Tropos in Photos

In the video we watched for class, we learned what tropos means. A trope is a figure of speech that helps direct the hearer or reader towards making of meaning. Tropos means a turning, direction, or way. In my first photo I showed a birthday party. I photographed this a week ago at my best friend’s 20th birthday party. The crowd at the party is included in the frame and the food provided. This is because most of the crowd was in the kitchen where the food was. The rest of the apartment is not revealed in this photo because the main crowd stayed in the kitchen where all the life was, expressing the spirit of the party. This crowded photo tells the story of my experience at the birthday party because it was crowded, and I felt very claustrophobic the whole time. Also, the food shown shows my experience at the party because I had some cookie cake and brownies and it made the party much better. My next picture was me reading my bible at bible study. This was taken a couple of weeks ago while I was reading the book of Jeremiah. My bible and me are included in the frame while the rest of the girls at bible study are not. This is because I was in the middle of smiling at something and somebody caught me candid, and bible study is a more personal experience opposed to a group experience. This picture tells my bible study experience because I am constantly learning new things in bible study that make me smile and feel more joyful. Finally, the last picture is a picture of the Clemson Tiger Walk. The crowd and the football players, along with tailgates are shown in this frame. This is because these things add to the experience of the Tiger Walk, bringing enthusiasm and cheer to the Tiger Walk. Death Valley is not included in this picture because the Tiger Walk occurs before the game starts and is outside of the stadium. This sums up my experience watching the Tiger Walk because the crowd and the players both game me a sense of hype and pride for my team.

Taking Pictures and Comparing Them

I really liked learning more about photography. I have always loved taking pictures and in the future I hope to take a photography course. All of these tips helped me and I was happy to hear that you should always care more than one memory card, because I always do that. I also carry and extra battery if my battery dies.

The first shot I have is a horizontal shot. This is a picture of people at a party. There is nobody paying attention to the picture and everybody is having a good time and socializing.

This is a shot of me reading my bible during bible study. This was taken from a different angle and is an example of looking up on a shot.

This is a shot of the tiger walk and is a vertical shot. It is also from an angle of looking down because I was standing on a hill.

I found it helpful to learn about tri pod shots because I have gotten frustrated before with my camera when my pictures did not turn out as clear or sharp as others. This is because I do not have a camera that takes tri pod shots.

My experience in another McDonald's

Since I am not in a different country, I do not have the opportunity to go to another McDonald's in the country. However, I have been to a McDonald's in Brazil and it was a great experience. It is incredible to me how McDonald's is worldwide and caters to it’s culture. In the Brazilian McDonald's, there was a lot of lemon flavor in their menu items. I found this interesting because there is nothing based on lemon in our USA McDonald's. Brazilian McDonald's has items such as “chicken lemon crispy” and “wrap crispy lemon.” USA McDonald's has ranch grilled chicken wraps and barbecue crispy chicken wraps, which seems so normal in the USA while lemon flavored sandwiches are normal in Brazil. I remember getting a regular hamburger in Brazil with “hot mustard.” The hamburger tasted a little different but the hot mustard tasted nothing like mustard in the USA. It was made with peppers and very spicy. I also ordered a “light coke” at the McDonald's in Brazil. I noticed a difference in their drinks because they do not have anything labeled as diet, everything is light. When it came to dessert time, I wanted an apple pie. Instead of apple pies, they had banana tortes. This makes sense because there is an abundance of bananas and plantains in Brazil. I enjoyed the torte, but my taste buds were not used to this so I would not eat it again. In conclusion, my McDonald's experience really opened up my eyes to other cultures taste buds and how food changes between cultures.

Nicolas Carr’s comments on Nietzsche’s typewriter

"Our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts"-Nietzsche

I thought this article was extremely interesting with many great points. Some things were brought to my attention that I would have never thought about otherwise. This statement above is true because we think in different ways when we are using different writing tools. On a computer, we think about getting the point across faster, so we use more abbreviated words such as "jk" for just kidding or "nvm" for never mind. Americans think faster on computers because their fingers are working just as fast as their mind if they are good at typing. Writing on pen and paper is different because abbreviations are not as acceptable, we think more formal and write words out. I found it extremely interesting from the article "Is Google Making Us Stupid?" about how we skim articles that are in print. I find myself doing this with my text books, but if i have something that is online, it is easier to read and absorb all of the information. I have trained my brain to read the computer better than I read print pages.
I look back on my childhood when I grew up reading books and magazines, and now children are always on "learning laptops" or playing computer games. Learning laptops are similar to regular laptops except they only promote learning activities for children. These programs are making American "stupid" because it trains our minds to be lazy. We are being lazy because instead of reading the newspaper, turning it, picking it up, all we have to do is go online and type "news" and we have millions of options. I wish that American would go back to it's old ways in print, because it is more reliable than computers. Hand written notes are so much more sincere than a quick, convenient email.