Final Proposals

[ONE] It will be displayed in a hardcover book with little text, not only because I believe the pairing of the pages will benefit my concept but also because I have struggled with book projects in the past and I feel it would be a valuable skill to improve. The pictures will be organized in a diptych series that compare and contrast staying with my family in California and living in Arizona without them. After rare interaction with my father for seven years, I was reintroduced to him and his family in 2006. Having grown up in a quiet home and now without family in the area, I now visit my step-mother, father, my sister and four younger siblings. It is a jolt to go from my calm, personal space to a place where eight of us stay, a place I call home but did not grow up in with six members I barely know. I will explore my experience in each atmosphere because my dad is pressuring me to move into his house after so that his family live together under one roof for the first time and build our family business. This is a new subject I am trying to see if it brings me to something more.

Because I do not have regular access to half of my project, I will have to dedicate two or three weekends to the six hour drive to Moreno Valley and back. With gas being inexpensive in Tucson lately, it will help cut down on cost. I will only lose money in the long run because of the hours I would have to take off work but this is exactly why I have a savings account. I am currently trying to find a part for my car to stop my power steering fluid from leaking. The cost of the part I need is upwards of $250 but this will also be pulled from my savings along with many other things as my part time job mostly only covers my rent and electric bill. It should not take more than a month to finish. In between the times I photograph in California, I will focus on aspects that creatively express living on my own apartment and caring for myself in Tucson. By mid to late October I will be able to go to California for three to four days to observe and be a part of my family. My second visit will be for Veteran’s Weekend, and a third, if needed, during Thanksgiving break. I expect that these pictures will somehow describe the person I’ve become through pictures of the family who I do not spend enough time around but who are still like me in character.



[TWO] Smoking a cigarette is sometimes seen as a chance to escape from being inside, being bored, at work, stressed, or upset, or sometimes simply out of habit. For this series of photographs, which will presented in a photo book, I would to like begin exploring aspects of smoking and why people decide to smoke. I will visit places with smoking patios and walk to streets and campus to sites that people gather to smoke. Depending on how my shoots go, I may want to try to integrate photographs the shelf life of cigarettes in stores or any tobacco farm that may be near. I will not have regular access to these places and will need to get permission if the photographs with strengthen my project as a whole. In most cases I will ask for permission to photograph people smoking their cigarettes. I will interview people about why they smoke and if what they say speaks something that will compliment my photographs I will include text in my book.

This will be my first project where I photograph random people in different areas. I am challenging myself to ask for permission from these people instead of having models I know. This project shouldn’t require much of my money, but a lot of my time as I am bound to have many circumstances where the person or people do not want to get photographed. I will keep my camera handy at least two times a week so that any time becomes a convenient time to photograph. I will also research tobacco and its production to see if any other aspects become worth including later in my project. I expect that my photo book will bring a diversity of answers to why people smoke besides a reason like that they are addicted. Although it is not a healthy for your body, maybe it does help the mind to an extent.