Place of Mind

Pictures tell a story, the story is based on the viewer. My pictures that I made can mean almost anything. you look at the first photo. It's a game store, that store is gamestop. I've been working at that store for a year now I've made many memories and many friends during my time working there. I chose this as my first picture because I visit this place almost everyday. I'm a manager at this store. I was hired on September 23rd 2018, I felt awkward when I first started working there. I didn't know who anyone was, everyone kinda looked down on me and expected a lot from me. At the time I was hired as a guest adviser, meaning I was at the bottom of the totem pole. I had very little responsibility. My whole purpose was to clean and make sure everything was organized. The store is not complicated, but it's very easy to make mistakes. I made mistakes often, I was always so nervous when talking to guests or my co-workers because I didn't know anything about being friendly or kind to people. As time went on I began to develop a friendship with 3 people at my store. Josh who was my boss at the time, Veronica a manager who helped me get t where I am now and, Yvette one of the nicest people you will ever meet. Although josh was my boss he didn't act like it until I messed up, he was calm and reserved and always liked to have fun when we worked together. As I started to work there more he started to trust me and give me more responsibility. We eventually got to the point of being so close we use to play video games together outside of work. we began to talk about or personal lives, as well as girlfriends and our parents. He was always so kind to me except when I messed up. When i messed up he became a boss and scolded me and told me how to improve, he cared about how i developed into a worker and a person. Josh is no longer working at gamestop. Veronica is still a manger at my store today. She is one of the most meanest and evil person you will ever meet. She may seem like that on the outside but she really is just a softie on the inside. she is like a mother, she wants everyone to do good but if you mess up she will be disappointed and show her disappointment. She is the reason I'm a manger today. and Yvette was just someone who treated me like a little brother. She cared about my well being, my life, and my relationships. This image is a major part of my life and will continue to be that major part.

My next image is my house. Everyone is gonna take a picture of their house. Anyway I chose my house because when I'm not working of at school i like to stay home any spend time with my girlfriend and dog. I chose this spot because its very significant to me. I live with my girlfriend of 4 years, and her mother. I have been living with them for 3 years now. At first we didn't live in this house we use to live in a small 2 bedroom condo. Honestly living in a condo is one of the worst things in the world. I chose this picture because it represents my life outside of work and school. I love being at home, and I love being with my girlfriend.

The next picture is a McDonald's. This place is the start of my work Career. My first job ever was at this McDonalds and i hated working here. This job will honestly make you want to kill yourself. I recommend that everyone should work in fast food at least once in their life because it's really an eye opener when someone works there. McDonalds is the type of job that is horrible smelly and all around just gross to be there. Even with that i still worked here for about a year. During that year I seen people come and go thinking that McDonalds is a joke. Which to an a point it is, But its still a business and needs to be respected life one.

The next picture is what me and my friends like to call the LAB. Now the Lab isn't a place where we study science. I mentioned before that I play competitive YU-GI-OH. I know many people don't know how YU-GI-OH is played and that is okay, I understand that everyone has there own interests and hobbies. YU-GI-OH has brought me great joy and happiness. I started to play when i was a kid, I never really understood how to play the game seriously so I would always goof around but I loved the game anyway. Fast forward to the year 2016. I'm living with my girlfriend and we decide to go to Walmart because we needed some items for house. I decided to look around the card section, because I was also watching the YU-GI-OH TV show at the time. So I told my girlfriend lets get these structure decks. and that began my YU-GI-OH career. The LAB isn't at my house its actually at my friends Dan. As I became more and more competitive, I started to meet new people and Daniel is one of those people He helped me build a good deck, always trades with me and helps me when we are about to go to a regional. That's his garage Where we like to practice, play video games and just have a good time.

The Image that i made is a store called Top Cut Comics. This store is located in Berwyn, IL. This store is where I began to play competitively. This store is filled with a bunch of super try hard jerks, But when you meet the right people everything becomes a lot smoother and easier to handle. the first time I ever when to this store i was excited to play. I had a decent deck and was ready to take on anyone who came my way. although I was confident in my ability, but I never knew that the people in this store were so much better than I was. I was disappointed at how I lost all 4 rounds., So I decided to go back home every week and practice my ass off, I even changed my deck 6 times before I was confident I could be beat everyone. I eventually got good enough to the point where I started to compete at regional tournaments. Now in the photo you can see the words OTS tournament. That is just a local tournament with people from around the area just playing for cash prizes. That Saturday it was one of the busiest days ever. So many people showed up to play and compete and to many it may look like a bunch of sweaty nerds but a lot of those people are friends and good people all around.

When i think about a photo I like to look at the items surrounding the photos and the facial expression each person has. Pictures now a days are so fake and its not real. Barthes' Stated " I see photographs everywhere, like everyone else." we al see photographs but we never see the story behind the photographs.