Five Photos of "Value"

The topic I started out with was "Value". I tried to find stuff to photograph that had wildly different values depending on your situation. It was really easy at first because I photographed emergency items, such as a spare tire, fire hydrant, etc., which are irrelevant to everybody until an emergency. Of course there are only so many pictures to be taken within that limitation. So I began to expand and find other ways to show the changing value of items in my photographs. Here are my five favorite-

First is this old fire hydrant. I thought it was interesting because it was so tarnished while the rest of the neighborhood was very well kept, because if there was ever a house fire this would instantly become the most valuable piece in the neighborhood. I tried to create a feeling of value for it by taking a low angle shot to make it seem more important and powerful.

This might be my favorite picture of the assignment. This is a street light, which is pretty useless until it is dark. But once it is, the street light essentially replaces the sun and becomes very valuable for our eyesight. To give added value to it I went for a perspective shot so the glare of the sun with line up with the lamp, and I think the centered spot gives it a lot more presence.

The mail box was another common place item, but any missionary can appreciate how much value it can hold when it is mail time. I thought it was interesting how well kept many mailboxes were, and a lot were very decorative, but the value of what can be inside of it can outweigh its visual appeal easily. In honor of that I took my shot from inside the mailbox, where the value lies, and I think the tilt to the framing emphasizes how skewed the value of a mailbox can be.

Conceptually, this was my favorite picture of the assignment. I was contemplating other ways value changes over time for mundane objects, and I tried to think of something that gained value not in emergency, but from the amount of time you kept it, and I thought that a wedding ring fit the idea. I had one, but to try and give it additional value I tried an extended exposure time on my camera under a bright light to try and create a feeling of increasing value over time.

Lastly, I had to celebrate Halloween. Halloween candy is a prime example of value swings. On October 31st this was an incredible haul and it represented a very effective night of trick-or-treating. On November 1st, however, it was just a pile of sugar nasties. Seriously, who even wants this candy, low quality junk.