths (this one was really interesting)

A clock that doesn't work in the north commons

Bumper stickers: driving through the parking deck, both a variety of colors and mixed content, Political, nature, brands, etc. and why are there so many blue bumper stickers for the dentist?

DAY 3: (Friday)

Keystones in the campus architecture on nearly every building

The golden contacts on my SD card, and how they have little fingers that are more glossy

Scratches all up and down the inside of the door frame, showing how the door has expanded and retracted on its hinges over the seasons and made contact with different spots.

The little nicks and scratches on my Apple Watch, and me trying to recollect them when I made them. I know of one which I hit off a rock, when I was boldering.

The underside of my mouse and all the different little scratches that are on the pads got me thinking of what surfaces this has been on and the thousands of movements I've made, And I've only had it for like two months. Later on, I also was looking at the bottom sides of mice attached to some of the campus computers and seeing the different levels of wear and dirt on the different mice.

My frieinds frayed-out charging cord that looks awful, dirty, and could potentially be a fire hazard.

Part 2: Now Photos!

Takeaways from Days 4-6

This experience wasn't really what I thought it would be. In the end, I assumed it would just be sort of like how I normally shoot: I normally carry my camera with me and take pictures whenever I'm able or have some free time to walk around. This time, I had my camera in moments that I wouldn't have usually had it in, and I also took a lot of pictures, probably ones that I wouldn't have taken if it weren't for this assignment. Especially whenever I'm taking pictures, I try to not take pictures of stuff that is completely useless. I find myself very often trying to first think if something is Interesting or visually pleasing, and then taking a picture of it.However, based off the instructions for this assignment, I was taking pictures of things that also really meant nothing to me and that I didn't care about. Frankly, I had no intentions of using them at any point, but I still took a picture of them. For example, I took a picture of the concrete posted above because I thought that I saw an image of a hot air balloon in the outline, which makes it alive and interesting from my perspective. I feel like most of the time, it has to mean something to me to be both visually interesting and impactful to me as both the artist and the viewer.On the other hand, I also took a picture of a receipt that was crumpled up on the floor of my car. Whenever I took that picture, I knew I wasn't going to use it, and it didn't mean anything to me because it's just a crumbled-up receipt. But I still did it, and I think it other meaningless things like it may have opened my eyes up slightly more to perceive and discern the things and observations within my reality from that which is meaningful and that which is meaningless.And now sitting here at my desk when thinking about this kind of concept, I find it very interesting to maybe try to Intentionally take meaningless photos and make a collection of meaningless photos. As potentially a collage or collection of meaningless images may become meaningful by their relationship of being meaningless. That's enough semantics for now before I make my head hurt, however it's a potential idea to explore in a later project.Another thing that I took away from this assignment that I Would have not expected is one of my observations affecting my relationship (in a good way). One of the notes that I took on Wednesday was about my girlfriend's behavior of taking her shoelaces and tucking them inside of her shoes when she takes them off. And this Sunday, after she had a long day, I was taking her shoes off for her. I took them off, and put the laces inside the shoes as she does. She noticed what I did and it made her Incredibly happy to the point where she said that it made her day, and that's all because I noticed it as a part of this assignment in the previous week. Overall, I think this was a really beneficial assignment for me from what I was able to take away from it, and how I got some decent pictures out of it and noticed a few things about myself, other people, and ordinary things I would have typically passed by every day without giving much thought about. I however did get so many questions from the people I know asking why I was carrying my camera around everywhere., something around 7 or 8 times, I was asked why I had it with me, to the point, it became actually kind of funny. As well as the situations it put me in such as carrying my camera around Aldi, carrying all my groceries in one hand and my camera in the other.