Photography changes who we are; Photography how we choose to represent ourselves.

Assignment 1: Activity 1

In a society where people are benefitted by freedom of expression, it is important for us to know the tools we are able to use to send a message out to the public of how we should be addressed, respected or just being identified as someone that is existing in the neighborhood, and photography is one of those tools which effectively show how we choose to represent ourselves.

As I was reading the article titled Photography Changes How We Represent Ourselves by Barbara Buhler Lynes which is about Alfred Steiglitz’s photography on Georgia O’ Keeffe, I was amazed of how we can manipulate and sort of control the minds of people just by mere pictures and how something as simple as a picture could create a social impact towards either being repulsive or something as amiable as the pictures of Georgia O’ Keeffe, in my opinion. How could a person appreciate the beauty of the picture without indulging him/herself to knowing the story of the woman and find the meaning behind the nudity? Georgia O’ Keeffe being symbolized as a sexually liberated modern woman are proofs how photography works not only by flatly describing what was taken in the pictures but also knowing the story of the people behind and may permanently change their public image forever.

I once asked myself how I could convince people to believe that I’m an outdoor person, and love boxing and some martial arts, while this task may not be impossible to do, but the images of me being this girl in a modeling business still retained into those people who know me and saw my pictures. Even though I left the modeling career a long time ago, it still remained that I am this woman who walks the ramp in high heels and don’t know how to be rough and tough. Call it “the stereotype for supermodels”, but that is the first impression my family and friends have been showing me. I shouldn’t have showed them the photos but there is nothing I can do at this moment.