Year in Review: 2013

Today lets get started with a fun little assignment.

Since its now 2014 I think its appropriate that we look back at the year 2013 and reflect upon the things that happened in that year.

Part 1: Best Photos of 2013 (40 points)

First, lets look at some photos.

Go to the following Web sites and look at the photos there. On your blog post the images of your THREE favorite photos and write a THREE sentence explanation for each photo that explains why it was one of your favorite photos of the year.

Your paragraph should address at least TWO of the following: 

• Subject matter (power, interest, emotion)
• Composition of photo (rules, techniques)
• Exposure quality (light, dark, sharp, blurry)

I have included links for several Web sites for you to look at. I suggest spending at least 20 minutes looking at these sites. You may have to wait for the images to load. You may need to search out the images on Google or use Grab (find in Spotlight, top right corner of screen) to do a screen capture of the image of your favorite photo. You should read the stories of those photos you find compelling.

http://lightbox.time.com/the-year-in-pictures-2013/

http://gizmodo.com/the-100-most-astonishing-images-of-2013-1486472299 (Not all of these are real so don't use them if they are Photoshoped or manipulated in some way.)

http://blogs.reuters.com/fullfocus/2013/12/01/best-photos-of-the-year-2013/#a=1

http://mashable.com/2013/12/19/powerful-photos-of-2013/

http://twistedsifter.com/2013/12/top-100-pictures-of-the-day-for-2013/

Part 2: Your Favorites (40 points)

Next, lets write about some things you found interesting this year. Below I have listed 5 prompts that you must complete.

You must find a photo that goes with each prompt and then write a paragraph about each. Answer the following in your paragraph:

• Why did you chose that as your main choice?
• What things attracted you to that choice?
• Why was it the best of 2013? 

To help you a little I have put a link below the prompt that may or may not help you. Time Magazine's Top 10 of Everything of 2013 Web site has lists to all sorts of lists so you could use it rather than the other suggestions provided below.

1. What was the best song of 2013?

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/100-best-songs-of-2013-20131204

or

http://www.billboard.com/charts/year-end/2013/hot-100-songs

2. What was the best movie of 2013?

http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/lists/10-best-movies-of-2013-20131210

or

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/yearly/chart/?yr=2013&p=.htm

3. What was the most important news story of the year?

http://www.cnn.com/interactive/2013/12/specials/yir-top-stories-vote/

or

http://nation.time.com/2013/12/04/top-10-best-u-s-news-stories/

4. Who was the most important person of 2013?

http://time100.time.com/2013-2/

5. What was the biggest sports OR entertainment story/person of 2013? You should Google what is appropriate for your choice. I leave this one to you to find a photo for, but many can be found on Time's Web site here: http://newsfeed.time.com/top-10-everything-of-2013/?iid=nf-page-lead

Part 3: Your Holiday and Hopes for 2014 (20 points)

Answer the following questions to tell me about your holiday and your hopes for the coming year.

1. Tell me what is the one thing that happened on your holiday that you will remember? It can be a trip, a family visit, a present, something fun.

2. What are your resolutions for 2014? If you need inspiration check this out: http://mashable.com/2014/01/04/new-years-resolution-photos/

3. What are you looking forward to in 2014?

Preview for next class: 

We will practice our Portrait photography this week so we can move on to our Magazine Cover Design project. So you should go back and review the Portraits Preview assignment to refresh your memory on what makes a good Portrait or Self Portrait.

See the link here: http://akinsphotojblog.blogspot.com/2013/12/self-portraits-and-portraits-preview.html

  I am looking forward to another fun semester with you all.