Transsexual Images by Loren Cameron

I was able to attend this presentation on April 4th,2012. It was very new to me. Loren Rex Cameron is a photographer known for his pictures of transsexual people during their gender transition. This performance was about his own transformation and stories of others as well. As he showed each image you could tell it hit a special place in his art. I think that every person is able to express themselves in their own way. For this newly transformed male this was his way of letting go.

It was very interesting for me to attend. The topic of transgender is not always an easy one to talk about. I could tell as he was speaking about each photograph that it takes a lot of guts to be able to stand in front of an audience and speak about something so personal. Loren Cameron also mentioned that it was difficult to ask transgender people to photograph nude. He has written a book titled Body Alchemy. The book that includes the pictures he has taken is titled Cameron and has two volumes with the theme body modification.

The visual literacy impact is through photography. When someone sees a picture of a transgender person in a picture it is much different then your typical viewing of art. I think that photographs of the process, and the person before and after help to give you a visual image of what it takes for them to be happy. The presentation included a majority of nude images, but helped me to understand as someone who does not know much of anything about the long process of being a transgender person. I am glad that I attended this presentation.

Here is an image that Loren Cameron has taken:
warning some of the images may be offensive. Here is a site where you may view some on your own if you so choose. http://www.lorencameron.com/

Final View on Visual Literacy

Honestly, this class started slow for me. Then as it progressed I found that I was more and more intrigued. The more subjects that we covered and the more videos I watched things changed constantly. I really enjoyed watching the TED videos. They really make you think. Here is a link to watch some of the videos recently posted. http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL454A0274C1223C90&feature=plcp

When I watch movies or play video games I sometimes think way more about why the creator made the images the way he did. It makes me wonder how much of a thinking process is actually put into the creation to make it visually aesthetic. We had a presentation on video games and how they represent women and we also had a presentation where we brought in images that we thought were objectifying women in ads of a magazine. This activity also increased my awareness of how visual literacy is applied in my lives.

The media is a large portion of society's thoughts.Here is an example of what was shown during class.

 Here is an example of what may have been brought up in class.

After seeing these images my mind was blown. Visual Literacy is more then just a word. I believe I stated this in my first ever blog. Now I know what could be considered under this label. It turned out to be so much more then I thought it would be.