Photoshop Postcards

The place that I choose to photograph was the bridge on campus. I think that it's very interesting that Grand Valley was built on such a hilly and eroding landscape, and that we need a bridge that large to connect two places on campus is comical to me. I'm interested in this space because I think it represents many things in the context of a college campus. Bridges were created to be a way from getting across unsafe terrain like over a river, they are also created for decoration purposes in gardens and decorative landscapes. I have a personal connection to bridges because they are something of a childhood fear of mine-- I think I was always afraid of the possibility of it collapsing as we drove over it and drowning. I'm no longer worried about such things but, I am always interested with how people react with this particular bridge.

My first postcard uses repetition to change the eye movement within this piece. Using Tom Bamberger's artwork as an example, I decided to replicate the trees in this picture to focus in on the nature instead of the man made bridge itself. By replicating the dark trees and some of the leaves, I created a wall of sorts, blocking off the bridge to potential pedestrians. In this image the nature is taking over the industrial bars. Aesthetically, I find it interesting that their is repeated vertical lines in the bridge as well as with the tree trunks. I am wondering here what is really important to the campus? What should be destroyed and what should be taken care of? It seems to me that we've been neglecting the nature that was created naturally for us and, only now are we adding in new landscaping features. I think it is important to take care of the world around us, and maybe planting new flowers, and landscaped trees can put a band-aid on that, but are we really fixing the problem? Does the bridge represent man destroying nature? 

For my second postcard I used a photo taken from underneath the bridge. I used this photo because it is sort of ugly-- it isn't pretty manicured trees that we are accustomed to on the rest of our campus. These trees are free to grown on their own and are all over the place. I would assume that these trees were planted by the school many years ago to help with the water erosion problem. As inspired by Sandy Skoklund, I used purples and green colors to showcase that this is a huge problem for our campus. The ravines on campus have had severe decay and erosion due to the constant flooding that happens, and the access snow that we get every year. I wanted to use colors that would make the trees look sick because we need to protect nature. Instead of spending lots of money to put band aids on the problem, we need to use a plan that will work. What can we do to help our campus? What is going on with our land? How can we fix these issues.

For this photo, I thought it would be most powerful to use a camera angle that showcased the campus in the same way that an advertisement would. This could very well be something that Grand Valley sells in the school store. I felt like approaching this message in this manner would be the most effective. The problem I see everyday when I'm walking to class, is that everyone is looking down or on their phones-- nobody is looking at the world around them. How can we enjoy our lives and the beauty of the world if we are never looking around at what is right in front of us? I used the words "look around you" as a friendly reminder to appreciate what is in front of you and the beauty that is all around us.