Digital Imaging Homework Assignment #2

 

Digital Imaging In Class Assignment #1

 

First Digital Imaging Assignment

Percy Street

Eastern State Adventures

Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Q25-S7jzgs

In the video "How Creativity is Being Strangled by the Law", the speaker, Larry Lessig, expresses an intriguing argument about how certain copyright laws on the internet can have a large negative effect on the creativity of many youths across the globe. As an artist and an internet user, I strongly agree with his argument. In the past, I used to have a YouTube account that I shared with a group of friends. We used to join together to make short parody clips and animated music videos. Everything we made we posted on YouTube, because we wanted to share our creative hobbies with the world. As the years passed however, the animated music videos and parody clips we would make, were soon seen as a copyright infringement, and eventually our account was suspended. Since then, my friends and I have not bothered to make a single video. We felt that it would be pointless to make videos and not be able to share them with the our peers. Because I haven't made videos in such a long time, my video editing skills have nearly disappeared. I can't even remember how to properly make an animated music video. 

I was always confused by the copyright laws on the internet. I never understood why the animated music videos and parody clips we would make were considered an infringement on copyright. We placed a disclaimer on every video, stating that the videos were made for purely entertainment purposes and that we were in no way making any sort of profit out of them. Yet still, our account was deleted and all of our videos were removed. Like Larry Lessig, I do not think that parody videos, animated music videos, and remixes are a form of piracy. If many youths are making these sort of videos for fun and entertainment, and not for profit, than shouldn't this form of creativity be permitted?

 What was originally meant to be a simple stroll for collecting visual information of the environment that surrounded my childhood, turned into a more complicated journey that stretched across my entire Labor Day Weekend.  Because this was the last weekend that I would see my best friend, who is moving to New York City for college, the first part of my walk actually began at Eastern State Pennitentiary. Located in Fairmount, the prison is right around the corner from where my mother grew up; the historical site has a strong sense of nostalgia for me, because it was a place that I often visited as a young child with my family. Wanting to be a part of the nostalgic feeling, my best friend recommended we take a trip there and explore the prison because she had never seen it.  
As I approached the entrance, I immediately wondered why I was so fond of the place. I thought it was kind of unusual that I was so young and so interested in a prison. Yet, as we ventured deeper into the history behind the prison walls, the reason for my fascination with the place came to light. As a child, I always saw the place as a piece of historical art, and I still feel the same way now. The architectural structure of the building is quite unique and it has such a dynamic history, that I am filled with a strong surplus of emotions every time I walk inside.     
 It is true that, throughout the years, Eastern State has changed very little, which provided me with a momentary sense of comfort. For the short moments that I spent there with my best friend, time stood still, and I felt free to reminisce about my childhood.   

   
As the days when my best friend would be leaving drew closer, my venture into the past quickly morphed into a stroll through the present. Together, we each explored our neighborhoods, and took note of anything new we could find. One of the first things I came across in my journey was wildlife. In my friend's area, there are tons of stray cats. In fact, you never see the same stray cat twice. The one I found the day I traveled, happened to be super friendly. My friend and I played with him for a while, and when he left, we couldn't help but think about all the neglect we had seen that spread throughout her neighborhood. Abandoned dogs and cats run rampant, and there are tons of empty lots and dilapidated houses that line the streets. When I asked her if she always remembered her neighborhood being this way, she said she couldn't remember for sure, but she strongly felt that it certainly has decayed over the years. She said she is glad to be moving to New York.     
With my friend gone at last, I continued my journey alone throughout the neighborhood. Nothing has changed much, except for a few trees that were cut down here and there. Not wanting to end my stroll on a dull note, I visited Percy Street, my favorite street in South Philly. I am obsessed with this street because it is very out of place. It is a small street that curves like a snake, and it is often overlooked by many passerby. The houses on the street are covered with graffiti, random murals, warning signs, and strange misplaced doors. Combined with the bricks, scraps of metal, and weeds as thick as a forest that line the street, the randomness that is Percy Street seems to always draw me in, making me feel like I am stepping into a surreal part of South Philly. It is one of the few things in my neighborhood that I appreciate.