Independent Project

PhotoVoiceTony Deifell

Wendy Ewald

Video Links:

1. PhotoVoice: http://www.photovoice.org/videos/pvfilm2010final.wmv

2. COMDIS Clinic - Jeff:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnBj5GaHc6k

3. UCF Profiles - Speech Disorders (Start at 6:50 to 7:30):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avaiaaLhzlw

Summary:

My interest in this topic was sparked in one of our earlier classes; I was amazed by how twelve individuals could all take something different out of one single photograph. I began thinking about the power of imagery and how it could be used to intentionally convey meaning. When you think about it, we are bombarded with images and graphics of all sorts on a daily basis; ads, billboards, television, newspapers, and the list can keep going. I rationalized that humans must have some kind of mechanism much like our verbal literacy that helps us make sense of all that we see. Turns out that there is, it's called visual literacy.

For my final, independent project I wrote an 8-page paper which I entitled "Social Awareness Through Photography: Applications of Visual Literacy". The first few pages explored the concept of visual literacy; how it is defined and why it is important. I organized my discussion in a way that would make it personally relevant to the reader. I then introduced the social justice/ awareness angle by pointing out that visual literacy provides us with a means of self-identification because it allows us to communicate with others in a bold and truthful way, namely through photography. From here I discussed the work of individuals like Wendy Ewald, who empowered children by providing them cameras so that they could make their visions come to life through the photos that they produced, and Tony Deifell, who was inspired by Ewald's work and proceeded to do much the same thing except his work involved the visually impaired. I also gave some background knowledge on organizations such at the Institute for Photographic Empowerment and PhotoVoice, which provide resources for people who want to produce their own documentary-style photography or photographic training for members of communities all around the world.

My discussion finished with an in-depth reflection of the experiences that I had in this class. I was not expecting for this portion of the piece to be as long as it was (I was expecting 6 pages and I ended up writing 8), but I realized how rich my experiences were in this class and I wanted to be sure that I touched upon everything that we did. I thought about the types of things that we did in class and how it allowed us to build our visual literacy and the type of relationships we had made with the clients out at UCF. I had realized just how much they taught me over the course of the past semester; through their photographs and our conversations. However the greatest thing that I learned, and I quote this directly from my essay, "Our mission was to educate communities about aphasia and to help PWA (People with Aphasia) to achieve a greater quality of life. However, in the end, I think that our clients ended up teaching us. Despite everything, these individuals continue to live very full lives and the support that they receive from loved ones is a testament to a language far more powerful than any other, the language of human affection."

Thank you for this experience.