Week 2 of AYA has not yet to disappoint. Once again meeting so many new people and continuing to learn new lessons. However, aside from that, one thing I did notice all throughout the week was the power of a camera, and how many appearances they made.
Starting with something simple, such as the photographers that come into the room to take pictures of when the guest speakers come. Maybe even the pictures our advisors take of us at random times. The cameras that are being used to create the wide range of hip-hop rappers music videos. The Annenberg cameras the class used this week to take pictures around the campus. The camera on our computers that allows us to interview people on zoom for our podcasts. The cameras used to film the movies and shows that Bryant Gomez recommended us to watch. The camera that took horrendous pictures of Chelsea and I in the photo booth. All the way down to the camera on our phones that we used to sneak videos in the Japanese American National Museum today. The big question is what is the point of the camera. That answer is pretty simple in my opinion, and it is to capture the moment with a meaning.
If you think about it, people would not invest lots of money on cameras, and time to take film or pictures, if there was no meaning to it. Starting again, with the photographers, most likely taking pictures for the guest speakers themselves, and to share with us as we have gotten a few of them already. This photograph can help us commemorate the guest speaker and what they had to say. The pictures and videos taken of us, this goes without saying, they are most likely to be posted or sent to us. However this can have a deeper meaning and is showing everyone else what we have been up to. The whole idea of us taking pictures around campus was to capture the moment in the right shot, hence why we took so many. Most cameras being used for film have a deeper meaning. For example, a singer or rapper’s song has a meaning behind it and the music video most likely portrays those ideas .Whether it be about their own personal life or worldwide problems. This goes along with the cameras used to create movies and shows, each of them have a storyline behind them and something for the viewers to get out of watching it. Whether this be a lesson to learn, a real life story to tell, or just for entertainment purposes. The camera that took pictures of Chelsea and I, is pretty self explanatory, just capturing an eventful moment. Our phone cameras have so many purposes, we have used it to complete many little assignments and projects. However, today’s focus of taking pictures was for us to be able to create a project to understand and create a narrative that spotlights the experiences of the Japanese Americans and their relocation.
Overall, something I can say that I have a better understanding from this week, is the importance of film and photography. Knowing that everything is taken for a reason and sometimes you have to find the light or dark behind it. We would not be able to create these stories and memories without the power of a camera.
Communicating Change 