Hi Carolyn,
Wow you are really doing well here. You win the contest and you’ve now posted one of the better essays to date.
I took a moment to look at the images of Edward S. Curtis. I was not familiar with his work and found myself getting engrossed in learning about his works.
Here are a couple amazing photos by Edward S. Curtis:
[attachment=1:1535doey]Edward S. Curtis Angeline_01.jpg[/attachment:1535doey]
[attachment=0:1535doey]Edward S. Curtis In_a_Piegan_Lodge3.jpg[/attachment:1535doey]
These images are remarkable because they are not only interesting from an archeological and historical standpoint but they’re also just downright interesting on their own.
One of the things I’ve learned as a photographer is that the context in which you shoot a photograph doesn’t actually feel historically relevant to you at the time. When history is happening to you, you’re aren’t really aware of it. For instance I went to the world trade center a few months before the attack. At the time I was just being a goofy tourist snapping photos. Obviously now those images have a very different historical context and relevance now. This is really the case with every photo you shoot. Over time the only thing that stays the same is the image itself. The person viewing your photo will even find different meaning in the same image at different times in their lives.
All of this is to say that if you find yourself in any kind of interesting situation shoot, shoot, and shoot some more. If you have images that are great on their own they will only be more interesting over time once the historical significance of the image is sprinkled on them.
Whatever the case, you certainly are note short on inspiration. If you can focus what inspires you, and refine your craft your images will matter.
An idea you can borrow from Edward S. Curtis is to photograph a group of people who are essentially being subjugated by another group of people. This could mean culturally or whatever. Photograph something or some culture that is going away and save it forever.
Overall you’ve done a nice assignment here and I’m happy that you’ve got no shortage of inspiration. This is really the opposite of many students who literally have no idea.
Nice work and see you on the next assignment.