My theme for these three pictures is values. Values differ from culture to culture. My three pictures were taken in three different countries, all of which have their own belief systems. The first picture was taken in Costa Rica last spring break while on a trip with my family. I captured this photo during the sunset and I stood between two palm trees. I captured this because I thought it was neat, and when we see an image of this, we might think of a relaxed lifestyle, sandals, tee shirts, and margaritas. Costa Rica’s lifestyle is much different from America’s. It is much more relaxed and the mentality is much different, however neither America’s nor Costa Rica’s is better than the other. This picture reminds me of the Corona ads we have all seen, whether in a magazine or on the tv. It always involves a beach and it has the exotic feel. The company, through their visual images, trys to transcend the ideals behind the images onto the beer, so we will want to buy it. The idea is that we should buy Corona if we want to have that slow paced lifestyle with beach-front living.
The second image I captured is a very famous one. I took this one recently as well. For those that do not know, that is a row of houses in San Francisco’s Alamo Square neighborhood, and it also happens to be the location of the famous show, Full House. In the entrance clip for every show we see the family having a picnic on the law I was standing on when taking this picture, overlooking the homes. The values behind that show are very strong. Although they were not the traditional American family, they were what we would consider the “perfect” family unit. America values strong family ties, friendship, freedom, care, support, and many other ideals that this show represented. I think this image is popular because the ideals that we mentally receive from this show transcend into the San Francisco background. San Francisco is a very open, loving city and this is a value brought out in the picture.
My third and final picture is a very controversial one. This was taken this summer while on a trip to Holland. I was in Amsterdam, a city known for its liberal ways. This image is showing a female, standing half naked in a window, in the red light district. For those that do not know, prostitues have this neighborhood where they stand in windows with a red light on above them, and when a customer wants to use them, they close the window curtains, turn the light off, and handle business. The values in Holland, or Europe for that matter, are much different from the values in America. Holland allows prostitution, open marijuana use, and many other things that America demonizes. What is interesting though is that most citizens of Holland do not use the prostitution services or marijauna coffee shops. These are primarily for tourists.
