A Yellow Raft in Blue Water Editorial

Photo Reflection:

Describe- When I look at this image, I see darkness and coldness. The background in the image and the tree looks burnt; it makes it look like an Indian Reservation campground which is a setting in the novel. The image makes me feel sad because I feel longing. I get that feeling because I have read the book and know what the character wants. She longs for the "perfect" family.

Analyze- You can't tell a lot, but the top of the tree is not focused creating a shallow depth of field. I wanted this in my image because I wanted the paper and hand more in focus.

Interpret- My photo was clear and more colorful before I edited it, but with the effects in Photoshop I used the "extreme contrast photo effect" to make it look more old. I also changed the curves to fix the lighting because as stated before I wanted darkness.

Judge- I like the end results because with the editing that I have done it makes the image match the tone and message.

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Over summer, San Diego SCPA was assigned a summer reading/writing assignment. We were suppose to read a book and write about how we would incorporate our book into our art. The book I read was a Yellow Raft in Blue Water by Michael Dorris. The book had three different parts; Rayona, Christine, and Ida. Each character gave a narration about their life: they talked about their parents relationship, how their parents treated them, how they were raised, and they talked about struggles they had as a person trying to find themselves. In the story, Rayona (Christine's daughter) is longing to have a family she never had. Her dad left her mother, and her mother runs away in the story leaving Rayona with Ida. Rayona then leaves Ida's house and goes to Seattle. In Seattle, she runs into a wife and husband who let her stay at their house. Rayona works at a camp, and at the camp she finds a note on the ground. The note is from a mother and father who wrote to their daughter that is in the camp. When the wife and husband ask Rayona if her parents know where she is, she replies saying yes, and here is a note they gave me.

I chose to incorporate that part of the novel into a photograph because if you read the story it shows how important it is for everyone to have a family. Everyone needs one, and I thought this picture worked with my message. However, the only way for you to understand why I chose this, is if you read the story.