Place of Peace – 3 Stars

For this assignment I had to take pictures of where I find peace. Since we have to incorporate our superhero into one of these assignments I decided to do the peaceful places that Merciful Mise en Place finds relaxing. She finds it peaceful to take walks during the day. She also finds peace in throwing away Betty Croc-ker products when she sees them. She finds that cutting foods brings peace into her life. Finally, when she can sit down to read she loves to read cook books to relax.

I enjoyed this assignment because I had to think how my superhero would think. I had to put what she found peaceful, not what I found peaceful. I used BeFunky.com to make this collage.

These are the places where I like to go or imagine myself going whenever I need to collect my thoughts and recenter myself.  The one of the grass and the beach are both from Ocracoke, my favorite place ever.  It’s the last island of the Outer Banks, very small and lovely.  There aren’t any chain stores on the island and the town only takes up the south point.  The picture of the the river and rocks in here in Fredericksburg at the Rappohannok River.  My friends and I have often gone there for fun or a breather from classes.  Sometimes my best friend and I will literally go there for 15 minutes just to see the water or dip our toes in it and head out.  The bottom right photo is of me in the Simpson Library.  In general, I love libraries because of their quiet.  Finally the top right photo is of my house in the snow.  It’s where I grew up and where my parents and my dogs are so it’s just a naturally nice place to come back to (not for too long of course) as a means of re-centering myself.  Also I chose a photo of my house in the snow because I love the snow and the quiet that often comes with a snowfall in the early mornings, before anyone has touched it.

For this visual assignment that is worth 3 stars I had to make a collage of where I felt at peace. These were very easy for me to pick because I feel at peace in locations and with family. So the collage contains picture of my home town, Monterey California, and pictures with my family and boyfriend. I used an app on my IPad known as Pic.Collage. It was super easy and fun. I just picked my photos. Then I picked a grid form I wanted and it created it for me.

#VisualAssignments #VisualAssignments2109 #ds106 pic.twitter.com/WiqC1LWP2Y

— Maggie O'Connor (@Maggieo_13) September 21, 2017

For my next assignment I chose to do Assignment2106 which is where I have to take a picture of a random object and make it look like it could be a super hero. I chose to use my super hero I wrote about last week Super Nova. So I used snapchat and took a photo in the UC then I added an emoji and enlarged it then put a caption. This assignment was worth 4 stars.

The next visual assignment I did this week was worth 3 stars and is called Places of Peace.

I loved this assignment because it really made me think of the places that were important to me and what pictures could represent them. For this assignment I simply went through and picked 5 places that make me feel comfortable and peaceful and chose images to represent them. First Image I chose was my home in the general sense of Long Island. The comfort you get from knowing your neighbors and knowing exactly where you are going in a town or city because you have lived there your whole life. Then I chose my favorite little hide away site at home called Pirates Cove. It is a little shore right on the water with huge sand dunes that make for an awesome sunset spot. Another peaceful place I chose from home is a nature park with tons of interactive sites. This place is beautiful way to disconnect from our very connected world. It is full of paths, plants, sunflower fields, and my favorite part which is picture is a wooden sign that explains a large sphere in the middle of a section that represents a mailbox for those no longer on Earth so you can still write to your loved ones. Another peaceful spot for me is the basketball court. Basketball has always been a way for me to relive stress and just have fun with my friends. Lastly, my peaceful spot in Fredericksburg is at home with my four best friends and roommates in our backyard. I can always count on them and our cute little grill to relax me after a long hard day of school. I am so thankful for these spots.

Places of Peace: 

For this assignment I was asked to create a collage of photos with all of my favorite spots where I feel relaxed or at peace and then post the collage to twitter. I want to go into the reasoning for the four pictures I selected for my collage.

1. The picture of the lake holds a special place in my heart and forever will. The picture was taken at Lake Tahoe in Nevada. This summer my boyfriend and I took a trip to California for a week. It was my first time flying, first major trip, and first trip with a significant other. This was our campsite for the night after an excruciating nine mile hike that day. We were both exhausted, but that night held a lot of good memories and I constantly find myself thinking back to our trip – especially this place.

2. The picture of me at the beach will always be one of my favorites. If anyone knows me at all, they know that I am at my happiest when I am at the beach with a cold beer in my hand. This specific picture depicts a relaxing vacation with my family. Family is everything to me and I can easily be myself around them 24/7. Thus, it is no surprise that this picture captures my true, genuine self.

3. The picture of my boyfriend and I illuminates me in my most relaxed state. Whenever I am with him it is so easy. We can be doing absolutely nothing and we are both perfectly fine with that – there is no pressure on the relationship. I know that I can always be myself around him and not be judged – that sense of security creates an overwhelming state of relaxation whenever we’re together.

4. The last picture of me is one that illustrates me in my most peaceful place – the gym. It is no secret that I used to be almost 300 hundred pounds. I do not hide my hard work. When I first began going to the gym it was anything but peaceful for me. It was a place of torture, shame, and embarrassment, but that is all different now. Now whenever I step foot into the gym, I turn inwards. What I mean by that is no matter how many people I am surrounded by – I feel completely alone. I use my gym time to self-reflect and that is one of the most important things to me.