The assignment I chose to focus on was the picturesque. I chose this project because I found the assignment to be very interesting and each individual would contribute their own art into this. Also the writing prompt was very individualized so every person could write about whatever they wanted. In my assignment I chose a photo I had taken while hunting and described certain aspects of the picture. I have modified the assignment to just analyze the photo and discuss what is happening in the picture.
In this photo there are a few signs of human interaction with the natural world. The first major sign is the road running through the middle of the photo. This is a great success for humans because they can access different areas of the state easier. However for animals this is a deadly path they must cross over to survive. There are countless deer that have to cross the road and an unknown number of them are killed by humans who are driving cars. The next most noticeable human interaction with nature in the picture are the houses on the side of the road. These houses are killing animal’s habitats and forcing them to move elsewhere. The last human interaction we notice is the cut down trees in the front of the picture. This is a very small part of a huge piece of logging land. Logging destroys many animals’ habitats and way of life.
To summarize my homework assignment I found the process pretty enjoyable. I was in the great outdoors when I took the picture having a great time. Protecting wildlife is a rising concern in the US and describing the things that are wrong in just one picture helps me realize just how big a problem it really is. The long term value of this project is to hopefully keep me aware of the wildlife problems in the world. The short term and maybe long term is to help reinforce my strengths of analyzing pictures and also my writing skills.
-Alex Holtman
