During this week, I made two reflection posts and three Daily Creates.
The first thing I did this week was write a reflection post about digital storytelling. For this reflection, I started by taking notes on all of the resources. Then, I wrote the post and added links to my examples once it was complete. Finally, I edited down the reflection because it was longer than the required 1,200 word maximum. This reflection itself was easy to write as it was simply summarizing resources and applying concepts to my daily life. The hardest part of the reflection was the word count. I tend to write and explain concepts very thoroughly, so my words count ended up being several hundred words above the maximum. Cutting down my explanations made my reflection lose some vital context. However, despite how I needed to cut down my reflection, I believe that it does answer all the assignment requirements. This reflection, while I knew most of the information already, did help solidify information on digital storytelling in my mind, and it helped me apply that information to my everyday life. While I do not having any questions regarding this reflection, I think that this reflection showed me how modern writers can benefit from learning about digital storytelling. I saw a lot of overlap between the information in the resources and information I learned in my writing classes, so creative writing students would likely benefit from seeing how they can take writing into this digital age.
The second thing I did this week was write a reflection post about visual storytelling. For this reflection, I started by taking notes on all of the resources. Then, I wrote the post and added all of the links and images. Finally, I edited down the reflection and changed blocks to meet the 1,200 word maximum. The blocks I changed were paragraph blocks, and I made them into details blocks in order to use fewer words in each point. Once again, the actual reflection itself was easy to write because of how it was summarizing and applying concepts to my own work. However, once again, the hardest part of the reflection was trying to keep the word count within the limit. I had so much that I was trying to explain that it was hard to explain it succinctly. I did, however, explain everything that the assignment asked me to, even if I personally feel that I could have explained it better. I really loved the way that this reflection was taking photography into an artistic space. I am in the Aubade Art and Literary Journal, our club art and literary journal at UMW, and a lot of the things that duChemin and the videos mentioned were concepts that I had learned about and talked about in that club. The reflection and information felt very relevant to my life beyond this class. That previous experience made it easier to understand the content I was learning.
I made three Daily Creates this week.
My first Daily Create was an experiment in photography.
In this Daily Create, I tried to play with the angle and perspective that the image was taken at. I posed my forearm crutches against the tree and then took the photo from the bottom of the crutches. I wanted it to be a worm’s eye view, but I did not exaggerate the angle enough. If I were to remake this Daily Create, I would try to exaggerate the angle even more by putting the camera even closer to the ground. The Daily Create did inspire creativity as it is meant to, but I could have been even more creative in making it. As I was walking home, I saw the tree in the photo and thought that it would be an interesting shot, but it was not planned as well as I should have. I also should have tried to control where I orientated the lighting in the photo more. This piece does not really speak to any larger ideas or issues. I wanted to compare disability and nature using forearm crutches, but I did not think through the idea fully before taking the photo.
My second Daily Create looked at editing in photography.
I was really excited to make something when I saw this Daily Create. The prompt was silly, so this Daily Create was mostly for my own enjoyment. It did, however, make me think and be creative, even if it does not engage with any larger ideas or cultural issues. I looked through the available photo options on the website, and I really liked the coconut image I found. It is a perfect circular space to put a face in, and it reminded me of a joke between my friend and I. Then, I added a picture of my face into the website. I adjusted the angle slightly to make it fit with the angle of the coconut, and I decided to increase the brightness to make the image a bit more unsettling. This was my favorite Daily Create this week, so there is not anything I would change about it.
The final Daily Create was a concrete poem.
This Daily Create inspired me as a writer. Concrete poetry is one of the only poetry forms that I like, so I when I saw that the prompt was to create a “Poet Tree,” I knew I had to make it a concrete poem. I started with the trunk, and made this tree trunk made of poets. Then, i decided that it would be interesting to contrast the poets of the trunk with the opposite proses for the leaves. I added some poets to the leaves in order to make it look like tree branches peeking through the leaves. This Daily Create stirred up my creativity, and I really like the contrast between the prose and poetry because they are very opposite to each other in my head. The hardest part of this piece was trying to find a way to export it. When I would try to copy and paste the text, it would loose its shape or colors, so I had to make the concrete poem itself into an image. The larger idea of this piece, to me, is how poetry and prose are more similar than writers tend to think. Yes, the poets and proses make up different parts of the tree, but at the end of the day, it is one unit. Similarly, even though there are differences between poetry and prose, they are both forms of stories and narratives.
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