The Mayflower

Yesterday was our first meeting with the residents of the Mayflower. It was excellent! I loved talking to Arlene about her life, where she grew up, and what she likes to do now. She loves art and writing and I  cannot wait to see some of her work! I also enjoyed meeting her husband, Bernie, who is Jenny's community partner.
It was a great experience to get to exchange photographs. Sharing my book was a lot of fun, and seeing the photo that Arlene chose to share, and hearing the stories that went along with it, made me excited for the future of what our partnership through this class holds. I cannot wait to create a book with her. She also mentioned that she had already created a photo book about her family, and I hope I get to see it!

Life is Beautiful

Our first graded assignment in Memory and Photo was to create a Mini-Project, a photo book based that tells our story. When I first got this assignment, I was afraid of how it would turn out - I love to scrapbook, and I was afraid that my style in scrapbooking would rub off too much on my photo book.
Now that I'm finished with the assignment, I am so happy with how it turned out and the journey I took while making it. I know it might sound cliche, but I feel like I was discovering feelings and pieces of myself that I hadn't been able to put down in words before this project. For the first time, I could use pictures to express myself, feeling like this is a more reflective option due to the fact that the pictures have an effect that words cannot. It was an emotional experience, but in a good way - a reflection of my life, goals, love, and where my heart truely lies.
On the first page/cover of my book, I used the picture of the dragonfly that I used on the first day of our class. As I said in the previous blog post, this photo encompasses it all - my family, my religion, and happy memories. It seems strange that a picture that I took of a dragonfly could describe so much, make me feel so many different emotions - but it does. This is something that I look forward to learning about in this class.

The next page is  a spread of some family photos. The top photo is of my mother's family, after my Grandfather passed away. The bottom photo is of my father's family, my Bon Papa and Grandmother in the middle and their nine children surrounding them. These two photos are very formal; everyone standing in the typical photographer's position, with their hands on each others shoulders and knees. I feel that the one of my father's family is iconic, in a way. The picture of my family is one that was took after we went on a fishing trip on my Dad's bosses' boat (confusing?), The Kaizen (Japanese for "Continual Improvement"). Though our body placement is very formal, the picture itself is far from it. The contrast between these three photographs is essential for feeling their full effect. The joy on our faces is, to me, impossible to capture in a formal setting - we are very happy, home from a successful fishing trip, doing something we love and being together. This is my kind of family portrait! My family is very important to me, and it makes me happy to look at this photo and think back to that day and how happy we are together.

This next set of photos represent growth. The two photos on the left side are my favorite pictures of me as a child. The first picture is of my older sister Lauren and me, and no, my face isn't naturally like that. The photographer's background had fallen onto the floor and made a loud noise; ever since then, it was a fight for my mom to get me back to a professional photographers. The second photo is of me on an inflatable turtle at "The Rapids," a waterpark that we used to go to. The funny part is, they still have those turtles. Our reading this week also discussed taste and smell as being essential to invoking our memories, and this holds true for this particular photo. When we went to the Rapids, we would go and get Krispy Kreme donuts at the factory down the street - since then, I have only had a few Krispy Kreme donuts, but when I do, I always think of our times at the Rapids, sitting in the sun and drifting lazily in the water. The photo on the right page is one my sister took while we were at Zion State Park in Utah (the dragonfly photo was taken on the same trip). For me, it represents growth, especially when paired with these two pictures. The size of the tree is incredible, and every creature is small compared to this tree - including me. It is amazing to me how something so large can grow from something so small - a giant oak tree from a tiny acorn; just like I grew from something less than a small child to an adult.

When I first saw the picture of my Bon Papa on the right page, I couldn't help but be amazed. My Uncle Michael had taken this picture of my Papa at the butterfly garden in south Florida, and placed it on the front of the pamphlet of his Memorial Service at my Church in Tequesta in June. My Papa is a very serious man, and in almost every picture I have seen of him, he has had a very serious facial expression. When I saw this photo, I was speechless. He looks so happy - this is how I remember my Papa. The second photo is one of me, taken behind the Bush building. To me, the same kind of happiness is expressed in this photo - both delighted (I would assume) by the halting of nature for us to appreciate. Also, I found it cool that our hands and arms were angled in the same way.

These next three photos represent a monumental event in my life - the transition from high school to college. When I was in high school, we would go paddleboarding on our river. It was always a great time out there with my sister, mom, aunts, and cousins. This also symbolizes the care-free attitude that I had throughout high school. The second photograph is one that was taken of me and my friends on a trip that we made to the Keys the summer after my senior year of high school. Two days after graduation, 10 friends and I spent a week in the keys, snorkeling, swimming, and doing all manners of touristy things. This is my favorite photograph of us all - we had stopped at a restaurant and found that it had a beautiful beach behind it, with white sand and colorful huts and adirondack chairs. This was, by far, one of my favorite parts of the trip. We spent the whole afternoon there, diving into the clear water and relaxing in the warm, powdery sand. This trip symbolized the end of high school for me - it was the last trip that I took with my group of friends and the last time we saw each other before we went off to high school. The picture on the right page is one that some of my Kappa Delta sisters took over the summer. This is my favorite picture of the Kappa Delta letters because it is so bright and fun. This photo represents my movement into college life through a sorority.

As the previous page represented my movement into college life through a sorority, the photo on the left page represents my movement into college life through great friends. Though a lot of them are in this class and are not pictured in this photograph, this picture for me represents the fun times we've had together. We were friends from the start - this photo was taken on the day of the first Cornell activity - we went to Wekiwa Springs. I love everyone's facial expressions, and every time I look at this photograph, it brings back so many memories of all the good times. This spread also symbolizes another big event in my life, one of the happiest days of my life. The picture is of me and my then-boyfriend of three years, Jonathan, at my senior prom. This past December, on the 23rd, Jonathan proposed to me with the pictured ring in the butterfly garden I had created as my Gold Award project my senior year of high school. He and his father had helped with this garden on many occasions, and their support, as well as the support of my family, did not falter throughout that project. Getting engaged was a monumental moment in my life, and was one of the best things that has ever happened to me.

This next set of photos symbolizes my future family. The photo on the right is a photo of my soon-to-be niece, Lucy Paige. She has been such a blessing and is so precious. The second photo is of Jonathan's family friend Danny holding his daughter Colson. I think this photo is absolutely beautiful; the love in Danny's eyes is unmistakable and heartwarming. 

 This next spread of photos represents my love of God and how important my religion is to me. I thought I would introduce myself, my family, my friends, and my future through photographs before I got to my religion. This was meant to give those who didn't know me a head start on knowing parts of my life before I get deeper into my personal beliefs. The photograph on the left page represents the power of God and the awe he can inspire in all of us. The bottom right photo represents the awe he can inspire in all of us through beauty; his creations are phenomenal. The top right photo represents the beauty of God; whenever I see this scene, the sun streaming through the clouds, I always think that God is showing himself to us, in however natural a way. The two photos on the right page also symbolize serenity.

This spread is a continuation of the serenity I feel when appreciating the beauty of the world that God has made for us. The top left photo is of a wave, taken from underneath the clear blue water. I have always had a fascination with waves, their elegance and power. When I was little, I would stand at the break of the waves and just watch them roll past me, seeing what they could stir up in the sand below. My love of waves not being practical so far away from the ocean, I have also developed a love of sailing at Rollins. The photo below the wave is of me and Amy on the end of the Rollins dock during our first home regatta. There wasn't any wind, so we were waiting there for it to come. While we were waiting, a lot of the team and our guests decided to swim out to the middle of the lake and float on life jackets. This scene to me is incredibly serene. Sailing in general is one of the only ways I can get away from it all - when I'm out there on the water, all I can think about is the precision of my movements, the direction of the wind, feeling the cool water or rain, and sailing fast. The picture on the right page is one of my favorites - it was taken by a professional underwater photographer. The look of calm upon the little girl's face inspires me to be calm as well. The three photos go together in their theme and their color scheme - I often times am most calmed by being near the water.

The last page of my book continues on the theme of serenity found in water or the ocean. The top left photograph is of my cousin Cara swimming with dolphins in the Bahamas. I am a big ocean environmentalist and it is one of my goals in life to ensure that these beautiful creatures have a healthy ocean to strive in. I also would like to be a marine biologist - the scientific aspect of this job represented in the picture of the balloon taken using high-speed cameras. This is one of the most fascinating and entertaining forms of science to me - so much can be discovered by looking at natural processes in slow motion. In this photo, a water balloon was popped with a needle - as you can see, though the balloon is squished into one area when it is popped, the water retains its form.
The last photo is of a school of fish circling around a diver. Over the summer, we had to do an art and personal discovery project called the Mandala project. Mandalas are circular pieces of art, first created out of sand by Buddhist Monks. This circular pattern is to encompass, more or less, the essence of a person. This is my Mandala. This is my future. This circular piece of natural, God-created art represents my future, which lies in working with the ocean and conserving its creatures.

Throughout this project, I have discovered much about myself. Looking back on my life makes me happy, and I am appreciative beyond measure to those who made that possible and ensured that it was the case.

Day One

Today marked the first day of the new semester, and I am excited to see how things and classes develop. Once hearing more about my Memory and Photography Honors class, I can't wait to get started on our projects and working with the residents of the Mayflower. I loved how, even though I know most of the people in our class very well, we got to share a photograph that was significant to us and explain why. It's awesome to see the creativity of my close friends displayed in a different setting. Featured above is the photo I shared in class today. This photo is of a dragonfly in Zion National Park in Utah. I absolutely love this photo because it reminds me of the trip that I took with my family to Las Vegas and Zion/Bryce Canyon/Grand Canyon National Parks - I even remember the exact moment that I took this photo. It was about 107 degrees outside and we had started an early morning hike with the goal to get to the highest "Emerald Pool," a freshwater water system that ran throughout the mountains, before the heat got too intense. Throughout our hike, we kept seeing these beautiful vivid blue dragonflies flitting around us. As we stopped for water near a small stream, a dragonfly landed by our side on a cool rock. I snapped the picture, and am still amazed at how the natural lighting manages to fall on the dragonfly so it looks like it is under the spotlight - God's way of highlighting his creatures, I suppose! Not only does it remind me of that moment and that trip, but it also leads me to think about other memories as well. This picture is a gateway for me, one that triggers something in me that makes me think about other trips and family times, in turn making me feel happy. I can't wait to learn more about this concept - how one picture can trigger memories and emotions, even if you weren't the one to take the picture. 
To get back to our class, I am very excited to learn more about how the mind processes memories and how photography relates to that. I thought the reading about the myths that we did today was really awesome, and I can't wait to spend more time on those. I also can't wait to learn about how the brain processes memories and why some memories seem to be distorted, or why you can't remember certain things at all (for example, when I give a presentation, sometimes I get so nervous that I go up front and babble on, and when I sit down, I can't remember a word that I've said). The service learning aspect of this class is something new to me, but I can't wait to get started. I have no idea what working with the residents of the Mayflower is going to be like; I have, however, heard many cool stories about the residents there from my peers and am going in with an open mind. I love interacting with people - I am a big people person - so I am excited to hear what the residents want to share about their lives with me. Dr. Queen mentioned in class today that some of the residents are working on autobiographies - this hits close to home for me because my Bon Papa (Grandfather) wrote a book about his early life and his escape from Nazi Europe. He passed away late this past May and I am fortunate that he has left his legacy behind in the form of a book that I can share with my loved ones and children someday (he also left behind the memories we have together, but those are a little less reliable ;]).