American Soldier

A. I believe the most powerful image out of the three weeks was the one titled "Comforts of Home". This image has the power of  showing the soldier's longing for home and as well as how the normalities of the army differ from those he had before. As the soldier casually sits with a handgun on his chest while having a conversation with someone back home the viewer can have a greater sense as to just how difficult it can be to be in the army.

B. All of the photos work well together because of the way that they show a journey. The photos help for the viewer to be able to understand all the difficulties and emotions one can experience while in training and enlisted in the army. The way that the photos are taken, and all being in black and white, can also help for them to flow together better.

C. The photos themselves show great emotion but on top of that the captions and comments from the soldier himself help to exaggerate that point. Giving background information on what's going on in the photo can add to the affect of whatever struggle or high point might be occurring in the photo.

D. Ian Fisher makes the decision that he will be joining the army after he receives his diploma. Fisher leaves his life back home, all his friends and family, and joins the basic training program to prepare him for real battle. He begins to rethink his decisions after realizing how different the army really is. Fisher stays in the training program and suffers through intense training but also enjoys some fun moments with his buddies. Ian falls into some deeper issues with drug use but is able to get help and bring him back up. After a long time of suffering through the difficulties of being in the army Ian Fisher finally returns home and marries his girlfriend, Kristen.

E. In the photos where Ian is the main subject the verbs within the caption are typically written in present tense.

F.
1. The captions are typically around three sentences, sometimes longer.
2. The first sentence typically mentions the date as well as whats going on and the people involved.
3. The second sentence is usually a follow up of the first sentence that provides more background information about what's going on or what happened after the photo was taken.
4. If a caption has a third sentence it usually includes a quote form someone in the photo.
5. There are a bunch of captions that include quotes.
6. Photos that require more information to be understood usually have a fourth sentence.

G. Photos have lots of power to make people feel a certain way. They are able to directly understand the emotion going on in the photo rather than coming up with their own image like you typically would with a real story.

H. Longer stories that include more than just photos and captions allow for the readers mind to wonder and think further with whatever is written. You are also able to get into greater detail with longer stories, and can also write many fictional statements that would not be good to put as a caption of a photo.