Hey everyone!
For my creative project I will be taking a collection of pictures from my camera and adding short excerpts about how the nature where I lived in California helped me through my anxiety and also how it influenced my identity. The project will reflect on ideas and topics we discussed in class about how different environments can influence identity.
The pictures I am including are mostly from my collection of nature photographs that I took from around 2017-2021 in Southern California where I lived for about eight years. I found that documenting my adventures to different areas around me was not only fun but also therapeutic. I also had a journal that went along with them but from my move to California to Virginia it seems to have gone missing. Fortunately I remember the main premises around most of those journal entries. For the most part these pictures have mostly been kept to myself as I took them for myself but I am happy to finally share them and I hope they spark your interest/make you think about how the nature you grew up in influenced your life.
I have decided the best way to exhibit these pictures are on a website which will be set up with this format:
- A tab named “Journal Entries”: under this will be a drop down menu with the names of each journal entry
- In each entry there will be a collection of pictures that have something to do with each other
- A short description as to where and when the picture was taken as well as who/what it depicts
- A short excerpt (~a page long) explaining the significance of where it was taken, what it means to me and the thoughts that I had there
The entries start with the events that made me change my mindset and dive into what I was most passionate about which was nature and the science behind life. This interest that I found helped me find who I was and get through my anxiety. I am finding that the drafts for my journal entries are echoing some topics that we talked about during our discussion in The Moviegoer. With that being said they can be kind of existential but also transcendental as the landscape of Southern California evokes these kinds of thoughts in many Californians.
Here is an outline of the entries I have started on and some pictures that have already been added:
- Thoughts from a Past Life: Returning to California on a road trip from college back to my home in Temecula
- Claustrum: The part of your brain that is responsible for your ego and identity. Talks about my anxiety when I was at my lowest
- Temecungo Transcendentalism: “Where the sun breaks through the mist”: The start of my journey in the California Wilderness
I will attach a link to a google drive with some of the pictures I have downloaded off my camera during the summer. I don’t have my entire collection of pictures with me currently as I have SD cards on a Uhaul somewhere and a camera that is currently MIA?? Anywho here is a list of questions I have for you all during my workshop:
- What pictures in the drive would you like me to include?
- Any questions about the outline of the three journal entries I have so far or any thought about their contents?
- Do you want me to elaborate on any pictures for more background information?
Thank you in advance!
Here is the link to the drive.