Stranger in Me

Who am I? That is a question that I have been asked time and time again. I usually just answer with I am Szymon Szwajnos, an 18 year old boy trying to become a police officer, and just trying to make it in life. Also working part time at Mc Donald’s and also trying to do well in school to get that much closer to getting my degree. I am the oldest child in my family with my 2 siblings, a younger brother and sister. My whole life I have had to go through a lot and have dealt with plenty of inner emotions. When I was younger, I was always innocent and very trusting to everyone but due to that lots of people used that as a means to use me. But due to that I have grown stronger and learn to only rely on myself. I tend to distance myself from people and keep to myself a lot even though I use to always want to be accepted by people. And saying that I can say that growing up has definitely changed my perspectives on what I see from a day to day basis and has made me enjoy all the good things in life.

Photos are a representation to symbol whatever a person see’s in a picture. Photos can have many different kinds of meaning to anyone when in a picture. A picture on someone could have a huge meaning to a person or will not have any meaning at all due to it all depending on how they look at the pictures. The meaning is behind what it is your taking a picture because a picture can be seen as having a moment in your life that you wanted to capture for your entire life. “Photographs furnish evidence. Something we hear about, but doubt, seems proven when we’re shown a photograph of it.” (Sontag 5) Which to me is exactly what I think a picture is because with a meaning to a picture it gives you a reason to remember why that picture was taken and what it means to you. With evidence like a photograph you can always know what is really there and true to the eye.

Most of my life I never really got along with other people in my classes because I never really talked to people and always kept to myself. I had been bullied when I was young, and it might play a part to why I tend to hide my real side of me from the world and try to be someone people can look at and be fine with. But in reality, I am a quiet person who tends to over think every little thing that I come across and how I should react the next time a similar situation comes to arise. "In one version of its utility the camera record incriminates." (Sontag 5) I this quote is a good example to use when talking about my second photo because it shows my real perspective I have of myself and that is that I am alone in this world and that I cannot continue to rely on people around me because it if I can’t achieve my desire myself then I will just end up feeling weak in the end. I never have been a lazy person and even though I spend a lot of time lounging around my house I am always thinking about different ways to better my life and stay prepared for how I will work towards the future that I wanted.

I think that both my pictures show both sides of me since in my selfie I show a common picture with a fake smile on my face. That smile isn’t brought on by anything that made me want to smile it’s just there to make me feel like the picture will be more accepted by the people that see it themselves. I normally don’t tend to smile a lot because I feel that if I don’t find it to be a fun moment then it is not needed. While on the other side in my second photograph shows my side that makes me want to be strong and continue to work towards any goals, I make a strive to make it alone and work hard for a good future from myself. I maybe have grown up already and have a lot of thoughts in my head but once I accept myself and show the whole who I truly am by stopping the wanting of acceptance of the people around I will never truly feel completely matured. “The photograph is to appropriate the thing photographed. It means putting oneself into a certain relation to the world that feels like knowledge and therefore, like power.” (Sontag, 4). This quote makes me think about how being vulnerable which can make you feel like your showing too much of the true version of yourself. I like photographs for that because it the little and tiniest details that can give away who a person really is. Pictures can always give you a good inside look at who someone else is and helps you understand what other are thinking.

Susan Sontag talked about the importance of photographs and how they have been used for centuries and how it gives lots of information which is very true since I have always enjoyed taking pictures especially with my family and friends. They tend to give more personal value to them and make the photos a more of an impact on you when you see or look at the pictures. All this makes me feel like that what Sontag said, “the camera is the ideal arm of consciousness in its acquisitive mood.” (Sontag 4) I think this quote can be used to metaphorically talk about smart phones since everyone has one and people are constantly taking pictures if it means they can post and share the good things in their life. I have shown a tendency to also do that when I am out with friends or out at a fancy dinner. No matter where it is you can always take picture’s as long as you have a smartphone or camera. In my second photo I took that before I went out to dinner with a couple friends. I may not be anything too special, but I definitely enjoyed how well my outfit looked and how I would stand out in a crowd.

Susan Sontag’s piece, “In Plato’s Cave” I have my mind opened up to just how much pictures have of an impact on my everyday life and the benefits of being able to enjoy pictures. I have lots of pictures of me especially when I was younger and a lot less aware of what is happening around me. Although seeing old pictures of me and my family can be back fond memories that I have made with all of them and it can give me a great nostalgic feeling of happiness. I think that a lot of people can see this as a good ideal of photographs since photographs all can give a lot of reasons to enjoy life to the fullest or just to help out in life. For example, I have had to use pictures in my classes time and time again to help with assignments or to future my educations towards my degree. I had to look for plenty of clues and little things in my forensics class and investigation classes to get a better understanding of the topics I have been learning.

Works Cited-

• Sontag, Susan. “In Plato’s Cave.” On Photography, Dell Publishing, 1977, pp. 3-24. Composition Flipped, writing101.net/flip/wp-content/resources/documents/sontag-in-platos-cave.pdf.