Photography And Art Essays - Journalism, Visual Arts,

Photography And Art For many years photography has been used to document the most significant of events, whether they affect an entire society, like a war, or a specific persons' life, such as a wedding. The reason that photography is used for such occasions instead of painting, drawing or sculpting is quite simple. It is because photography is the most remarkable of the fine arts. Other forms of art, are aesthetically pleasing and important in their own rite, but photography is so monumental because of the power that only it possesses. This is the power to depict fact. One aspect that makes photography so creditable is that it can show feeling and emotion so much more vividly and doubtlessly than a drawing can. For instance, during the Great Depression "the harsh realities were recorded thanks to the initiative of the Farm Security Administration (Daval, 186)." At this time, Dorothea Lange "documented the bitter poverty of migrant workers and their families (20th Century Photography, 1). These images, such as Migrant Mother and Cotton Picker near Firebrough, show, so clearly and almost effortlessly, the pain and despair that was occurring too frequently at this time. There is a loss of hope that is so clear and evident in these photographs from the longing in the eyes of the images shown. Such raw emotion is hard to come by in any other art form. Another reason photography is more trustworthy than other forms of art, is because the image that appears in a photograph, whether it is of a person or an event, has at one point existed or happened. This statement does not always hold true for paintings, sculptures, and drawings. It is simple and usual for an artist to conjure up an image of a person that has never existed and turn them into a work of art. For example, there has been a great deal of speculation about whether or not Leonardo Da Vinci's Mona Lisa is a portrait of a real person. Before the relatively recent technological advances, it was not possible to have a picture of a person or an incident that was fictitious. A further example that photography is perceived as more realistic than other methods of art, is that it is possible for an artist to elaborate, emphasize, erase, or even completely change an image that they are trying to capture. Once again, preceding modern advances, this was not possible for a photographer to do. Based on this, and the preceding statement, throughout history viewers have been able to trust that the images they were seeing were genuine, and therefore were able to trust the realism of photographs. Over the years, photography came to be depended on for its ability to show factual images for the reasons stated earlier. Proof of this statement, is the great demand for photographs in magazines and newspapers. "The newspaper and newsmagazine depended on his (a professional photo-reporter's) pictures, even more than on the written word. They were an international language of communication, the one language needing no translation (Daval, 190)." The rise of photojournalism made the public even more believing of photography and "the status of the photograph: from a document before, it now became evidence, irrefutable proof (Daval, 173)." Bibliography Daval, Jean-Luc. Photography: History of an Art . New York: Rizzoli International Publications Inc. , 1982. 20th Century Photography: http://www.masters-of- photography. com/L/lange/lange_articles1.html Dorothea Lange Photographs. http://www.masters-of-photography. com/L/lange/lange_migrant_mother_full.html

Path to Enlightenment Essay

Path to Enlightenment Essay Path to Enlightenment Essay Path to Enlightenment Enlightenment is the obtainment of inner peace and true wisdom. How to achieve this seemingly unattainable idea has been a prevalent question since the dawn of time. Two authors, Matthew Arnold in his poem â€Å"Self Dependence and N. Scott Momaday in his nonfiction text â€Å"A Vision Beyond Time and Place†, attempt to answer this complex question. In each of their texts, they look to nature for spiritual enlightenment. Because they are posing the same question and both are looking to nature for answers, one would assume they would come up with similar processes for achieving spiritual enlightenment. However, this is not the case due to the contrasting points of view each author takes. The texts are similar in many ways, such as the importance they stress on nature. Although due to the difference in points of view, they end up conveying entirely different messages: one supporting self-dependence and the other supporting expansion of the mind. The question Momaday and Arnold answer through their writing is fundamentally the same: how to achieve enlightenment. The crucial difference between the two texts is the contrasting points of view. While Arnold explores the attainment of enlightenment from an individual’s standpoint, Momaday explores it from a society’s standpoint. Arnold is essentially asking the question: â€Å"How do I reach spiritual enlightenment, whereas, Momaday is asking: â€Å"How can we as a society reach enlightenment?† Arnold’s speaker desperately seeks advice in order to help him find out who he is supposed to be, â€Å"Weary of myself, and sick of asking What I am, and what I ought to be†(1-2). Through the rhetorical device of anaphora: the speaker’s hopelessness is emphasized. The author repeats the phrase â€Å"what I am† which highlights how lost the speaker is. He is struggling to find his place and needs guidance to help him find his way. While Arn old talks about a single person’s search for enlightenment, Momaday focuses on society’s search for enlightenment, â€Å"†¦most of us in this society are afflicted with a kind of cultural nearsightedness†¦we fail to see the nature and meaning of our own humanity† (Momaday). Momaday expresses that a common problem with society is the inability to expand one’s mind. People can’t break the barrier that traps their mind and therefor remain ignorant and closed off. It is shown here that â€Å"A Vision Beyond Time and Place† focuses on society’s problem, rather than an individual’s problem. This key difference between the texts, along with dissimilar literary techniques and contrasting diction, causes each work to convey dissimilar messages. Nature has always been viewed a place of power, awe, and purity. Both authors recognize this and look to the sky when searching for enlightenment. In â€Å"Self Dependence†, th e speaker desperately seeks advice from the stars, â€Å"And a look of passionate desire O’er the sea and to the stars I send†(5-6). The speaker in this poem admires nature greatly and wishes to become like it, all-powerful and supreme. The same reverence for nature is expressed in Momaday’s work, â€Å"Every morning, my father tells me, Cheney would paint his wrinkled face, go out, and pray aloud to the rising sun† (Momaday). Cheney’s unwavering devotion to the sun is demonstrated through this quote. This proves the great resect that Cheney has for nature. The unnamed speaker from the poem looks to the stars as a source of comfort and solace, seeking advice from it. Cheney prays to the sun every day and views it with great reverence. These acts of dedication and admiration prove the importance role nature plays in both of these texts. It is evident that nature plays a significant part in both works, however, the message nature conveys in each text is starkly different. When the unnamed speaker in the poem asks how to become more like the stars, the stars respond with these words: â€Å"Bounded by themselves, and unregardful In what state God’s other works may be†(26-28). Through

Matteo Ricci and China Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Matteo Ricci and China - Research Paper Example 1-50).1 The aim of this research paper is to discuss Matteo Ricci in China, why he came to China, what he completed during his stay in China, as well as the impacts he had on Chinese society during that time and in the modern day. Why Matteo Ricci came to China The main reason why Matteo Ricci went to China encompasses the desire to spread the Christian gospel to China. As an intelligent and talented Jesuit, Ricci sought to preach the Christian message in China. He entered China during the Ming dynasty (1368-1644), marking the beginning of what can be referred as the third period of the history of Christianity in China. Together with other Jesuits, Ricci intended to see the implementation of the insights of Alessandro Valignano, their Jesuit chief. In order to make China a Christian society, he made attempts to connect with both the ordinary people and the educated Chinese. The Christian doctrines that Ricci wanted to spread in China mainly included those of Catholicism (Fontana 2011 , p. 1-50).1 Ricci also came to China with the aim of amassing knowledge, which he could disseminate to people in other parts of the world. Of utmost importance was his desire to spread Christianity to the Chinese cultures, which had no prior knowledge of Christianity but used to be strict followers of other religious beliefs. Thus, his determination to see Christianity spread in China can be termed as the main reason why Matteo Ricci came to China (Brockey 22007, p. 10-250). What Matteo Ricci completed during his stay in China and his impact during that time up to modern day China Some of the accomplishments that Ricci made in China included preaching and spreading Christianity to most of the parts of China. His main focus included spreading Catholicism doctrine, teaching astronomy, geography, and mathematics. During his stay in China, Ricci collected maps of China and merged them with maps of the west to come up with the map of the entire world (Brockey 2007, p. 10-250).2 For the first time, there came to be the Chinese Global map, which Ricci himself compiled. His other contributions included the introduction of geographic coordinate system, as well as western geography. The coordinate system helped in the measuring of longitude and latitude in maps, which led to China. Ricci introduced western civilization to the Chinese people; this civilization spread to other countries around China such as Japan (Hsia 2010, p. 30-120).3 His other accomplishments while in China included doing twenty writings in Chinese. These writings encompassed scientific works, religious writings, as well as treaties; one of the most famous writings that he did was the â€Å"True Doctrine of God.† Moreover, he contributed to the compiling of the first European-Chinese dictionary and two Portuguese-Chinese dictionaries. Ricci’s accomplishments in China also encompassed leaving behind 2,500 Chinese Catholics at the time of his death; most of them included the educated ones . His legacy also encompassed a Friendship Treatise, Mnemonic arts treatise, as well as a translation of Elements of Geometry in Chinese (Lehner 2011, p. 4-70).3 Ricci’s accomplishments while in China also encompass writings that entailed catechisms and the translation of Chinese prayers. Moreover, Ricci was highly involved in the composition of hymns in the Chinese language, which played a crucial role in his efforts to spread the doctrines and teachings of

Investment Risk Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Investment Risk Management - Essay Example Additionally, the company was reported bankrupt on 15th September 2008 and was ranged among the top 22 financial institutions that experienced the world largest bankruptcy (Ross, 2010). This collapse brought a big shock not only to the U.S economy but to entire world. This is because the company provided financial services not only to the affluent individuals and companies but also to the government. Among the services that were rendered by the company include; banking services, equity investments, consultancy services, buying and selling of treasury securities to mention just but a few (Sorkin, 2008). 1. Factors that contributed to financial failure of the Lehman Brothers Holding Company. According to Azadinamin, 2003 numerous factors contribute to failure of Lehman Brothers Holding Company. ... This led to higher cases of defaults as most of the house holds could not be able to repay the loans and interest rates that were attached on those loans. This consequently led to the collapse of Lehman and brother holding company (Azadinamin, 2003). Additionally, manipulation of financial statement such as balance sheet contributed to failure of Lehman failure. For example; it was reported that fifty billion dollars on loans commitment were intentionally removed from the balance sheet and recorded as sales in the income statements rather than loans. Connectively, the company was operating a negative cash flow statement prior to its collapse. Therefore, I could recommend to the senior management of Lehman brother Company to perform credit selection and moral hazards prior granting mortgages (Azadinamin, 2003). Additionally, Lehman management should avoid unethical accounting practices and propagate high ethical standards in financial reporting. The company should have realistic and a chievable strategies. For example, instead of buying assets and storing them, the company could transfer them to third party and earn more returns. Lehman management focused only at evaluating the balance sheet and ignored cash flow evaluation, making it difficult to detect the potential risk that led to its collapse. Therefore, I could have recommended Lehman management to evaluate all its financial statements in order to detect risk and failures before they occurs and establish necessary mechanism to deal with such failures (Azadinamin, 2003). 2. Sufficiency assessment of risk management techniques used by financial institutions today Financial

Prince Sport Essay Example for Free

Prince Sport Essay This is a case study of how Print sports expand their growth in the market of 21st century, and the elements that go with or go against them in the market. Moreover, we will discuss with the marketing activities and strategies that are favorable to Prince Sports in expanding their distributions of Tennis products. As we know 21st century is a time where people are more conscious against their health, individuals who are moderate and wealthy enough tend to venture into sports to get better in shape and be healthy whether it is physically or mentally. With this issue  being focus on, trends in the environmental forces that work for and work against the achievements for Prince Sports Activities and the tennis industry are illustrations such as, public causes of the environment include market features and the lifestyle of the community. The social force works for Prince Sport due to the fact of the improved attention and popularity of tennis, and with a little bit help of the health conscious that are growing bigger in the society. Individuals are participating and watching professional tennis tournaments and this is resulting in more playing the game. If attention decreases  in time then this can and will continue to work against the achievements for Prince Sports Activities in their distribution and market activities. Prince Sports is also investing their funds in creating models of racquets that fits all sort of tennis player; there are certain designs of it that professional players and junior players can choose from to customize their playing styles. However, as an economic factor, this might go against Prince Sport base on the price of each racquet model. Individuals would rather buy a similar product with a cheaper value if prince sport does have a good marketing plan in explaining the  innovative technology of that product clearly to the public. (Kerin Hartley, 2013) There are no limits in producing a good marketing activity for Prince Sport to promote tennis playing in United States. Social media is the first great option for Prince Sport to start with, majority of the individuals rely heavily on social media to obtain their daily dosage of information in the twenty first century. Moreover, online blogging and internet base news magazine can be a great tool, pop up advertisement on social media such as Facebook, Twitter, and web blogging can help to raise interest in tennis playing. It would  be unwise to not use this as an advantage to promote tennis playing. Print media such as newspaper, magazine, and printed advertisement are good option to begin with. By spreading out the benefits of tennis such as health conscious and personality building, it will definitely attract individual to gain interest in tennis playing over a certain time. (Crespo Reid, 2009) To reach out for recreational and junior player in the field tennis, Prince Sport should focus their planning on organizing Amateur or Junior league tournaments frequently throughout the years. With a more affordable entree fee and convenient application such  as register via online or smart phone, it will attract players from these two categories to join in for the tournament. With this method, it allows Prince Sport to study and differentiate what are their needs during the game from size of racquets to the more detail such as the material of the racquets handle for certain type of players. (Crespo Reid, 2009) Prince has a different way in increasing their sales in major outlets such as Walmart and Target, and for specialty tennis shop or branded sports outlet such as Nike. Prince often makes a clear layout for major outlets from designing the tennis sport section to  having a printed advertisement hanging along the corridor. They would draw a layout on how to separate different section for their sports equipment, and for each section they have different in store signage, brochure, and also free merchandise for consumers who purchase reaches a certain limit. Whereas for smaller outlets or branded sports outlet such as Nike, they would put a professional standees which is a life size picture of certain professional tennis player, this would increase the interest of consumer on purchasing the item that is being promoted by that tennis player. (Kerin Hartley, 2013). There are a few of criteria for Prince to look on before venturing into the global market of tennis outside of United States. First of all, the market size of the country, whether it is mature enough for the public to gain interest in tennis sport, or it is still a fairly new idea to them. Second, expected growth of the market, does it have any potential in increasing distribution in the future or it has no value to be investing on. Third, the competitive position, does that country have more than enough industry in providing tennis equipment, and how can Prince fit into the market without suffering loss  from competitive price battle. (Kerin Hartley, 2013) Country that met these criteria is Russia, China, and Australia. These are major country that have produce tons of tennis player since last decade. Majority of the player have won major leagues title and now hold a place in the world ranking series. From the statement here, we understand that the tennis industry is already a big deal in the above country, and from the reputation gain by those players, it will spread out to the society in a great speed. They possess a great potential to be invested in for tennis market, and Prince should focus on producing new  models of racquets with far better quality from what is currently being distribute in the current market. (Marshall, 2011) References Crespo, M. , Reid, M. (2009). Marketing of tennis. ITF Coaching. Retrieved from http://en. coaching. itftennis. com/media/113964/113964. pdf Kerin, R. , Hartley, W. (2013). Marketing(11thed. ). New York, NY: McGraw Hill. Marshall. (2011). Tennis global evolution is bringing the sport to new markets: An analysis. Retrieved from http://bleacherreport. com/articles/594875-the-global-evolution-of-tennis-is-bringi ng-the-sport-to-new-markets-an-analysis.

Lie :: essays research papers

Heart of Darkness By Joseph Conrad Main Characters Marlow - Young man who decides that it would be exiting to travel into Africa hunting ivory and does so by taking the place of a dead steamboat captain. Kurts - Famous man among the ivory seekers who has lived and hunted on the continent for a while and has exploited the savages becoming much like a savage himself. Russian fool - Man who is known by his clothes with many colorful patches making him look much like a harlequin. He works with Kurtz who proves to be poor company for him. The Intended - Kurtz ¡Ã‚ ¯s bride to be who at the end of the book still thinks that Kurtz was the great man that she remembered him to be and Marlow doesn ¡Ã‚ ¯t have the heart to tell her otherwise. Minor Characters Helmsman - Man who steers the steamboat but goes away from the wheel to fight the savages only to be killed by an arrow. Accountant - Accountant who takes care of the money matters for Kurtz and has lived on the continent for three years trying to keep his civilized nature. Settings Central Station - This is the station where Marlow meets the accountant and observes the way the whites do nothing but exploit the blacks to do pointless labor. Inner Station - This is the station where Kurtz works and where Marlow finds him being worshipped by the savages. Thames River - Marlow tells his story to various people here. Plot Marlow sits at the Thames River in the evening with several other people and begins telling the story about how he entered into the dark continent out of nowhere. No one wants to listen but he continues anyway. Marlow expressed a desire to go to Africa to his Aunt who got him a position as a captain of a steamboat of an ivory company. The previous captain Freslaven died in a scuffle with the natives and Marlow took his place. A few days later, Marlow travels to Africa and gets to the first station where he meets the accountant who keeps track of the funds in Kurtz ¡Ã‚ ¯s company. The man is interesting to Marlow since he ¡Ã‚ ¯s been on the continent for three years, yet he keeps himself clean and well dressed. Marlow finds the blacks being poorly treated and ordered to do meaningless work by the whites.

How Well Does Parliament Perform Its Various Functions? Essay

How well does Parliament perform its various functions? There are several important functions that Parliament must perform. The word Parliament derived from the Latin ‘parliamentum’ and the French word ‘parler’ which originally meant a talk- which is what Parliament does most of the time. Parliament consists of the House of Commons, the House of Lords and the Monarchy. Parliament is the highest judicial, legislative and executive body in Britain. A parliamentary form of government acknowledges that it derives its power directly from the consent of the people. This sort of system ensures democracy and an active interaction between the people and their representatives. The three functions that I am going to focus on are Scrutiny, Representation and Law Making. Scrutiny is carried out in four main ways- Prime Ministers Questions, Select Committees, The Back Benches and The House of Lords. Prime Ministers Questions is a weekly opportunity for backbenchers to scrutinise the Prime Minister. This happens every Wednesday and is an opportunity for the leader of the opposition as well as other MPs to highlight government failings or ask the Prime Minister a question. This is a good way to scrutinise the Prime Minister as it puts them under pressure to justify their actions and normally with potentially no pre-warning of what topics will have to be defended. The element of surprise allows opposition MP’s as well as backbenchers and sometimes members of the cabinet to catch the prime minister out with an awkward question. The relative performance of each of the main party leaders is closely watched and each is under great pressure to get the better of their opponent. The main weakness of this form of scrutiny is that it is often accused of being more like ‘Gardeners’ Question Time’ as many believe the questions are â€Å"planted† and therefore the Prime Minister and Opposition can prepare their answers beforehand. Select Committees in both the House of Commons and the Lords investigate the work of government departments and produce reports of policy proposals. They have the power to call witnesses in the course of their proceedings. Their role is multi-faceted and includes many tasks such as investigating the work of the government departments to determine whether they have acted efficiently and effectively. This is a strong form as scrutiny as it reports back to the public what is happening behind the scenes in the government but the Select Committees lack resources, expertise and power to create damage if the government weren’t doing their job properly. Select Committees have been described as a â€Å"mere irritant†. The government relies on backbenchers in providing services to their constituents and relaying the opinions of their constituents. Although backbenchers do not hold power, a concerted revolt could topple the ruling party through a â€Å"no confidence† vote. An example of a successful rebellion occurred during November 2006 over the Terrorism Act 2006 when a large number of backbenchers voted against the 90-day detention provision of the anti-terror legislation in order to stall the bill. This provided to be the single largest defeat for then Prime Minister Tony Blair since his government. Recently David Cameron faced a threat of a fresh backbench Tory revolt as traditionalists lined up to oppose government plans to legalise gay marriage but many debated that this in fact could not be counted as a rebellion as backbenchers would probably be given a free vote in any vote on legalising gay marriage. This therefore is a strong form of scrutiny as it has been proven extremely powerful and has even overthrown past governments for example Margaret Thatcher and James Callaghan. One of the main issues with scrutiny and backbenchers is that they are often under the control of the Whips (MPs or Lords appointed by each party in Parliament to help organise their party’s contribution to parliamentary business) and one of their main responsibilities is making sure the maximum number of their party members vote the way their party wants. Unless the backbenchers have enough people to rebel they will not succeed and therefore it is not often that a government is defeated, for example Blair’s government was only defeated in the Commons four times over their three terms in power. The House of Lords is the second chamber of the UK Parliament and is independent to the Commons although it complements the work of the Commons. Members of the Lords play a vital role in scrutiny, there are two main reasons for this, the first being that they are independent to the Commons and in many ways have increased power which they often use to stand up to the Commons by blocking reforms. Lords also have a better balance of parties so no government has a majority. The Government however can override Lords by using Parliament Act; this was used when the fox hunting ban was being put through under Blair’s government as there were too many in opposition of the ban in the House of Lords. The Parliament Acts, although rarely used, provide a way of solving disagreement between the Commons and the Lords. The Parliament Act of 1949 also prevents Lords from delaying bills for more than one year. The second function that I’m concentrating on is Representation. In the Commons MPs are elected every five years to represent local constituencies. The link between the House of Commons and the local constituency is very important as it provides information to the government on how the public is responding to their policies and ideas for new laws, reforms and ideas. In recent years there has also been many attempts to make the government more diverse – for example more women and ethnic minorities. This was especially pushed by Tony Blair as it was obvious to him that the UK was far behind the US in being diverse, he started by pushing for there to be more women in government and these became known as â€Å"Blair’s babes†. The Lords are also a large part in representing the ‘national interest’ as they are less party political and many have had long careers in public service, business, arts and culture, or another area of activity. Therefore the members of the House of Lords contribute their expertise and knowledge to Parliament and its work and consequently able to take the bigger picture into account. However there are many downfalls in representation in the government. The most often referred to is how First Past the Post (FPTP) does not produce a very accurate representation in the House of Commons as it produces many ‘wasted votes’. In the Institute for Public Policy Research report, which looks at the ratio of votes to MPs under FPTP for the main parties in the 2010 general election, it was shown that it took 33,468 votes to elect a Labour MP, 35,028 votes to elect a Conservative MP and 119,780 votes to elect a Liberal Democrat MP. This therefore is an interesting piece of evidence showing the unfairness of the FPTP system as it strongly favours some parties over others. However there was a referendum in May 2011 which asked the public whether the Alternative Vote (AV) system should be used for general elections instead of FPTP and more than two thirds of those who voted said to keep the FPTP system- although many of those in opposition to FPTP says this in itself was unfair representation as the turnout was less than 65% of the population. The lack of women in MPs has also been blamed on the FPTP system; there are currently 504 male MPs and 145 female MPs nationwide. Therefore the House of Commons is unrepresentative of the UK as there are roughly 28. 6 million males in the UK and 30. 2 million females. The House of Lords is also seen as unrepresentative as it is unelected and even more out of ratio with the population of the UK as it has many old, socially elite members. Another one of Parliament’s main functions is Law Making is debating and passing statue law. The Government introduces most plans for new laws, with many included in the Queen’s Speech at the opening of each session of Parliament. However new laws can originate from an MP or a Lord. Parliament passes about 100 laws each year and every law goes through several stages and is debated continuously in much detail before being passed. Emergency issues such as the threat of terrorism all contribute to the need for the new laws. Before draft laws, known as bills are introduced to Parliament there is often consultation or discussion with Standing Committees and as these consist of MPs from every party they guarantee that every view point is reflected in discussion. The House of Lords main role when it comes to the function of Law Making is to amend bills or make suggestions of improvements. The Lords also have the power to reject bills that appear unworkable or undesirable (for example the fox hunting bill and identification cards bill). The governments’ majority always ensures that its proposals are passed as they have ‘elective dictatorship’ and can also use Parliamentary Acts to override the House of Lords. Also the House of Lords is also limited to only one year of delaying bills and therefore the government can pass new laws fairly easily after one year. Standing Committees also generally reflect the composition of the House of Commons and therefore the party in government will always have a higher majority. Government often imposes time limits on Standing Committees discussions. In my opinion Parliament performs its various functions- scrutiny, representation and legislation (law making)- well. Although there are many weaknesses to each function it would be extremely hard to remove these weaknesses without making the executive separate like they have in the United States.