Emily Ayers

25 November 2015
ENGL 419.001
Reflective Essay (Multimodal)
Photo Essays are Difficult
As my title states, I had a hard time with this project. Not only did I have
a bunch of assignments due for other classes, but I was struggling with
this one. I chose the option of a photo essay because, quite frankly, I
thought it was going to be easyeasy to do and easy to read. It also was
a better option than a presentation, as you have to figure out how to get
all the information down in one Powerpoint. I almost made a video, but
realized I did not have the equipment. An essay fits an academic analysis
better than the other options, however, if I were to use it in a nonacademic setting, I would probably choose a blog or Powerpoint.
With a photo essay, you have to figure out how to align the photos so
that they do not mess up the flow of the paper. I feel that I successfully
did so, but it took a very long time. Then there was the problem of
captions. I could not figure out how to create captions that did not have
a number in them, so I just made the text smaller and in a different font
than the essay itself. I feel like that made my paper easier to read.
My font choice was simple: Bookman Old. It has the look of Times New
Roman, but is bigger and with more readability, in my opinion. It fits well
with the goal of my project, which was to apply Flag Waving as explained
by Pineda and Sowards to a non-immigration issue. I chose gay
rights/the Pride flag as my topic because I identify as bisexual and was
curious about the history and effectiveness of the Pride flag. I feel that I
accomplished my goal, but could have done better by integrating others
research as well. I will do that in my revision for the portfolio.