Monday, November 1, 2010

My attempt at capturing my topic through photography:

When trying to capture the topic of STD prevention, I ran into a bit of an obstacle, that obstacle being the sensitivity of sexual health. STDs and sexual health in general have always been something of a hush hush topic. Most people don't feel comfortable talking about this topic openly. To protect the privacy of people seeking STD prevention or treatment services, I decided that taking pictures of people was out of the question. So I focused on one of the most public places on campus that has evidence of STD Prevention. I was able to find the University's attempt at free condom distribution and a small section of brochures on STD prevention to take pictures of. I have included two versions of both these scenes below and a description of what message I intend them to convey. All four pictures are unedited and captured using my cell phone camera.


This picture of the basket of free condoms in the Student Health Center shows what someone seeking this service would encounter. The condoms are sitting on a welcome desk in plain view to anyone that comes in. You can see from this picture how someone might feel a little self conscious taking condoms and how that might prevent them from practicing safe sex. This picture utilizes the rule of thirds with the focus being on the basket of condoms. The accompanying fliers on the desk around the basket are slightly out of focus.

This picture of the same subject is a little closer up and features the condoms in the basket a little more. The angle of the picture is taken more from above which can be more interesting than a straight on shot. Here again, the rule of thirds is evident with the focus again on the basket in the top right corner. The colors of the condom wrappers are a little more vibrant and shows a little bit of repetition with the one white condom contrasting with the rest.

This photo displays some of the literature available on the topic of sexual health and STD prevention. Its somewhat of a limited selection but I tried to highlight the Safer Sex brochure because it seemed to pop out the most. Instead of centering it, I kept it in the bottom corner.

The only real difference between this version and the one of above is the slight angle change. It is a slightly higher angle than the first. The property of repetition can be seen here because there are multiple brochures in the shot. These two photos are taken relatively close up to make sure the brochures were the only thing in the picture.