Photo Essay Artist Statement

The photos used in my photo essay were from my first visit to the Johnsons Park area of Milwaukee. Want I wanted to convey through the pictures were my first reactions of the neighborhood and also what I was also feeling at the time. For this trip I was limited to using a disposable camera and my photos rely heavily on the weather.
I took these pictures in the Johnsons park area on a Thursday morning. I took the bus from North Avenue and was surprised at what I found when I finally got to Johnsons park. The park itself is just a big open field with some trees around it and some hills at the north and south ends of it. There is also a playground at the south end. For some reason I was expecting more. I thought that it would be more like Gordon Park or Kern Park which are bigger and have more trees and vegetation. I was also surprised at how much garbage was in Alice's Garden. I know that it couldn't be kept up during the winter, but the neighborhood overall had a lot of litter in it. I captured that in one of my pictures for the essay because even though I don't live in one of the cleanest neighborhoods, things like that still leave an impression on me.
Another first reaction that I got from the area were the houses. The degree in difference between the houses in the neighborhood left such an impression on me that I choose to do my photo essay on that topic. First of all, I knew that they were rebuilding houses in the neighborhood but I had no idea that they were going to be that many, and that nice looking. Those houses looked like they would be in a suburb and not an urban neighborhood. I found that very interesting. Also, even though there were so many nice houses, the neighborhood was still what it was, there was still litter in the vacant lots and there were still boarded up businesses. The older houses left an impression on me as well. Because there are so many newer houses in the area, the older houses and buildings really stick out. The older houses are decrepit and are falling apart. Paint is chipping everywhere, there are support beams missing, fences are falling down, boards are broken...etc. I wanted to focus more on these older houses but I didn't want to take too much time in case the inhabitants of the houses caught me being too nosy. I also wanted to capture the change of “out with the old and in the the new.” I found a sign that advertises lots of sell in the neighborhood. I was able to take a picture of some men working on a house which directly represents the change of new life and livelihood added to the neighborhood.
When I took these pictures, I was cold and tired and hungry and hoped that somehow this would be reflected in my pictures. I think the weather played an important part in the feeling that these pictures give off. It wasn't very cold, but it wasn't too warm until I left the neighborhood. The sky is a very pale color, at the time it would go from cloudy to more clear. There are also a lot of pictures of empty lots also reflected what I was feeling at the time. I was there alone and I was tired and hungry.
This project is a visual interpretation of my first reactions to the Johnsons Park area. My ideas and opinions of the area may change over time, but this stands as what I was thinking and feeling at the time that I was introduced to the area. I felt that there were a lot of really nice houses, so I tried to capture them on film. I thought that older, run down houses really stood out so I tried to juxtapose them against the new houses. I thought that there was more trash in the neighborhood than I am used to so I got that on film as well. Also I was alone and hungry and tired and tried to capture that with pictures of barren lots and the pale sky.