Photo Essay: Albany Farmer's Market

Yeng Xiong and Lisa Lor set up their station Wonderful Garden, a local flower shop in Salem Oregon for their fourth year at the Albany Farmer's Market.

Their personally assembled Sweet Pea flowers smell as good as they look.

Their first customers of the day buys a bouquet of peonies for her mother and some fresh snap peas for herself.

As the day progresses and the sun comes out the farmer's market becomes more and more crowded with people looking for fresh summer produce and newly blooming flowers.

As the Albany Farmer's Market comes to an end as Lisa Lor and Yeng Xiong start to pack up whats left of their flowers and take down their station.

Week 8: Sports/Action Photos Dodgeball for Diabestes

Volleyball skills come in handy for Sarah Rudzik to lead her team to victory at the Dodgeball for Diabetes fundraiser.

Five against one.  Joshua Robertson and his team easily eliminate the final player of the opposite team.

After a 3 time winning streak Joshua Robertson's team lost.  This player in particular was devastated.

Neighborhood Shoot: Downtown Albany

Mary Cluskey one of the multiple vendors at Albany Antique Mall; the largest antique shop in Downtown Albany that sells anything from old fashioned cookware to clothes.



Riley's Irish Bar and Grill on 2nd Street, not only serves as a pool hall, but serves as a sports bar as well.  It's authenticity of an Irish pub shows from not only its name but its logo sign complete with four leaf clovers.

Two Rivers Market, on the corner of 2nd and Ferry Street across from the Pix Theater.  One of the best places in Albany to get authentic Mexican food at Taqueria Alonzo's or a hot bowl of clam chowder at the Wine and Deli.

Week 6: Free Shoot

Lauren Sonderman.

 Lauren Sonderman takes a study break from her gargantuan work load during the final stages of her Dental Assistant program.

Lauren Sonderman enjoying the warm weather, which is a rare event during the spring season in Albany, Oregon

Photographer of The Week: Steve McCurry

Steve McCurry was born February 24, 1950 in Pennsylvania.  He went to Penn State, where he originally went there to study Cinematography and Film Making, but got his degree in Theater Arts.  During  college he became interested in photography and worked at the college's newspaper.  After college he went to work for Today's Post in Pennsylvania for two years before quitting and going to India to do freelance work.  After months of traveling he later crossed the border to Pakistan by being smuggled by refugees from Afghanistan right before the invasion of the Soviet Union.  He smuggled roles of film sewn into his clothes and the pictures he had taken were the first images of the conflict shown to the world.  These photos won him the Robert Capa Gold Medal, this would be the first of many awards to come.

He continued to cover armed conflicts included Iran/Iraq, Lebanon Civil War, Cambodian Civil War and Afghan Civil War.  He then became a frequent contributor to the National Geographic.  His main focus when capturing conflicts are the human element.

His most recognizable photo is of "Afghan Girl." Whose identity remained unknown until 2002, when a National Geographic located her. Sharbat Gula was living in a refugee camp in Pakistan during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.  This picture original graced the cover of National Geographic in 1985.  It is the most recognized photo in National Geographic history and sometimes referred to as "The Afghan Mona Lisa."  This photo is McCurry's claim to fame.




Steve McCurry is universally known as one of the finest photojournalist today.  With nearly 40 awards to his name he has certainly become a commodity in the industry.  His work is known for his extraordinary use of color in his subjects and a background of monochromatic.  He likes to show the world through his photos. Whether its conflicts among nations, sad or happiness in the eyes of his subjects, he shows us the bare naked truth in all of his work.  I have a great respect for this aspect of Steve McCurry, he is my favorite photojournalists of all time and he never seems to disappoint me with his work and I cannot imagine what his next masterpiece will be.  

Student Rally Photos: Week Five

LBCC students supporting the Student Rally for Higher Education at the Capitol in Salem.  Anticipating the decision for stoping the rising cost of tuition at LBCC.

Western Oregon University Students rallying outside the Capitol during the decision regarding lawmakers to provide budget increases for universities and community colleges throughout Oregon and stop the increase of cost of tuition in colleges.

Esther Forbyn, Student Body President at Portland Community Colleges gave a speech at the Rally for Higher Education about the importance of an education and how the continuation of the increase in tuition can hinder a person from obtaining the right to get that education.

Portrait and environmental Shots The Re-Up

Audrey Regan, an amateur photographer and student

Photojournalism week three- The Re-Up

Jumping Catch in Ultimate Frisbee

Austin warming up his throws and catches in Ultimate Frisbee

Over thrown frisbee flying through the sky

Photo Journalism Week Two

Officer Hinckley helps run the Corvallis Police Department booth during Career Day at LBCC.

LBCC Student talking with the Corvallis Police Department Cadets.

Donald, helping out at the Center Against Rape and Domestic Violence (CARDV)  booth.

Week one Photos of PhotoJournalism

Brooke Arbogast spends spare time between classes by the Business Center on her iPad watching Game of Thrones epsisodes.

The LBCC choir group gets in some extra practice time before a concert near the Forum

A young couple holds hands as they stroll through the halls of LBCC

I Knew You Were Trouble

Introduction
 I chose this song because, it is extremely popular and every time I turn on the radio I hear the song.  No matter which radio station channel I switch to I hear the song.  It is funny because I am not a fan of Taylor Swift, I actually do not like her at all and I have fallen in love with this song.  When I hear it, I have to blast it and belt it; and I have no talent for singing.  I would compare my singing to nails on a chalk board, its not pretty.  So every time my friends are with me in the car and I hear that song they are sinking in their seats and plugging their ears.

Describe
The artist is Taylor Swift.  She has won seven Grammy Awards, eleven American Music Awards, six Academy of COuntry Music Awards, and was indicted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.  The song has been certified Triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America.
The song is basically about how she dated a guy who was not a good guy and treated her badly, and she knew that he was bad news.  Even though he put her through the ringer, she still loves him.  She is telling herself throughout that all the things he did she knew he would do and saying shame on me.  In the music video for the song you see the boyfriend cheat on Taylor, right in front of her and get in to fights in bars.  The video is very different to how Taylor Swift is generally portrayed; she has very dark make up on and has short hair.  She is a little more slutty, which I love.  I love a good girl gone bad.  Taylor Swift is generally a Girl Next Door personality, and you see more of a bad girl side in the video.  I enjoy this, I like seeing a good girl be bad because its exciting to see a polar opposite personality.  I prefer a bad girl compared to a good girl.

Analyze
This is very similar to Taylor Swift's work.  Her niche is love songs.  Taylor Swift has lately been dating a lot of different guys over the past couple of years, and usually when a relationship has ended she will right a song about the relationship and the song generally becomes a hit song.  The song has the same kind of upbeat tempo but has more of a droll melody.  Her songs have a happiness to them and you can tell in this song it has more of a sadness to it.

Interpretation
This part of culture is important because the song became an instant hit in a short amount of time.  It became Triple platinum in two months after it was released that's how big it is.  It matters because it may become one of the memorable songs in history.  I am not saying it is as legendary as I Want To Hold Your Hand or Billy Jean, but no one knew how popular or iconic those songs would become when they first came out.  I think the target audience are people who have been through relationships, that started out good then spiraled down the slippery slope of Hell.  Anyone who has gone through a bad break-up can relate to this song, which is something that Taylor Swift is really good at is writing songs that people can relate to.  I think the minimal stereotype is that the boy who breaks all the rules is the one who is going to break hearts and that is not the case.  I have had guys in my that seemed and acted like nice, good guys and they were the ones to break hearts.  So nice is not always safe and sound.

Evaluation
The strengths of the song is that it is a really catchy, easily recognizable song that anyone can relate to.  A weakness is that it is another Taylor Swift break-up song.  It is a great song, it's just the same kind of song we always hear from Taylor Swift; I am just waiting to hear something different from her.  Something that annoys me about her is that she claims herself as a country singer, but all of her songs are pop song, she is a pop singer and she takes credit as a county singer.  This falls between her usual standards, great song, a number of sales and downloads.  I think this song is more memorable the forgettable; because the song is not about the lovey-dovey-ness of a relationship.  It is about what happens when it goes sour.  The reviews of the song were mostly positive.  New York Times critic Jon Caramanica called one of the best pop songs of 2012.  Lewis Corner from Digital Spy gave the song four out of five stars.

Engage
I don't think I would buy a CD by Taylor Swift, but I would buy her songs off of iTunes.  I have seen her work on YouTube, her performances are generally good. As are her music videos for her songs.  Some of my friends like her and some of her don't, there is a number of them like me who like her songs, but not her.
Summary
Overall I like this song and I think it is one of those songs that can be played multiple times and I am not going to get tired of it.  I am the person to listen to half of a song on my iPod then switch to another song.  My attention span is about four seconds long, and it takes a lot for a song to not only grab my attention, but hold on to it for the entire song.  This song I could listen to it on repeat.  What I have learned with this critique is that, it is ironic for me to be so in love with a song and still dislike the artist. Those two usually go hand in hand.  A person can either like or love both or hate both.  It is funny that I like a number of her songs, and just do not like her.  It's weird, but again I have never been one to confirm to the social norm.

http://taylorswift.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Knew_You_Were_Trouble#Critical_reception

https://twitter.com/taylorswift13

Television Blog

http://www.nbc.com/law-and-order-special-victims-unit/

http://www.fanpop.com/clubs/law-and-order-svu

http://www.usanetwork.com/series/svu2

I watched an episode of Law & Order on January 29 2013 at 4:00 PM.  There was an all day marathon on the USA Network, called the Benson Bull SVU Marathon.  The genre of the show is a crime-drama.  In this episode titled "Hate," A women named, Mira is found raped and burned alive in an alley.  Detectives Olivia Benson and Elliot Stabler are assigned to the case.  Further into the episode it is revealed that the woman was Muslim and her death is a hate crime.  It is also revealed that Mira was having an affair with a Jewish man, that she met through an organization working on building bridges between Muslims and Jews.  It is also revealed that Mira's Husband as well as her mother-in-law knew about her affair and were ashamed of her as she brought shame to the their family by cheating and by also seeing a Jewish man.  Later another death with the same Modus Operandi as Mira is found, and the man is revealed to be an Arab as well.  The man killed, named Tariq also belonged to the same organization as Mira.  They find a suspect, Sean Webster, who confesses to disliking Arabs in America.  While Benson and Stabler are interrogating Webster,  Detectives Fin Tutuola and John Munch are searching Sean's apartment, and greeted by Sean's irritated mother.  While there, they find a cleaning solution, that has an ingredient which he used as an accelerate to burn the victims.  Sean admits to killing Mira and Tariq, since they are Arabs he believes they are a danger to everyone and need to be stopped.  During the interrogation he begins to insult Tutuola (who is black) and also insinuates that he is too Arab, and that Benson looks as though she has some color in her.  Tutuola has some words for Sean though and calls him a killer and a psycho.  Sean believes that Arabs come to America with their oil money, take classes on aviation and engineering then uses that to attack America.  At the SVU unit Dr. Huang a Forensic Psychiatrist and Criminal Profiler, interviews Sean and believes he is a Sociopath who wants to be heard.  The SVU unit gets a call, while at central booking Sean Webster killed an inmate who was an Arab.  Sean's lawyer Oliver Gates, Played by Barry Bostwick is claiming as Sean's defense that he is not responsible for his for the murders because he was born with a "genetic predisposition towards hatred and violence." All the detectives are stunned by this case because if it flies no one will ever be accountable for anything.  Dr. Huang speaks to a genetic specialist, who says that hatred is biologically given and not learned.  During the trial, the specialist talks about hatred is a brain deficiency in the pre-frontal cortex of the brain.  She then shows a brain scan of Sean's his pre frontal cortex is much smaller when compared to a normal brain and it lights up when her hears the word "Arab."  She also says that violent people more activity in the sub-cortex, and the even mention of the word "Arab" put Sean in a state of extreme hatred and violence.  In the rebuttal ADA Casey Novak asks the specialist if she can predict when a person can become violent and the specialist says eventually, but not now.  When Dr. Huang is on the stand he says that behavior even if it is genetic it is still learned.  And no one can predict when someone will become violent because anyone can.  When Sean is on the stand he says that when he was a kid, and then continues on his rantings about Arabs and how dangerous they are to us. Near the end of the episode Sean's father arrives and it is revealed that he did not die in Desert Storm, like his mother told him but left them for an Arab woman.  When his father tried to visit him, Sean's mother wouldn't let him, and then began telling Sean that Arabs are all dangerous horrible people.  At the end of the episode Sean ends up getting killed at Riker's, by friends of the Arab inmate he killed earlier in the episode.          

Some of the primary actors are: Mariska Hargitay who plays Olivia Benson.  Christopher Meloni who plays Elliot Stabler.   Ice-T who plays Fin Tutuola.  Richard Belzer plays John Munch.  Diane Neal as ADA Casey Novak.  Dann Florek who plays Captain Don Cragen.  Special Guest Star is Barry Bostwick who plays Oliver Gates.  The noted Creator and Producer is Dick Wolf, who created produces the Law and Order franchise as well as Miami Vice.

The ads that were advertised during the show were:

• Psych- New season on USA network
• NCIS-New episodes to USA network
• Life Alert- button that calls 911 when elderly people fall or injure themselves
• Quick and Loan App- new app for iPhone or Smart phones, you can calculate your mortgage and interest rates on your phone
• All State- Value Plan for people who live on a budget also receive great insurance 
• Move Free- cream that helps maintains and repair cartilage in joints
• Vitamin- MegaRed more Omega 3s no fish smell and easier to swallow
• Xfinity- Paranormal Activity 4 coming out On-Demand
• Law & Order SVU-Don't crack a smile marathon on USA
• Suits- show on USA new episode on Thursdays at 8        
• Westminister Kennel dog show advertisement
• Turbo Tax- a new app to do taxes on your iphone or Droid or any Smartphone  
• My Day- new calendar calorie counting from Jenny Craig
• Hotwire- Low hotel cost and low car rental costs
• SpaceBag- storage item; can put multiple things into then shrinks in size by taking the air out.
• Discover-foregivness plan: no late fees or increase interest rate when you miss a payment    
• Children's Motrin-child's fever reducer
• Do No Harm- New series on NBC
• ITT Tech Institute-scholarship opportunities
• Re-phresh-balancing pH Cream
• One Reverse Mortgage-Loan Agency, helps you lower your mortgage rate, gives you a tax free cash from equity
• The Problem Solver Loan- gives you a $10,000 loan without collateral and only 6 month payments
• Comcast- Business class; new faster voice and internet
• The Game Plan-movie airing on USA
• Symbicart- improves lung functioning from that of defected lungs and those who have asthma
• Cash Now- get more money from settlements 
• Avon walk for the Cure- Breast Cancer charity
• Cerave-helps moisturize the driest skin 
• Psych-New season of the series starts in February
• Suits- New epsiodes

The attitude of this episode definitely relates to how some people felt after 9/11.  When seeing Arabs on the street or in airports became a little weary and paranoid.  Their were those extremist who do believe that all Iraqis or Arabs are terrorists and are out to destroy and takeover America.  I think they did a good job in showing us that we need to take a step back and realize not everyone from the middle east is out to get us.  The character talk very articulately about the subject that is being focused on as well as throwing in sarcasm here and there.  You can tell in there clothes, which are seen as big trench coat or pea coat with leather gloves and scarves so you can tell that it is Winter or Fall in New York.  The show is filmed both on location throughout New York and on sets such as the squad room or court rooms.  How it is similar to other T.V show is that it covers the crime-drama aspect with sexual tension between the characters.  It is in New York like a lot of shows.  What is different about it is that what it covers are sex related crimes and child cases such as murder or disappearance and this is something I have not seen before.  Especially for rape cases to be such a sensitive subject to form a show around I think shows a lot about how much we have evolved with in T.V. because even mentioning sex was such a taboo.  Now we see it everywhere in music, in entertainment, movies, advertisements, I mean lets face it sex does sell, but seeing another form of it and that it can be used as a weapon against people shines a new light on it and I think people really do put it in perspective, that it is not just a light but also a dark side to it.

Some of the stereotypes of this episode were obviously the way that Sean Webster to his fear and hatred of Arabs and Muslims to such a high extent.  I don't if there are people out there who are on that level of fear and hatred but, you definitely see people weary of them.  Even just people, who are wearing turbans, people stereotype those into being a potential terrorist.  Another stereotype was the character Sean Webster saying that Olivia might have some color in her because she looks somewhat tan, and is not agreeing with Sean that Arabs should not be here in America.  As well as assuming Fin Tutuola is Arab sue to racial mixing in South Africa (the character's words, not mine).  Olivia throughout the episode didn't like Sean from the get go, nor did she understand how he could think the way that he did, that people who are not American don't deserve to come to America.  Which is absurd since America was built of immigrants.  Fin is not fazed by being called a coon by Sean, he has been desensitized of that word being called it numerous times by racist criminals.

The advertisements targeted a number of audience, it did not have just one.  A number had to do with mortgage rates and taxes, another bunch had to do with insurance companies.  The other ones had to do with actual products such as joint pain cream and vitamins these would be targeted at usually elderly people and the following to Law & Order are in the 18-36ish range.  I am thinking that they don't have target to advertise to and are just showing their sponsors.  Other advertisements are of the networks new shows and episodes coming out soon.  If I were from another country I would take that people from this country can be very generalizing and judgmental, but still have a sense of decency and still have a head on her shoulders.  That are culture is very evolved what was once considered taboo is now the norm, and what was considered once the norm is now taboo.

I think the shows strengths are that it shows and interprets real issues in the world and tackles them head on.  I think sometimes they definitely play up and instill fear and people, but I thinks that is a good thing, because people are definitely naive about things and this show pops the bubble they live in.  It does a good job in entertainment  and reflect real life situations that happen everyday and go unnoticed. I like about the show is that it tackles a number of issues in one episode the twists and turns it takes.  at the same time it can be predictable.  On TVtropes.com talks about the shows characters and how their personal problems inflict with the show and that the spinoff focuses more on the detectives rather than the attorneys.  I agree with thins I think its good that we see into the character's personal lives and issues they're dealing with, it makes them relatable to viewers.  

I watch this show normally on a regular basis, I will miss it a time or two though.  Most of my family, and my friends watch the show.  I have not liked the Facebook page on the show.  I go on the website to view episodes I missed.   Something that people don't probably know about Mariska Hargitay is that while filming a stunt for the show is that she suffered a partial collapsed lung.  That is dedication if I have ever seen it before.

What I have learned from this assignment is that there is more than reaches the eye when watching television, there is always a message being sent somewhere whether we see it or not.  What I was surprised to learn about the show was that a lot of people are obsessed with the sexual tension between Olivia Benson and ADA Alexandra Cabot.  People are just bent on the fact that the female cop is straight.

>Please disregard the Im Hungry Video and Kesha video I was testing the add video and I don't know how to take them off