Reading Response #2

Starting first with the behind the scenes article by Lauren Greenfield, I found it very interesting how Greenfield did not start her photographic career shooting her own culture considering how she wanted to shoot other cultures. Another aspect I found very interesting about this article as well as photography as a hold is how very simple photos often have a greater impact than photos with a large production value. The photo of Mijanou and friends gives the aesthetic as if it was just randomly shot, rather than a planned shoot or series.

Moving on to the second article, Toni Morrison’s The Fisherwomen, the biggest and first question that comes to mind is who exactly was the fisherwomen? Was she an imagined being by the writer, or as suggested, was she completely lying about her identity and character? In my opinion, the answer to that debate is the first option, the fisherwomen being an imagined character. I feel that way because even if she had lied about her identity, there should have been at least a single individual who recognized her description rather than not one having ever seen or heard of a character who would appear to be unmissable.

For my photos attached to this reading response I wanted to focus on the National Geographic ‘foreign’ aspect of the article by Greenfield. Nature and wildlife photography is something I really enjoy doing. Each of the five photos I uploaded were taken on past trips to Africa. Some were taken in Kenya while the others taken in South Africa: