The joy of everyday life A photo essay by Erin Coverdale COMM375: Visual Communications May 31, 2020
The joy of everyday life Introduction March 16th, 2020 marked the first day of many days that I would be working from home and learning from home due to the impacts of COVID-19. In these initial days, there was a lot of fear and concern with what the future would bring. The local grocery stores had empty shelves and food limits. Small businesses had closed their doors. It was no longer safe to visit friends and family members. In these uncertain times, I sought out hope and optimism in the little moments of joy found in everyday life. Over many days I captured those joys that might not be obvious until you begin to look for them. This might be the feeling of waking up in the morning to sunshine, sipping a hot cup of coffee in the quiet hours of the morning, or planting flowers in the garden bed at the front of the house that has sat empty with weeds for far too long. These small moments of joy bring gratitude for the simple but wonderful experiences of everyday life. I share this series to encourage other to find the habit of recognizing small moments of joy, especially in times of turmoil or change.
The joy of waking up early to the morning sunshine.
The joy of hitting the snooze for five more minutes of sleep.
The joy of a hot cup of coffee in the quiet of the morning.
The joy of exercise in the fresh outside air (after you find old-school weights in the garage).
The joy of gifted flowers brightens up the home office.
The joy of company when working from home.
The joy of the escape to quiet trails for a lunch time stroll.
The joy of a dog’s infectious enthusiasm.
The joy of freshly cut grass.
The joy of planting flowers in the garden bed, once abandoned, but now filled with colour.
The joy of nature’s brilliant colours.
The joy of rest after a day of yard work.
The joy of treating yourself to a nice glass of red and some relaxation (none for Ruby though).
The joy of mid-evening light and more quiet trails.
The joy of watching a sunset and the magic of the water mimicking the sky.
Compositional Analysis I wanted to share examples of thoughts and feelings of joy through image. I captured the photos over several weeks through April and May. I wanted the photos to evoke emotion and convey warmth. All photos where captured with an iPhone 10 camera. Some photos used the standard photo setting and for others I used the portrait mode. I chose an array of images that capture all types of activities and experiences throughout the day. I arranged the images with intent to provide a timeline of one day (morning to night), although the photos were not all captured in one day. For editing, I used the standard editing functions within the iPhone 10 camera app. I used the cropping tool to implement the rule of thirds to have the focus of my photo in a balanced position and allow the audience to "interact with it more naturally" (Rowse, n.d.). This framing and cropping tool was used on many images to help shape the focal point of each image. I also used the other iPhone editing functions to adjust brightness, sharpness, and other attributes of the photo. Lastly, I used standard iPhone filter, ‘Vivid,’ to apply a consistent aesthetic across the images. The photos are all captured from my point of view. I am not the subject in my photos as I wanted to capture shots from my perspective that made me feel a certain way. There are a range of viewpoints. In some photos I'm looking down upon something (for example, a coffee mug in my lap), in others I am looking out into the distance at something ahead, or I knelt to capture the details of the flower garden (Warn, n.d., p. 13). As the intent of the photos are to convey feeling of joy and optimism, I chose to use a warmer hue of the image. I also included photos that had some graininess or movement to them to help convey the reality of life (it’s not always picture-perfect).
Photo Analysis This is Ruby, our dog, who had recently won the battle of spending her nights in our bed rather than her own. I will explore the meaning using a semiotic approach. This approach is described as "the study of anything that can be taken as a sign" (Aiello & Parry, 2019, p. 24). According to Barthes, "visual meaning can be articulated into the two separate levels of denotation and connotation" (Aiello & Parry, 2019, p. 24). Denotative meaning refers to the immediate or literal meaning relating to the image’s representation. Connotative meaning refers to the symbolic meanings of an image "inscribed by cultural codes" (Aiello & Parry, 2019, pp. 24-25). The image shows a dog looking out the bedroom window from under a blanket. We see the dog from a side-profile and from the window light pours in onto the face of the dog and the blanket. The dog represents some human characteristics. She faces the window and has her eyes partially squinting, representing tired eyes. The blanket draped over her shoulders is an image we can relate to as humans. The dog has relatable qualities which help engage the viewer. The lighting in this photo helps to create focus on the subject. The brightness of the light from outside cascades onto the dog’s face and the blanket immediately surrounding. In contrast, the light creates shadows on the background behind the dog, as well on the blanket that is closer to the photographer. The soft shadows allow for the dog to stand out as the subject and draws the viewers to her. The image has a calming quality to it, and the hue of the image supports this. The hue is the scale of colour from blue to red (Kress & Van Leeuwen, 2002, 357). Kress & Van Leeuwen (2020) go on to explain that each end of the scale has associations such as red with warmth and blue with calm (p. 357). The natural light and the soft colour of the background are representational of the blue end of the spectrum which displays calmness in the image. There is a connotative meaning of this photo representing the start of a new day. The dog’s eyes are squinting slightly which infers tiredness. The bright daylight through the window to the left indicates it is morning time and the beginning of the day.
References Aiello, G & Parry, K. (2019). Visual Communication: Understanding images in media culture. London, UK: SAGE. Kress, G. & Van Leeuwen. (2002). Color as a semiotic mode: Notes for a grammar of color. Visual Communication, 1(3), 343-368 Rowse, D. (n.d.). Rule of Thirds. Digital Photography School. https://digital-photography-school.com/rule-of-thirds/ Warn, A. (n.d.). Photo Essays & Creating a Photo Story [PowerPoint presentation]. Retrieved from https://moodle.royalroads.ca/moodle/mod/resource/view.php?id=424938