Social Issue Proposal

Project Proposal:

I plan to do my project on an anti technology ad. I personally want to use this topic because i feel strongly that teens and young adults are too attached to their phones. People should be concerned about this issue because teens social skills will become worse over time when they are only use to talking to people over the phone, and also they become detached from the real things around them. I can motivate people to care about this cause by over exaggerating the way technology effects us today. Organizations that are involved with this cause include Neo-Luddism or New Luddism. Facts about this topic are that the average person checks their phone 110 times a day, and teens spend over 7 and 1/2 hours a day consuming media. 

Photojournalism- Aid With Lemonade

Aid With Lemonade

By Maddie Lucas - 1 December, 2014

          On December 1^st, a dark and rainy afternoon, a few kids got together and had a lemonade stand charity event for the Humane Society. The Humane Society is the nation’s largest animal protection organization that raises money to prevent animal cruelty such as animal fighting, horse cruelty, wildlife trade, seal slaughter, and captive hunts. The society receives a lot of money by having large fundraiser events, and monthly donations. Any size donations help the organization, which is why Angelia Reff, Nicolas Reff, and Sandra Anic decided to have a lemonade stand to raise as much money as they possibly could.

“We saw that the Humane Society was celebrating its sixty years, so we thought it would be a good idea to try and raise some money somehow for the organization. Lemonade stands are very simple and easy to do, so over Thanksgiving break we set one up in my neighborhood” says Angelia Reff. They made fun and colorful signs for the stand and sold the lemonade for 50 cents. After that, the lemonade was made and then they got ready to set up.

“The only part I didn’t like was setting up the table and chairs. By that time it started to rain a little and everything was very slippery” says Nicolas Reff. Although it started to rain, the kids still ran the stand for about three hours. After a long day in the cold and rain, they brought everything back inside to count up the money they made.

Thirty dollars was raised for the Humane’s Society. Even though it doesn’t seem like a lot, any donation can help for the organization against animal cruelty. “I wasn’t looking forward to sitting in the rain, but it was a great turn out and I’m very happy with the money we raised for such a great organization”- Sandra Anic.  

Angelia Reff, a volunteer at the stand, makes fun and colorful signs to catch peoples attention when they drive past. 

By mixing sugar, water, and lemons, Sandra Anic makes the lemonade to be sold at the stand.

At a local neighborhood, the kids begin to set up the stand a little while before they start to sell the lemonade.

Right before the stand is open for business, the signs are hung up. By this time the rain started coming down. 

To help donate to the cause, Gregg Lucas buys lemonade from the stand.

Thirty five dollars was counted after three hours of sitting in the rain selling lemonade. The money was then later mailed to the Humane Society. 

 Aid With Lemonade

The American Teenager Project

This project is to photograph teenagers and show the struggles of adolescence. This type of photojournalism is a little bit more different than what you would usually see because there is one photo shown to describe something. The pictures of the teenagers completely describe their personality and just by looking at the photos you can kind of guess what their "story" is. I think this is a really cool project and I like how the photos tell a story of a teenager.

A few examples of the project:

Patrick Roberts: A teen mentioned that would be willing to participate in Kansas says that one of the better things about still being a teenager is that you are still able to have a romantic perspective on things.

Jason Kramer: This is one of my favorite projects because during this teens interview, he met his son for the first time and the interviewer states how the see a child holding a child. This teen was doing really good in life but he got into drugs and started making a lot of bad choices.

Courtney Paslick: A teen who "doesn't meet society's idea of what perfection looks like", but is actually quite beautiful. Although Courtney isn't exactly like everyone else, she still does the same things as the rest of her friends.  

Humane Society Lemonade Stand Shots

Even though this event was not very significant, I really liked taking shots of the stand and I got a good idea of what photojournalism is. I had a hard time with getting the right lighting for my shots since it was a dark and rainy day, however by just using a flash I think they turned out alright. I wish I would have taken more shots but I am happy with the ones I got. I think that by doing this project it will really help with future shots I take.