EXERCISE IN OBSERVATION
WHAT CAN YOU SEE IN THESE PHOTOGRAPHS?
What you do not see is just as important and relevant as what you see!
What you do not say is just as important and relevant as what you say!
WHAT CAN YOU NOT SEE?
LOOK AT THE CARTOON
What do you see?
Describe Each FRAME of the Cartoon - there are 3 Frames.
When you are finished Write what you think the Message is!
Left Frame Middle Frame RightFrame
 4 things to do
1. Describe the left frame.
2. describe middle frame
3. describe right frame
4. Write what you think the message of the whole picture is. What story does it tell.
Descriptive Narrative:
Describing is not guessing.
Sometimes you have to speculate somewhat.
You draw an inference from what is evident.
There is what appears to be a person in the left frame.
This is an accurate description. Is it a man? How do you know?
He was so tired that he laid down to have a sleep.
Really? How do you know that? That is pure imagination.
Imagination is not description.
This person is laying on his/her back with legs and arms outstretched.
This is an accurate description.
It appears that he may have fainted, be dead, sleeping, or resting.
This is descriptive speculation.
He is dead! - is imagination! You can't know it for a fact! Description is about FACT!
Some Students have written that the man is in a desert. How can you know if he is in a desert? It appears to be a desert, but then again, appearances can be deceiving. Take a look at this photo!
Are these people walking in a desert?
 Here is the photo again
 and Again
 And Again
 And one last time - of what is behind the cameraman
 OK - Here is the story to go with the Cartoon character and the men in the desert
A disappointed salesman of Coca Cola returns from his Middle East assignment.
A friend asked, "Why weren't you successful with the Arabs?"
The salesman explained "When I got posted in the Middle East , I was very confident that I would make a good sales pitch as Cola is virtually unknown there. But, I had a problem I didn't know to speak Arabic. So, I planned to convey the message through three posters...\
First poster: A man lying in the hot desert sand...totally exhausted and fainting. Second poster: The man is drinking our Cola.
Third poster: Our man is now totally refreshed. And Then these posters were pasted all over the place
"Then that should have worked!" said the friend.
"The hell it should had!? said the salesman. Didn't realize that Arabs read from right to left"
So what does the Advertisement read if read from Right to Left?
Learn to describe what you see - not what you imagine about what you see!
Learn to write about what is written - not what you imagine about what is written!
One may speculate! But while 'speculation' and 'Imagine' may be synonyms, they do not have the same exact meaning.
You may speculate that since the ground upon which the man is laying and running appears to be sand, and that sand appears as it would in a dessert setting, or in some beach locations, that it is a desert. It appears to be a desert! (It may not be!)
To imagine that the man is taking a rest, whilst speculation, is not accurate descriptive writing. The man appears to be resting! The Man appears to be dead! The man appears to be in a faint! The man appears to be sleeping!
You must describe what is in evidence! Not what is not in evidence!
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