Going into this assignment, I was relatively new to the whole Photoshop program. I had used Microsoft paint before, but never Photoshop. Once I got past the rudimentary stages of the program, though, I felt the only difficult part remaining would be my creativity process. Although I knew who I wanted to include into my portrait, I found some trouble as to what exactly my message would include. Unfortunately, this confusion lasted days before the assignment was due, preempting me to change my project completely.
Once I got past the confusion, though, I knew I wanted to remain in the realm of politics. Mainly because of the title of the assignment “Photoshop for democracy.” Though I couldn’t include Obama as I originally planned, I found an alternative within Joe Wilson, and incorporated the pop culture into the project with one of the most talked about pop icons, Kanye West. With West’s joke still fresh in my mind, andWilson’s outburst still a common topic on the news, I felt the two figures would suite each other well with an ironic twist. With great ideas though, come great implications. The largest issue still being my message. I knew the literal comedic message would be understood, but I wasn’t sure if that would satisfy my statement. Though many people might understand the irony, I’m not sure if the overall message is completely understood.
Rejection was probably one of the most tedious processes of the assignment. I had many ideas in which I would have loved to manipulate with the Photoshop tools, but the most important aspect of the assignment is to get across my visual statement. I would have loved to use the Photoshop for a picture that might have dealt with Hip Hop or basketball, but I felt politics was a more presentable issue to do.
Also arguably one of the most annoying processes of the assignment, the selection of resources took me on a long and indecisive tour. Using google as my first selected search engine, I found I was coming across either the same photos or deleted photos. Possibly because of the general use of the public or lack of photos, either way, I ended up not using google. I found the most effective resource websites were the ones that were taking awkward pictures and adding jokes to them. By already having a comedic purpose, I feel like this part of the selection process was the least stressful. Once I had decided my search engine and the picture I wanted, I went back to those same sites for inspiration just in case I felt my message wasn’t obvious enough.
Although it didn’t seem as obvious in the beginning, the most important issue with this project was managing my time productively. If I would have had more time I would have thought out the assignment more. While it can be a strain manipulating pictures and setting up your image, I think the thought process was the most essential aspect of planning. Also, having an outdated pc laptop without Photoshop, I found the only time that I could work on the assignment was during class, or whenever the busy Mac computer labs weren’t filled with classes and students.
In light of the assignment, I feel like the Jenkins piece was really the best introductory reading we could have had to ready us for the next program we would be using. Also responsible for me remaining in the subject of politics, I feel like this reading is responsible for me only wanting to venture into something related to politics. Following the reading, I found myself constantly finding websites, described in the reading, all over the internet. It’s from one of these websites that I actually cropped images for my first draft of the assignment.
Finally, while I feel like I could have executed the assignment better, I feel like my process to finishing the assignment was a success. I achieved the objectives of the assignment of developing my digital literacy as a producer, communicating an idea visually, and develop basic skills in using Photoshop.
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