Images & Stories - Assignment 2

We previously had to read ‘Rhetoric of the Image’ by Roland Barthes and discuss the linguistic character of imagery and how messages can be contained within them. The second part to this assignment was to pick 3 random images and ask a select number of people to look at the images and write a short story, within 5 minutes. This was to either prove or question Barthes theories. The three images that I picked at random where a girl blowing a dandelion, a cat and a clock.

The results were extremely varied and the stories had a wide range of imagination but there were some recurring themes.

Name: William

Age: 53

Gender: Male

Profession: Shunter

Story: While the girl was out playing blowing dandelions in the fields. Her cat thought she could have a nice nap in her soft bed. But the time was running out as it was almost one o’clock and her mother was making launch for her and the cat

Name: Sarah

Age: 50

Gender: Female

Profession: Sales Assistant

Story: It was a beautiful summer day the green field was filled with cotton topped Dandelions . In the distance the church clock chimed 1in the afternoon the little girl enjoyed the Field of dandelions as she picked them up and blew the flower seeds into the air and watched them float away, her grey cat lay sleeping on the pillow of her bed.

Name: Cassandra

Age: 33

Gender: Female

Profession: ICT Teacher

Story: As Katie wandered through the lush green field, she heard the church clock strike 1 o’clock in the distance. She knew she should she hurry as her mother would have lunch ready but it was such a lovely day, just as she was about to head home she noticed a dandelion, she picked and decided to make a wish. She wished for a kitten, a pet that could come with her on her adventures.

Name: Ross

Age: 19

Gender: Female

Profession: Student

Story: As time began to slow, the dandelion seeds appeared to hover motionlessly in the air. Lucy knelt down and ran her hands through the course blades of grass that surrounded her. They moved with very little bounce and failed to spring back into their original position. The meadow that she had once loved was now as dead as time itself. With no weather, the sound of trees rustling or the twittering of bird’s song, the world she once loved was gone. Or so she thought . . . the tail of a grey cat could be seen through the branches of trees in the distance. She wasn’t the only one left.

 
 

Name: Rachel

Age: 19

Gender: Female

Profession: Student

 

Story: The little girl is young and innocent, who has a close connection with her cat. Over time this bond grows stronger and stronger.

 

 

Name: Ross L

Age: 22

Gender: Male

Profession: Student

 

Story: A young girl spends her time wishing and dreaming. Her dreams take her to far away places and different times in history.

 

As you can see from these stories they vary not only in length but description. The majority of the stories have the same principles of a young girl playing in a field of dandelions and her cat lying in her bed asleep. But what surprised me was that only one mentioned about her making a wish. The clock was picked up as either one o'clock, lunchtime or to do with periods in time.

 

The story that I choose to be my main outcome was the one by Cassandra. The principles of her story where that the young girl was playing her garden of dandelions, around lunchtime and made a wish for a pet cat. To enable the next group of people to come up with these same ideas I added a further image to help them. This photo can be seen below:

 

I chose this image to help people think of the girl being at home and possibly help the thought of it being lunchtime. A few of the stories that I received from these four images can be seen below.

Name: Jake

Age: 20

Gender: Male

Profession: Student

Story: Jenny was running around the meadows, pouncing from behind tall rocks, tall grasses and clumps of dandelions. “Rarrr!” she exclaimed. “No one can ever defeat cat woman!” At that, the church clock struck one. Lunchtime. Before jenny began to run home she picked up a dandelion and blew it to make a wish; “please make me a cat”.

Name: Marianne

Age: 47

Gender: Female

Profession: Support for Learning Assistant

Story: It was one o’clock on Friday afternoon and she had just escaped work for an hour. Her Husband collected her and they drove to their house, not home. They spent the next thirty minutes in a frenzy packing the car so that they could leave straight from work that night. They were going home for the week-end, away from this God forsaken place. By five o’clock they realised they’d forgotten something, so returned to the house. As they unlocked their door, to their shock and amazement, a beautiful cat ran past them out of the house. “It’s a sign” she thought. Seven days later, finally, she got the call she’d prayed for. Her Husband was being transferred and they were going home. At last, she could allow herself to dream about the home and family she had yearned for, for so long.

Name: Brian

Age: 51

Gender: Male

Profession: Civil Servant

Story: I love going to Grandma’s, she has a big old house, which has so many rooms; each one filled with amazing things! My favourite is Grandma’s room. When you walk towards it, all you can hear is tick, tock; tick, tock getting louder with each step. Opening the door you are faced with a giant grandfather clock. Just like the nursery rhyme, hickory, dickory, dock, but there is no way any mouse would be running up that clock. Sheba, my Grandma’s cat, is always on her big iron bed, purring like an engine and ready to pounce! I love going to my Grandma’s house...

Name: Kirsty

Age: 19

Gender: Female

Profession: Student

Story: It was a warm summer’s day, around lunch time. We were all relaxing in the field behind the house, wishing with the dandelions while the cat rolled around lazily on the picnic rug.

Name: Stephanie

Age: 29

Gender: Female

Profession: Shop Assistant

Story: It was 1 O’clock in the afternoon as Eva skipped down the steps of the old farmhouse. It was a lovely sunny day and she had just had lunch with her grandparents. She wondered where Smokey had got to as she reached the field full of dandelions. She began running and playing in the fields of dandelions, blowing them making wishes and watching the seeds float about in the air.

 

Name: Linda

Age: 43

Gender: Female

Profession: Checkout Operator

 

Story: It was a warm summer day and the clock in the hall had just struck 1 o’clock. The fields around the little girl’s large white house were in full bloom. The girl played in the back garden blowing the seeds of the dandelions and watching them float up into the air while her grey cat lay sleeping on her bed.

 

Concluding from all of these images, some of the main principles where picked up but still were not exact and now that the house has been included a lot of people included the word 'house' in their story rather than the idea that the young girl was in her garden. Another thing that was dominant in most of the stories was that the cat was lying sleeping rather than the fact that the girl was making a wish and that being for a pet cat.

 

I therefore decided that I would add one word to one of my images to see if the story is made clear. I added the word 'Wish' to the picture of the girl to see if this made people think that she was wishing for something i.e. a pet cat. These next stages with the words only involve the original 3 images.

Name: Fiona

Age: 19

Gender: Female

Profession: Student

Story: The little girl was playing in her back garden at lunch time. Blowing the dandelions and making wishes for a pet cat.

Name: Donna

Age: 35

Gender: Female

Profession: Shop Assistant

Story: It was a lovely warm summer’s day and everything was perfect, well almost. The church clock stuck one and it was time to leave for lunch. Before the girl ran home she picked a dandelion and wished for what was missing, someone that she could play with. She already had a cat but it tended to run off all the time or would ly asleep on her bed.

Name: Carla

Age: 21

Gender: Female

Profession: Shop Assistant

Story: It was a summer’s day. The little girl was outside her house, wishing for a cat when she grows up.

Name: Maria

Age: 41

Gender: Female

Profession: Stay at home Mum

Story: The little girl was playing before lunch in the field beside the woods. Her and her family were out for the day. The dandelions were in full bloom. She began to blow the seeds away and wished her mum and dad would get a her cat that could play with her.

Name: Jackie

Age: 37

Gender: Female

Profession: Teacher

Story: As the little girl wandered through the lush green field she knew she would soon have to hurry home for lunch. She noticed a few dandelions and picked one. She blew hard and made a wish. She wished for a pet that wouldn't sleep all day the way her cat does.

The stories that I recieved for this part of the assignment gave me mixed results. Some people where picking up on the fact that the girl was wishing for a cat, while others still took the image quite literally, and wrote that she already had a cat that slept all day. The word wish now appeared in every story but not necessarily as I had hoped. To try and get the story correct I added yet another word to another image, only this time I added 'Pet' to the picture of the cat.

Name: Caroline

Age: 20

Gender: Female

Profession: Student

Story: The little girl wishes for a pet cat to play with in her garden throughout the long summer days especially at lunchtime.

Name: Graeme

Age: 19

Gender: Male

Profession: Student

Story: The little girl wished to live in a large beautiful house in the country with a fuzzy grey cat when she was older.

Name: Christine

Age: 23

Gender: Female

Profession: Student

Story: As the clock in the nearby farm struck 1 o’clock the little girl was playing in the field near the woods. As she picked ip a dandelion and blew the seeds away, she wished for a cat as a pet.

Name:Anita

Age: 45

Gender: Female

Profession: Pharmacy Assistant

Story: A little girl was out in the garden playing in the fields of dandelions. It was nearly lunchtime as she could hear the huge clock in the town chiming. Before heading home for lunch, she picked a dandelion and made a wish – for a pet cat.

Name: Dwight

Age: 29

Gender: Male

Profession: Restaurant Manager

Story: The little girl was playing outside in her back garden. She was in a world of her own, playing till her hearts’ content. Her garden was in full bloom and covered in dandelions. She was picking them one by one, making wishes for her future and wishing her parents would get her a pet cat.

Name: Claire

Age: 23

Gender: Female

Profession: Student

Story: As the clock in the nearby farm struck 1 o’clock the little girl was playing in the field near the woods. As she picked up a dandelion and blew the seeds away, she wished for a cat as a pet.

From all of these stories the majority of them have the main concepts. Each one has picked up on the girl making a wish and the fact that she wished for a cat as a pet but the clock is still adding a lot of variation. To try and solve this I repeated the experiment again only this time adding yet another word to the clock image. I added the word 'lunchtime'.

Name: Liz

Age: 45

Gender: Female

Profession: Checkout Operator

Story: It was a summer day and lunchtime was nearing. The little girl was outside playing in her garden with the dandelions, she was making wishes, one of which was for a pet cat.

Name: Geoff

Age: 48

Gender: Male

Profession: Engineer

Story: A little is in her garden at lunchtime playing. She makes a wish on a dandelion for a pet cat.

Name: Charlotte

Age: 19

Gender: Male

Profession: Student

Story: One day at lunchtime I was in my garden and made a wish on a dandelion for a pet.

Name: Diane

Age: 31

Gender: Female

Profession: Teacher

Story: A little girl was playing in her garden in the masses of dandelions. It was nearly time for lunch but she had time to make a wish. She wished her parents would get her a pet cat.

Concluding from all of these stories it is clear that the addition of this third word made all the stories contain the exact same things. Each story spoke of a young girl, playing in her garden at lunchtime, making wishes on dandelions for a pet cat. I also noticed that even though each of the stages with the words only had three images, nearly every person spoke of the little girl being in her garden, which shows that the house did back up images at the start. The text on the images also seems to reduce the length of the stories as they are more to the point and simply contain the principles of the story, there is no extra padding, so to speak.

The main idea behind this assignment is to prove that adding extra images and adding text to imagery can give a better understanding. At the start the images where totally random, but yet most people seemed to write the same sort of thing. By the time the fourth image was added a story had been selected and therefore a chosen meaning. However, as soon as text was added the story was totally understood and clear.

Polysemy is also something that was truely established in this assignment as it has shown that a small amount of images can be interpreted in completely different ways from one person to another.

Roland Barthes

I was asked to read ‘Rhetoric of the Image’ by Roland Barthes and it was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to read. The language of the text was quite hard to understand and the underlying theories and messages Barthes was trying to get across took a while to come clear due to the form of writing. However, the main principal of this text is to study images and their linguistic nature. “How does meaning get into the image? Where does it end? And if it ends, what is there beyond?”

There are three types of messages; the linguistic message, a coded iconic message and a non-coded iconic message.

One of the first things that are studied by Barthes is an advertisement because the image is without a doubt intentional, to ensure the message within the image is transmitted as clearly as possible. Advertisements are formed with optimum reading and tend to be quite frank. Here the ‘Panzani’ advertisement is thoroughly studied and broken down into all the different messages it contains. First is the linguistic message that it portrays; the caption and labels have a hidden code of the French language, this is classed as a denotational linguistic message. However, the name ‘Panzani’ itself gives a signification of ‘Italianicity’ and this is classed as a connotational linguistic message. Secondly, we are left with the pure image which straight away gives off a series of signs and symbols that have been imbedded within the image for its viewers. This allows you to understand the image quickly; as an advertisement should be understood. This linguistic message needs a cultural understanding to be decoded and presents us with multiple questions; do they duplicate certain information in reading the text? Or is there something new that occurs in the reading of the image? As a result of some of these questions Barthes has been able to break linguistic messages down further into two sub-categories, ‘Anchorage’ and ‘Relay’.

           ‘Anchorage’ helps the viewer to choose the correct level of perception and enables them to not only focus their gaze but also their understanding. It controls the reader towards advanced meanings and guides them through the signifieds of the image, allowing them to receive some and avoid others. The text allows the designer to control the reader and guide them towards a meaning they have chosen in advance.

          ‘Relay’ is a sequence of text in cartoons, comic strips and films that is complimentary in relationship to the image and provides a meaning that the viewer cannot find in the image. This type of message is usually present for quick reading and to get the point of the image across quickly; therefore making the image seem “lazier”.

A coded iconic message is a series of discontinuous signs that are relayed in the image through objects, colours, text and so on. Relating back to the ‘Panzani’ advert, Barthes shows that that colours act as cultural messages to signify “Italianicity”, the image and text portrays the contextual information and the open bag portrays freshness and domestic preparation. This combination of text and underlying information creates the perfect advertisement for magazines and its readers.

A non –coded iconic message is a literal, visual message. It is simply a literal message rather than one that contains underlying messages and symbols. Its purpose is to support the symbolic message and provide a literal meaning.

The final thing Bathes speaks about is the fact that drawings cannot be decoded because unlike a photograph they do not produce fine detail or every feature of the subject matter. The denotation of a drawing is therefore less pure than that of a photograph as there is no drawing without style. The scene captured in a photograph is ‘there’, captured mechanically and not humanly; where as a drawing is aided with various techniques and signs drawn from a cultural code. The artist will have portrayed the scene in the way in which they see it and this subsequently means that there are underlying messages within the drawing.

A photograph is never experienced as an “illusion”, is in no way a “presence” but is the reality of the “having-been there” unlike a drawing.

Barthes therefore showing us that one image is open to various interpretations and that text aids us to understand imagery.

US Orders New Nuclear Power Plants

Yesterday, Barak Obama announced that $8 billion will be spent on building the countries first new nuclear power plants for 30 years, in Georgia. Obama has said that they are needed to meet energy needs and reduce the dependence on foreign oil. He has also stated that the programme is "only the beginning" of efforts to develop "safe, clean," energy efficient technologies. Energy has served as a major part of the president's agenda, but his focus on building a green energy economy has broadened in the past month to include nuclear power, offshore oil drilling and the development of clean-coal technology.

When I read this news headline “US Orders New Nuclear Power Plants”, the first thing that came to mind was, “seriously?” and then the total awe at the fact that this was even what I was reading. I straight away clicked on the link to the article and read in anticipation to read what exactly Obama had planned for his country. I was in total shock and annoyance at the fact that these 2 nuclear power stations are even being built. I can totally understand the fact that he is trying to keep up his promises and is trying to be ‘greener’ and point his country in the right direction but is building 2 nuclear power stations really doing that?

Although they are going to reduce the dependence on foreign oil, therefore reducing the strain between American and the Middle East, these plants are producing extremely high amounts of radioactive waste that is also highly dangerous. This is hardly “safe” or “clean”.

In my eyes these power plants are not the route to go down. They are a way of boosting economy and money but once again nature and the environment has been given the back seat. I just cannot say that these are a way of building a green economy, when they clearly are not.

I feel quite strongly about making our future greener and helping to save our planet. In my eyes this could be maybe do more damage than good.

Knowing You - Assignment 1

Partner: Rachel Laing

Discipline: Interior & Environmental Design

When first told about this assignment I was a bit worried about who I would actually ask to pair up with and although Rachel is in my class, I didn't know her very well and thought that this was my opportunity to get to know her better. Rachel has allowed me to post her pictures online so below I have the picture and my thoughts directly underneath and then feedback for each one.

Rachel, Her Brother and Cousin around a Birthday Cake

In this photograph what caught my eye the most was that all three children were around the birthday cake even though it was only one child’s birthday. This could mean that her parents don’t want any of their children feeling left out or more special than the other and therefore make sure everyone is involved in blowing out the candles. I also presume from the picture that it was possibly one of the boy’s birthdays as the candles are blue and the candle holders are green and blue; both of these colours are quite masculine. However, I’m not too sure whether both of the boys in the picture are Rachel’s brothers or whether one of them is a friend. Rachel’s parents also seem to be very proud of their children and like to always be involved as well as be there for every moment. Rachel’s body language in this also shows her leaning slightly towards the left male child more than the other, possibly meaning she has a closer relationship with this person more than the other. The clothes she is wearing shows that she is into quite girly things such as the Spice Girls but she is also wearing track bottoms which make the outfit more tom boyish. It appears that she has her own sense of what she wants to wear, possibly indicating that she knows what she wants and has a unique way of dressing. She doesn’t conform to the crowds and likes being an individual. I also noticed that she is wearing a necklace which looks quite hand-made or possibly even a souvenir, maybe from a holiday or something.

Feedback

As it turns out the cake in the picture was her brother’s, who is also the boy on the left hand side of the photograph and the other young boy is her cousin. This explains why Rachel is leaning more towards this left, as she would have a stronger bond with her bother than her cousin. However, it was hard for me to distinguish between the two boys as to whether or not both of them where her brother because they both look very similar to one another, especially facial features like their nose. When I pointed this out, Rachel had to look at the photo closer and only then did she realise this resemblance. It wasn’t something she had ever really picked up on before. The gathering of the children around the birthday cake has always been part of family tradition and as it turns out no matter who’s birthday it is to this day, younger cousins or her dad’s, everybody still gathers around the cake to blow out the candles. Rachel also told me that she was a huge fan of the Spice Girls but she was very much a tom boy; she used to play football, loved collecting Pokemon cards and her best friend was a boy who taught her everything she knows about skateboarding. The necklace that I thought was possibly a souvenir was actually given to her by her mum and even now she’ll wear her mum’s jewellery (the bracelet and watch that she was wearing at the time belonged to her mum).

Rachel’s Bedroom

The room is completely spotless, very tidy and not a thing is out of place. This in itself shows that Rachel is a very organised person and likes to keep things tidy; a bit of a neat freak possibly? Within the room there are a lot of wardrobes and storage space which makes me think that she enjoys going shopping and buying clothes but it also made me wonder if some of the space was just used to put things away in because she doesn’t like a cluttered or messy room? The picture above the bed is clearly hand-made showing that she is a very creative person and is obviously an avid football fan and Liverpool supporter. It seems that she has aspired to see Liverpool play from a young age as this picture has pride of place in her bedroom. The tickets in it also show that she is quite a sentimental person and this obviously meant a lot to her. There’s a picture of her with whom I presume is her dad in amongst this which shows that she has a close bond with her dad, with them both supporting Liverpool. Is this her dad’s influence? Does she have a closer bond with her dad than her mum? This picture and the hand-picked cushions on the bed show’s that Rachel likes to make a space her own. There was only one thing I noticed out of place in this picture and that was the hoodie hanging on the handle of the wardrobe. Is this one of her favourite pieces of clothing? Is it that she likes to have it handy so that she can just grab it and pull it on, as she likes to wear it all the time?

Feedback

The white and black pillow on the bed is nicknamed the ‘Paris Pillow’ as she was on a trip with a group of friends and they all bought one of these pillows for on the plane and so on; again a very sentimental and personal item on display in her room. She loves shopping and buying clothes but she also admits that her wardrobes aren’t exactly clean and tidy. Her room was only recently redecorated and so this is why it is also really tidy, as she wants to keep it clean and new looking. When I asked Rachel about her dad it made her think a lot about the bond between them and she discovered that in a way she does have a slightly closer bond with him but it wasn’t until I pointed this out that she had ever really thought about it and realised.

Living Room

This living room looks like a very cosy and homely looking room. It appears to be somewhere that all the family would get together and enjoy spending time together. The ironing board in the picture gives this impression and makes it seem like a room that if you had something to do, you would still go there to be in the company of everyone else. However, the fact that the ironing board is in the living room suggests that this is quite a busy household. The decor of the room is very modern and stylish, therefore showing that the family likes to keep with the times and take pride in their home. There is a very feminine look to the decor as maybe her Mum had more to do with it than her dad? Although this appears to be a very family orientated room and household there doesn’t appear to be any family pictures on the walls. Why is this?

Feedback

I was actually quite wrong about this room in some respects as Rachel told me that they hardly spend any time at all in this room together because everyone in the house is usually so busy or always have something to do. It is very rare for them all to get a chance to sit down together in the living room. It is more likely for them to sit in the kitchen rather than the living room as this is where her parents would be most of the time. The decor though was mainly her mum’s influence and she thinks that her mum tried to make the room more homely so that they would possibly spend more time in their together. It has also been recently redecorated and previously used to be a room dedicated to the family but since it’s been decorated the photo’s weren’t put back up again. This is due to her mum wanting all the picture frames to be the same, as she would be quite picky like that but couldn’t find any she liked and due to the fact that Rachel and her brother were getting older and embarrassed by the pictures.

Rachel and Her Brother Asleep

This picture really caught my eye due to the close bond that it showed between Rachel and her brother. The fact that they have fallen asleep holding hands and facing each other shows the loving relationship between siblings; a very strong body language that shows how close they are. It also appears that Rachel’s dummy has been removed and pushed away implying that she was quite grown up and mature from a young age, as she had no need for a dummy to help her to get to sleep. Perhaps also the fact that she was with her brother was enough to pacify her. It also looks to me as if they both in their parents bed asleep but I’m not too sure as to why this would be?

Feedback

Rachel told me that from a very young age she has always had a close bond with her brother but doesn’t understand why they are asleep in their parents’ bed. She thinks it could be because they have been waiting on their parents going to bed and instead have fallen asleep.

Rachel and Her New Baby Brother

Once again this picture shows that from a young age Rachel was very mature because instead of being jealous of the new baby, she is giving him a kiss and welcoming him into the family, in her own way. This shows that she is a very loving and caring person. The photo also shows that her parents always make sure that she is involved in everything, as much as she can be and wouldn’t want her to feel left out. Rachel clearly comes from a very good family, with very caring and loving parents and she has obviously been greatly influenced by her parents in this way. It also seems that this family is a very sentimental family, as they seem to like taking pictures at every chance and special occasion they can. However, in most of the other photos it seems to be Rachel’s mum taking all the pictures but this is one of the rare times she isn’t. Is her mum very sentimental? Or does she have an interest in photography?

Feedback

Her mum is a very sentimental person and is always behind the camera because she loves having keepsakes of everything and hates getting her photo taken. She reckons she does get her sentimentality from her mum but not in the same way, as her mum likes to display things where as Rachel would have hers hidden except for the cushion on her bed and her Liverpool picture. She also still recalls this day like it was yesterday and remembers never really being jealous of her brother at all. Her cousins would always be fighting and being jealous over each other toys and presents but she doesn’t ever remember being like this with her brother.

Nursery Outing

In this picture, along with many of the other one’s Rachel gave to me, it is clear that she is a very happy child/person. Her arm around the group of children she is with shows that she likes to bring people together and get everyone involved. She doesn’t like people feeling like they are being left out, possibly. It appears that she is a very social and outgoing person even from a young age, as she liked to be involved in day trips and being part of things with her friends. The clothes that she is wearing are very similar to those of the children around her. Is this deliberate? Do her parents want her to have what other children have, doesn’t want them to not be like other children? The colour blue also appears throughout the photographs, is this maybe a favourite colour?

Feedback

Rachel explained that she has always liked making people happy and doesn’t like to see people feeling down or sad. If she seen someone alone or sad she would go and talk to them and try to make them feel better. However, her favourite colour is actually red not blue and there is an on-going joke in her family that blue isn’t allowed due to it being the colour of Chelsea FC. She also explained that her parents have always tried to give their children as much as they could but the outfit in this photo has probably been chosen more for practical reasons and thinks it’s just coincidence that it is similar to those around her.

Afterwards

Once we had both spoken about all of our photographs and got all our questions answered, we asked each other things we had learnt or didn’t realise about ourselves. One of the main things that Rachel picked up on about me was that I like to hoard things which I already knew but it was amazing to see just how quickly after looking at half a dozen photos, someone that hardly knows you can pick up on so much. This is what I found most interesting and enjoyable about this assignment, even though it was quite hard. The thing that I learnt about myself the most though was that even in some of my favourite pictures I had missed out on very important body language and hidden messages within them. It wasn’t until Rachel pointed a few things out about my photos that some things became clear to me. It’s simply amazing how someone else can look at your photographs and get a whole other meaning to what you see and sometimes see things that you didn’t even notice. This was the same in reverse too, there were things I was pointing out about Rachel’s family and her photographs that even she hadn’t noticed or didn’t think were that obvious. However, some of the things that Rachel had said about my family were very touching and it meant a lot to me that others see things in my family that I also see. Her family appears to be very close knit and I would think this is something someday Rachel would also want of her own. It is also clear that she comes from very loving and caring parents which she has been greatly influenced by, as she has these qualities herself. At first I found it quite hard to delve into someone else’s life but in the end found it a very enjoyable experience.

Thank you to Rachel and Her Family :)


Johari Window
This model helps individuals within a group to improve self-awareness, mutual understanding and understand how we as humans react. It's called Johari 'Window' because it's split into four areas, based on a four-sqaure grid i.e like a window pane split into four sections. The areas are as follows:

1. Open - What the person knows about him/herself and is known by others
2. Blind - What the person does not know about him/herself but others do know
3. Hidden - What the person knows about him/herself but that others do not know
4. Unknown - What is unknown by the person but is also unknown by others.
 

In response to this model and this assignment is it clear that both Rachel and I have similar qualities. I would say that I am Open and Blind as Rachel picked up on things that most people know about me but she also released a few things from my photographs that I had missed. I reckon Rachel would be the same in this sense; Open and Blind for the exact same reasons. However, I would also say I fall into the Hidden category as there were things about me that Rachel didn't pick up on or didn't realise until I told her. All-in-all this model is quite useful to analyise the results from my assignment and enables you to break them down easily and clearly.