Part 1

As we reflect on different phases of our lives, sometimes we do not get to pick and choose the place and time. This particular moment in time has a gentleman, who appears to have lived a long life and has a lot of memories to reflect upon. This man works in a large city in what appears to be a large corporation. He seems to be reflecting on his life and appears to be lonely. Has he done enough? Has he done too much and alienated himself from his family? Is feeling regret? He is seen outside of his office in several different settings and is deep in thought. He also appears to be working on retirement papers and is making a pivotal and different decision in his life. With him being on the outside of his office building, he is seeing the world from a different lens and is realizing that there is more to life than his 8 to 5 day job. He is seen sitting on a variety of different benches and locations and I believe that these are symbolic of how he is feeling about finding happiness outside of work. There is a shot of his prescription glasses, folded up, sitting on a table. This is symbolic of him seeing the world from a different perspective. He is able to open up and see life from a different angle. We don’t see it here, but I believe this gentleman has been involved in a serious, traumatic moment in his life that has opened his mind to life outside of his normal, mundane lifestyle. The overall feeling of this sequence of photos is negative and sad. The loneliness of this man can be felt like a ton of bricks on his shoulders and ours alike. I can feel the weight of these photos and I am confident that any one that views the photos can feel the same. This man’s life has come to a boiling point, per say, and it is time for a new phase in his life. I can’t help but to think that this man is stricken with guilt and regret, assumingly because he has spent almost his entire life working for the man. It is a difficult decision to make, when you are used to the same routine for 20 or more years. Giving up his normal, everyday life of going to work is a very tough decision and we can tell this by the various shots of him in deep thought and reflection. I feel as though he is making the correct decision and is ready to give his life to his family now.

Part 2

Reflection

I have thoroughly enjoyed working on this project. Using still photos to convey a story or a deeper meaning it's something that is not utilized enough and is being forgotten in today's day in age with videos and social media controlling the narrative. I actually utilized part 1 of this assignment in my resource science class last week when I introduced atoms and molecules to my class. I showed a set of pictures of different things zoomed way in and had my class write a paragraph describing it. After we went over their responses, we looked at what each thing was zoomed out and it was astonishing how surprised some of my kids were. Would it have been easier to show a video on YouTube of this? Sure. But would have I gotten such a great response and have them "hooked" on this topic - probably not.