Photobook Proposal
Each and every day people take things for granted, and I can definitely attest to that. I think that one of the biggest things that we take for granted on a daily basis is each other, and those that we care about. Therefore, I want to take make my photobook all about those people around me that are extra special to me – whether that be because they are members of my family, close friends, or some people who sit next to me in class. All of the people in my photobook will embody something different about how they each affect my life on a daily basis. This is important to me because I know that my life would not be the same without each of those individuals. Taking the time to recognize what each of these people do for me is the least I can do for them.
The most difficult part of creating my photobook will be limiting who is going to be in it. Can I put anyone in there that has ever impacted my life, or just most recently? I have actually decided to focus on those individuals that have positively affected my life in this year (2016) alone. I have chosen to do this because there are so many already and it is only March – three month into the year and I already have a lot of people who have made an impact on my life. In my photobook, I would like to include both a photo and a brief summary of how those individuals have impacted my life. Due to our privileged nature living in a first-world country and having access to an abundant amount of resources, we – me especially – take for granted those people that are around us. My inspiration for this photobook arose when I asked myself how different my life would be if a certain person, or people, had not been a part of it? I then narrowed that question down to this year alone, and I was honestly surprised at how long of a list I had and how I reacted to not having those individuals in my life. It is at that moment that I realized how under-appreciated the people in my life were by me. Therefore, I decided to base my photobook on them – a testament to how much I appreciate them and all they do, have done, for me. These individuals in my life (friends, family, classmates, etc) deserve to be recognized by me, as they do so much for me and have helped me become the person I am today.
I think that my photobook project will be relatable to a lot of people. I think that I am not the only person out there that is not fully appreciating every single person that affects their life. At the end of the day, we all have people in our life that make life all that much better, but how often do we show our appreciation of them? If they were to disappear tomorrow, how would the relationship between the two been left? For this reason, I believe that we all have our moments of taking the people around us who make life better for granted. As people of habit, we are so often stuck in our routine, that we forget to say thank you and express our appreciation to those around us every once in a while. However, I can also see that there are going to be people out there that deny my hypothesis of everyone being ungrateful of those around them from time to time. I think that some might say that they always express their gratitude and whatnot; but at the end of the year, can someone really say that they never forgot to say thank you or say “I love you” to someone in their life? No, because sometimes we are in a hurry or sometimes we just forget, plain and simple. There are moments in our lives where we all might make the mistake of forgetting to thank and appreciate those around us; and I have chosen to base my photobook on those around me I have forgotten to thank or appreciate in these past few months of the year. Although it won’t make up for the time loss or the time gap in demonstrating my appreciation, it will, however, display to these people that I truly appreciate them and am grateful for their place in my life and how they have impacted it. I hope the book inspires not only them, but any others who see it, to be grateful and appreciative of those around you whenever possible, because gratitude and appreciation are very significant to true happiness.
As am I deciding who to include in my photobook, I realize that I need to have some sort of guidelines to ensure that I am not leaving anyone out. Therefore I have decided that to be in my book, the individuals must each have been involved in my life for two weeks and be able to have a description made up that clearly demonstrates their impact on my life. For example, I would not just be allowed to include someone who opened the door for me, as this person wasn’t in my life for more than twenty seconds and it would also be very difficult to write about this individual and how I appreciate him/her. As well as that, I want to try to include an equal amount of family members and friends in the book so it isn’t just based primarily on one of them. The point of the book is to include a wide range of individuals who have impacted my life in the past three months. I do not want to limit the extent of the impact on my life, because I think that even the littlest of impact can affect me in a great manner. For example, there are a group of people who sit near me in my English class that I had not met before this semester, and these individuals have all impacted my life by just sitting near me, and yet the affect that has had is so large and so important to me. Overall, it is important to me that there are many people portrayed within my photobook and I will do my very best to carry out that intention.
I think that my photobook project will not only benefit me and those who view it by forcing us to remember to appreciate those people around us, but I also believe that it will benefit the individuals that are in my book. I think that when those people see that I appreciate them and that they have impacted my life in a positive manner, they will be overjoyed, appreciative, and thankful for such recognition. As well as that, it may make them want to continue to be the nice and wonderful people they are for society to benefit from – as they should! My goal is for my photobook to inspire everyone in some way, in any way. I want people to either see it and recognize that they need to be more appreciative around them, or to see it and realize how they may be impacting others’ lives without exactly knowing how or why. There is a purpose that arises from my book that may be connected to anyone and that is one of my truest intentions of the book.
With my photobook, I hope to be able to express my appreciation of those people around me, as I feel that I do not do that often enough. I would not be the person I am today, without the people that I have surrounded myself with – voluntarily or involuntarily. This project is about not taking your friends and family for granted, but rather respecting and appreciating them for all that they do. Those who see my book will hopefully be inspired to thank their friends and family more often and to remember not to take them for granted. Although cliché, it’s true: life is short. Before we know it, the people around us are going to be moving on with their lives separate from our own, and then that person may not be around as much, or ever again. I am just hoping that with my photobook, people recognize the importance of gratitude and appreciation towards those people around them.
Debbie's Blog 