As well as my own creative writing, this space is dedicated to showing off some of my published work - whether it's an essay from university, or an article from work experience. Therefore, expect a range of styles - poetry, essays, articles, blog posts, photography - and topics - American culture, LGBT culture, art, and literature. I hope you enjoy what you see.
Ive done a few business posts bow, which is giving me much more confidence in writing about different topics. Business is one area I felt least confident - along with finance and economics - so its good that its being crushed as I move forward. Hopefully in future placements, I'll get more experience writing about economics and finance, as well as my most comfortable area - arts and entertainment - which is a topic I am yet to experience at the Lincolnite. I guess the arts will have to remain as one of my personal interests for now, but one day I hope it'll become a professional part of my life!
This article is another example where I had to cut down on the waffle, but make sure all the facts are kept in. However, this article already shows my confidence in editing photographs for web articles. I should also mention that I have neither used an Apple Mac before this week, nor the programs that come with it. I've become a lot more confident in the whole process of creating an article for an online publication, rather than just writing the words. I feel that it's clear that I will become competent in multimedia practices by the end of the placement.
This is first article published at the Lincolnite. As articles go, it wasn't incredibly difficult - the press brief was shortened to get the specifics, etc. - but I did learn how to create a punchier headline, and what information should be kept in such an article. I'm definitely going to make a lot of progress over the next three weeks.
This article came around after the Lincoln University Student’s Union (LUSU) ironically suspended the social media rights of one of their societies after getting a negative rating on free speech by Spiked.
The article itself was relatively easy to write, however, getting a comment from those involved became difficult, especially as they had already been swamped by national media outlets before we managed to get hold of them.
The lessons learned from this: get to the story quick; don’t be afraid to ask for quotes; writing news stories doesn’t have to be difficult.
Pride in London is a huge part of my summer schedule – I love it dearly.
I love it, not only because I’m able to show off how proud I am, nor to celebrate by partying hard with fellow sisters and queens.
I love this occasion because I can do these things in a setting beyond the gay bars and bedrooms, where drinking and sex seem to be the go-to activities for modern gays.
I can celebrate life in the streets, with my pride flag tied to my belt and my high heels clicking every time I strut down Oxford Street or through Soho. I get a rush – an excitement and pride that is so powerful that I feel like any attempt at a terrorist attack would make me pick up the baton and keep marching to prove that this community is invincible (imagine ‘Les Miserables’ with a pride flag waving, with pride-goers roaring the lyrics, “do you hear all the queers sing, singing the songs of the proudest men?!”).
This is something that is only possible recently, with very few negative outcomes. However, as I have learned, things weren’t always so cheerful.
After recently revising and updating my LGBT history knowledge by reading extensively, watching hours of film (both fictional and non-fictional), and being much more observant in world affairs, it has become clear how lucky we are in the 21st Century.
With the use of Twitter and Facebook and Instagram influential activists, such as Dustin Lance Black, Ellen DeGeneres, and Princes William and Harry, can communicate to the masses effectively, crushing stereotypes and stigmas. Recently Prince Harry got tested for HIV to suppress the stigma surrounding the disease, which emerged as fear itself in the 1980s. Aspects of modern western culture, such as this, make Pride in London so much more powerful in its message around the world.
I’m proud to attend Pride in London.
I’m proud to attend with millions of other LGBT+ people – and not only those in Great Britain.
I can attend Pride in London, but keep up to date with Pride events in Sydney, New York, and Paris. There has never been a time where such unity has occurred – or could occur – which is only proven by the outpouring of love after the massacre at the Pulse Nightclub, Orlando, in 2016.
I’m proud to be alive in this world where so much progress is being made and, more importantly, I’m proud to be taking part in the changes needed for the future.
Hopefully, we can help future generations feel even more pride in who they are.
The application for working at Gay Times Magazine (GT) was pretty simple – I emailed quite a bad ‘comedic’ message to one of their staff writers, along with my CV, and soon they got back to me with some details. It was quickly decided that I’d be spending the 1st-5th August working at GT.
The excitement was real – there’s no denying it!
With Busted’s “Thunderbirds” playing on my laptop when I received the confirmation email, it was difficult not to feel like my own superhero.
As August rolled around, my nerves began to grow and the reality of whether I was good enough started to emerge in my mind – growing larger until I arrived outside the GT offices. I was let in and asked to wait on a leather sofa that almost swallowed me due to the fact it had probably been used countless times over its lifetime. I naturally picked up a copy of DIVA, which was sprawled across the shiny, white coffee table in front of me – one of those coffee tables you daren’t touch in case you got a greasy fingerprint on it that would only smudge but never get removed because of its ultra-glossy finish. In fact, it’s the same feeling I get when handling magazines before a shower. I simply don’t read them just before I plan to shower because I’ll go and put an infinite amount of evidence on there that I’d been around. It’s just common decency to the fancy pages and content within.
Soon enough, the staff writer I’d been contacting came through from the office and welcomed me to GT. The paperwork was signed and I was on my way. I remember reading on a previous journalist’s blog that his experience at GT was strange in the fact that it was almost too relaxed to seem like a real work environment and I completely agree. The first thing I was shown was not where my desk was, or who the editorial team were – it was the kitchen. The center of any British office. The powerhouse of our national workforce!
However, he wasn’t just showing me the kitchen so I could make everyone tea. I was going to get involved writing articles for gaytimes.co.uk. Many of these were short pieces, no more than about half a page long about a range of topics – most of them chosen for me. I had little-to-no experience previous to this placement, so I had no issue with things being a bit easy, or with simply getting told what to do. I have just started learning the ropes and this is where to begin – simple.
What I liked about writing about GT – similarly to what I like about reading it – is the varied articles that are featured both online and in print. People who inspire the LGBT+ world, events that shape it, and cheeky, fun little articles that simply entertain the reader when they’re bored and scrolling through, all came up – Obama, Ofcom complaints, and Pokémon Go players’ underwear are just a few topics that are featured.
Furthermore, the ability to then leave the office and become immersed in London’s gay culture added to the whole experience. I could imagine the readers instead of knowing only what I thought – I knew exactly what music and clubs the magazine writes about, where the hotspots are, the work volunteers do, and the fears and let-downs that many LGBT Londoners possess.
By the end of only one week, I didn’t want to leave London, but I knew that I had to so I could go back to university and use what I’ve learned, develop my craft, and ultimately progress further in my journey as a writer.
Below are a few articles that I wrote whilst at GT Magazine:
‘Fags’, Fashion, and F**king Great Literature: My Love for GT
Everyone has that one magazine they picked up first (obviously – unless you’ve never read one… ever) that established their feeling towards the glossy pages, airbrushed photos, and writing that is (or sometimes isn’t) inspiring.
The very first magazine I bought for myself was during 6th form, as I never really had the interest in them before. I always thought that they were ‘too grown up’ for me – boring, all about complicated topics that I’d never understand, and other similar things.
Oh, how wrong I was!
I say the “first” magazine – actually, it was three at once: Tatler, Grazia, and OK! Magazine. All three gave me important information that would lead to where I am now. For example, I knew straight away that I despised OK! Magazine. The pages felt horrid, the features were so menial and pointless, and the writing in it was pretty atrocious! Grazia was better – although not that interesting for me. The articles failed to grab me in a way that made me want to buy it again – and the cover stars weren’t anything special in my eyes.
Then there was Tatler – Condé Nast’s beautiful creation aimed at British high society, with articles that proved it was written for them, too. Obviously, the articles in all magazines are written for their target audience, but – at risk of sounding horribly snobby – OK! and Grazia were not the magazines I thought I should be reading. However, the magazine grabbed me not by its content, but by the cover. The elegant portrait of Grace Kelly of Monaco stood out to me greater than any other magazine on the shelf, including its sister, Vogue.
Eventually, I did buy Vogue, of course, because the magazine’s name was known to me long before I bought it and read it for myself. At this point, I was seventeen – finishing up year 12 and starting to decide what I wanted to do with my life (to an extent). My English Language teacher, a previous fashion journalist for The Mirror, gave me such an insight into the world of journalism that it was a solid idea, but I hadn’t made any full-on decisions quite yet. I needed a tiny little bit of extra convincing.
This came in the form of LGBT magazines – notably, Gay Times Magazine (GT).
I was already out and proud as a gay man on my eighteenth birthday, but I wanted to read and learn about LGBT culture. I first googled different magazines, which opened my eyes to the likes of Attitude, OUT, PinkNews, Gay Star News, and much more, but GT resonated somewhat more than the rest did.
The articles were cheeky but informative; sexy, but serious; simply playful. The style I feel suits me best - not to mention the cover stars were drop-dead gorgeous!
My first subscription to a magazine was that December with an annual online subscription for GT and I was not disappointed! As I read the magazine more and more I became more accustomed to the layouts, the language, the artistic design of each page – I started to realize that this was what I wanted to do. Throughout this time as well,
I bought other magazines, to explore each one’s style and see what made each one special.
GQ was suave, stylish, and made me envy high fashioned gentlemen; Vogue had so much more to it than models and expensive clothes; TotalFilm and Empire opened my eyes to the world of music reviews and, as a result, what I should be watching and looking out for in the films I see.
My online subscription took me past my first semester of university and by this point, I worshiped the magazine – maybe a little too much at times! I changed to a print subscription and started my hard copy collection, which admittedly is starting to fill my shelf here in my room. It was clear that I was going to do journalism at this point. I found high-end magazine journalism the best kind of journalism – it interested me so much and the topics were more academic than simple gossip.
Soon enough, I found the courage to apply for some work experience at my dream magazine...
Taylor Swift, Miley Cyrus, and Hunter Hayes – they all have something in common.
No, it’s not that they’re all relatively presentable (sort of). Each one has had some experience with country music in the UK. Swift and Cyrus – the perfect name for a business partnership I reckon – both changed their style to reach out to a wider audience and it worked wonders! Hunter Hayes, on the other hand, had less success.
His pop-y remix of “Light Me Up” on his 2014 Album I Want Crazy received fairly favorable attention, but nothing compared to his debut Billboard Digital Country of #50 in the USA.
However, the Country To Country (C2C) festival, held annually at the O2 in March, seems to suggest that country artists are starting to break through. A reporter from the BBC commented, saying that during 2015 and 2016, artists such as Lady Antebellum, Kacey Musgraves, and Carrie Underwood have held stable positions on British album charts. Along with this observation, Thomas Rhett became a Country music sensation being played almost bi-hourly on MTV and national and local radio stations.
The BBC reported that there’s a “new generation” of country supporters – all thanks to our friends Swift and Cyrus, whom many grew up watching and listening to. As a result, it’s much more likely for our ears to be friendlier when the twang of a Tennessee musician emerges from the radio.
Personally, I’m a fan of country music, so I’m quite well informed about artists and albums being released across the pond and this has gotten me incredibly excited! As a result of a growing interest within the UK, the word about Britain’s musical preferences spreads to relevant cities, like Nashville, where more and more musicians raise their expectations of the UK and aspire to perform here.
The big question is… would it be worth it?
Do you think that as critical Brits – especially the younger generations like ourselves – we would give them a sound reason to stick around for a bit?
I personally feel like there is a change here because music always changes and with our eyes (and ears) currently honed in on the events taking place in the USA, an interest in an inherently American music genre may be growing as new artists emerge – and old artists develop into something new. I also think that, at first, the sound will be very much influenced by more mainstream sounds, but I hope this will gradually change so we can feel the full country music experience.
Maybe we could borrow it for a bit? The landscape of America is changing too, after all, so maybe we should keep it safe – for now.
(Image Credit: Oxford University Press Blog - http://blog.oup.com/2015/03/country-music-journalism-press/ )
Film trailers are among my favorite pieces of art. In fact, they sometimes prevent me from going to see the full movie. I don’t want this great piece of art ruined, or even changed, by the feature length version. Personally, I view my life as short segments that could be compiled into a movie trailer. Add a great song and a good combination of clips, then I’ll be able to tell every story I have witnessed or played a key role in. It must be the reason why I love movie trailers so much – I don’t remember or imagine a life in full, colorful, detail. For me, it has to be playful, the song has to add meaning, and ultimately there needs to be secrets left over at the end.
Currently, my progression with journalism is still in the early stages, but I can’t help but imagine my progression as an awe-inspiring trailer, which is perfect.
I don’t want to know the full story.
I know there’ll be laughs, fuck-ups, and an exciting array of interesting protagonists and antagonists. I know that I will progress, despite the fact it may be slow and tough at times, but these are the parts that make a life – or film trailer – electrifying and powerful.
Until the release date of a packed biography in the very distant future (if at all) none of us will know the full feature length production of my life. Maybe there’s a project here, for future reference, but for now, I am perfectly content with the short extracts of hopefulness in the coming years.
An article posted on cbsnews.com in February 2016, “The Art of Movie Trailers,” makes an interesting comment about what we see in trailers, which, for me, relates to what we wish for the future – trailers “showcase the best a film has to offer – and that often means inching within an eyelash of spoiler.”
According to the article, trailers nowadays have become art forms and their “own genre,” with award shows of their own, such as The Golden Trailer Awards. It’s for this reason I intend to make this as exciting as possible. If the trailer is brilliant, then people will take notice – the art sells, the voice is heard, and the subject earns its discussion. Whether I contribute to key current affairs issues, intelligent cultural explorations, or simply comment and help to fill the pool of “average” folk documenting their lives online, the outcome remains unchanged – I will have progressed within the journalism industry.
Currently, it means uploading my blog; later I’ll have applied to work at publications, hopefully with some success! Therefore, without further ado, welcome to the first few seconds of the trailer of my life.
Below are a few trailers I have loved from the past few years.
Reading literary criticism is incredibly relaxing - especially at the bar with a well known 4% lemon beverage at hand #JaneAusten #Austen #TheTimes #TLS #Literature #Criticism #Books #Relaxing
Essay: Critical Commentary of ““The Great Gatsby” and the Obscene Word” by Barbara Will
It is quite accepted that Tom Buchanan is a backward, white-supremacist, with a significantly established wealth. However, in Barbara Will’s article, she argues that “the obscene word” erased by Nick Carraway links to the idea of “whitewashing” Gatsby and his lifestyle, commenting on how, “in order for Gatsby to “turn out all right at the end,” to come to “stand for America itself,” his link to this word must be erased” (Will, 2005, p. 127). By already highlighting the significance of a relatively overlooked scene of the story, Will manages to further relate this “whitewashing” of Gatsby with race. She argues that “Daisy’s act of “whitewashing,” in short, represses Gatsby’s link to the obscene in order to reveal him as someone socially significant and unquestionably white” (Will, 2005, p. 140). The concise oxford dictionary definition of “obscene” is described as “offensive or disgusting by accepted standards of morality or decency,” and so the idea of “whitewashing” that Will puts forward suggests that, in the end, Fitzgerald is commenting on the corrupt status of the United States. As a result of this, Will also claims that “Gatsby, is also, as Fitzgerald himself was well aware, to foreground the power of the obscene to disrupt and undo normative structures of social, national, and linguistic signification” (Will, 2005, p. 140).
This link with social norms is convincing. Throughout Barbara’s article, as she relates the use of dashes as a way to “work against “the presentable”” (Will, 2005, p. 140), each use of the dash; “I can’t – when I try to –,” and “We’d sit for hours –“ (Will, 2005); breaks the normality of sentence structures and the maxims of proper conversation. However, it also suggests an array of unanswerable questions. The use of dashes creates a sense of “unrepresentability,” according to Will, suggesting that “Gatsby vanishes – literally – from the signifying systems of the text itself: the dash, the graphic mark of his unrepresentability, is insistently emphasized whenever he speaks or is spoken about” (Will, 2005, p. 129). This seems to fit very well with the more common notion that Gatsby and his lifestyle represent “an allegory for the course of the American nation and for the struggles and dreams of its citizens.” Tom Buchanan’s use of the dash supports significantly anxious feelings towards the unrepresentability of both Gatsby and America. Fitzgerald gives Tom the line, “The idea is if we don’t look out the white race will be – will be utterly submerged,” which shows this clearly; Tom’s uncertainty with a new developing nation rapidly filling with immigrants, fitting the nativist views of the 1920s. Linking this to Jay Gatsby himself, Will suggests that the dash in Tom’s statement also represents “what, for [Tom], would be unspeakable – miscegenation, a process through which “race” itself, and the white race in particular, become indeterminate”; Gatsby becomes a “mode of racial indeterminacy” (Will, 2005, p. 132).
Something that could further link the “obscene word” to the use of the “stylistic” dashes is the fact that the dashes leave obscenities to the readers’ imaginations. The novel is scattered with examples where this fits, not only with Tom, but with many of Fitzgerald’s characters; Nick says “She has an indiscreet voice… It’s full of –“ (Fitzgerald, p. 154); Gatsby reminisces, “She used to be able to understand. We’d sit for hours –“ (Fitzgerald, p. 142). In fact, the use of the dash for Tom’s speech specifically shows how he is trying to avoid demoralization and indetermination for his race and class. What starts as an obscene word, becomes a significant comment about each character and their relationship to society.
Gatsby is described to “disturb” Tom, and apparently “clearly troubles” Nick, in the fact that “Gatsby is a mystery… he signals the “vanishing” of whiteness into indeterminacy” (Will, 2005, p. 133). Gatsby may be a bootlegger, a well-established reading of the novel, but in some ways, for Tom especially, the fact that Gatsby is “associated with a Jewish crime syndicate” (my emphasis) supposedly “redoubles his threatening presence in the text” (Will, 2005, p. 133). This could be linked to the frequent use of “old sport” that Fitzgerald gives to Gatsby. The frequency of the phrase could hint at the desperate need to establish himself as an “oxford man,” rather than a man of suggestable Yiddish roots that Will brings to the forefront of the third section of her article. The fact that this issue of race and aspects of Gatsby, such as minute details of character names, seems so harshly confronted by characters like Tom suggests further obscenities throughout the text. Furthermore, the idea that to make Gatsby an overall hero means to forget all of his obscenities, the “vanishing” idea that Will so frequently brings forward, shows that this story increases the emphasis of indeterminacy. As Will explains, “By choosing a name, “Gatz,”, that can generate both Jewish and gentile chains of associations, Fitzgerald seems to be emphasizing once again the way in which his protagonist is always “vanishing” into racial and hence social indeterminacy” (Will, 2005, p. 133)
The initial idea of Gatsby – a man with loud and lavish parties – “vanishing” seems strange. However, the deeper the reader peers into this text and picks apart the tiniest aspects of Gatsby, the etymology of the most specific of words, such as “obscene,” “vanish,” and the implications of the etymology of Gatsby’s original name, “Gatz,” make this argument a strong and clear one. It creates a whole new meaning to a text, changing The Great Gatsby from a tale of riches, love and crazy 1920s lifestyles, to one of uncertainty, racial and social indeterminacy, and a story that becomes a parody of American society – indeterminate, changing, and suggested to be fundamentally corrupt.
Bibliography
Fitzgerald, F. S., 2013. The Great Gatsby. London: Picador.
Will, B., 2005. "The Great Gatsby" and the Obscene Word. College Literature, 32(4), pp. 125-144.
Essay: Select one photographer and assess how she/he has conveyed aspects of American identity through photography.
“Exploring what portraiture means presently in our culture, my photographs deal with the subtlety of body posture, the gaze and the role of self-portraiture.” - Ryan Pfluger
The above quote is how Ryan Pfluger, a twenty-first Century photographer, describes his work, which includes both artistic and commercial photography. As a very recent and current photographer, Pfluger does not have much in terms of biographical content about him, however, his photography still shows off a sense of identity that speaks out about aspects of American culture, especially within the gay community. As a current, commercial photographer, Pfluger’s images will be viewed more frequently than any other time period within photographic history. In Ubiquitous Photography, Martin Hand explains that “images are produced, commodified, made public and circulated on an unprecedented scale such that much of social experience is visually mediated,” which suggests that Pfluger’s work for Out Magazine and other publications not only shows an American identity but could be creating an American identity, by showcasing who and what is popular at the time. However, portrait photography, such as Pfluger’s artistic photography – mostly portraits depicting close friends and family, such as in his collection Men I’ve Met – have been described as “one of the most problematic areas of photographic practice… ‘at virtually every level, and within every context, the portrait photograph is fraught with ambiguity’.” As a result, his work, just like photographers before him, can portray many different thoughts and feelings. Therefore, by using certain portfolios and collections, I will discuss and explore how his work helps to show off a distinctly American identity through sexuality and whether it fits within mainstream photography, or creates a totally individual way of viewing American society and the gay community in the twenty-first century.
On his Instagram profile, Pfluger states he is based in both New York City and Los Angeles. Two factors here can contribute strongly to the work that Pfluger does; firstly, the fact that Pfluger has a social media account is a credible example of how images are “circulated on an unprecedented scale,” viewed, in this case specifically, by over twenty-nine thousand people. Instagram has been described by Kathy Ryan as encouraging “a closer engagement with the world,” which further supports the work of artists like Pfluger. He has the ability in the current social-media frenzy to send his images to the world almost instantaneously, helping his personal agenda, or the agenda of his clients, be pushed into people’s lives, as a result of “tiny visual meditations throughout the day,” as Kathy Ryan explains. Secondly, it shows how easy it is to travel in the twenty-first century, as he is able to work from both Los Angeles and New York City. The ability for him to travel allows him to move away from studios into the wider world to fully take advantage of the scenery.
For example, his photograph of Ryan O’Connell (see Image 1 above) for the “Out100 2015” feature in Out Magazine, was taken in his West Hollywood home, whereas his photograph of Jonny Beauchamp in the same feature was taken the Tribeca Journal Studio in New York. As a result of his chance to travel the country, Pfluger is able to really support his subject’s character. In Ryan O’Connell’s photograph, his gaze and posture suggests that this is, in fact, Ryan’s comfort zone, possibly even his home – the audience is given the impression that this is normal, which is one of the aims of Out Magazine – showcasing LGBT culture as a normal way of life and to create an identity that mixes in, rather than separates itself from the rest of society, just like how the clothing on the subject mixes and compliments the colours of both the stone and tiles on the house, and the garden featured behind Ryan. However, there are photographs by Pfluger that suggest the other, darker side of gay culture and identity in the United States.
In Pfluger’s collection, Men I’ve Met, he conveys a wide variety of personalities and more personal feelings and experiences with his subjects, creating a scrapbook of individual identities. For example, the image shown in Image 2 (above) shows the subject sat on a tiled floor, with door beads draped over his shoulders. The look of the interior of the house is clearly not very expensive, suggesting Pfluger is commenting on housing issues within the gay community. Carol A. B. Warren suggests in her book, Identity and Community in the Gay World (1974), that a space such as that seen in this image is “a place where the expression of the true self can be allowed.” This seems different in Pfluger’s photograph, however, as the lack of clothing on Pfluger’s subject suggests a certain level of vulnerability, with the beads possibly relating to restraints he may be facing. The trousers he is wearing in the image are somewhat loose, suggesting a desire for freedom, but the way the subject’s feet are positioned suggests a certain level of anxiety in doing so. In “The Body in Photography”, Graham Clarke explains that
“an interior seems necessary to define the nude as a subject, and this clearly involves the dense structure of meaning associated with the act of the voyeur, for the voyeur looks upon a secret and uninvited space, an area illicit in its geography and its contents.”
This explanation could explain the expression on the subject’s face. The posture, position on the floor, along with the beads and semi-nudity all suggest uncomfortable restraints of freedom, linking the subject to possible actions of sex. Therefore, for this individual at least, his personal experience and identity seem to be shaped by sexual acts and the lack of freedom he has experienced in his life, possibly as a result. This can be further supported by Tim Edward’s book, Erotics and Politics, which states that “the nature of the dress is not nearly so significant as its connotations in terms of masculinity.”
Similarly, the photograph in Image 3 (below) shows the subject in the context of his interest or lifestyle, rather than leaving it to assumption. Here we can clearly see the subject’s relationship to music, however, it seems he listens to more, rather than performing, which can be deduced by the lack of instruments in the scene. This may be a comment on the difficulties of gay male artists in the industry, or the subject’s personal feelings of doubt. By relating this to the large shadow cast over the right-hand side of the image and across his back and side, Pfluger seems to suggest that the subject is hiding – whether or not this is as a result of someone else or his own means is incredibly ambiguous. The underwear that he wears and his position on the bed suggests some link to sexuality, suggesting this as a reason for such doubts or difficulties. This could relate to Richard Dyer’s comments on “The Image of the Homosexual as a Sad Young Man”. He explains that “like all stereotypes, the sad young man is a combination and condensation of many traditions of representation.” With this in mind, it’s possible to suggest that, along with the wide range of music shown on the shelves at the back of the scene, that this subject has been influenced by the history, traditions, and expectations of music, creating the somewhat anxious identity that the shadow represents. Furthermore, the use of harsh contrasts with light and dark suggests very little range in terms of possibly what the subject may see as success and failure, something that Dyer also comments on, saying “the sad young man becomes part of much wider constructions of white identity in terms of suffering,” which, in this case, may relate to the lack of success and the struggle of a gay man to make it into a specific industry.
However, within Pfluger’s commercial work, success is shown, through the photographs of celebrities such as Adam Lambert (see Image 4 below), which seem to ‘advertise’ gay culture as a well-established lifestyle. The implications of this, according to Hand, include “producing stereotypes” – the pleasing aesthetics, photo-manipulation and mass distribution of such images as this one, can in turn produce “a culture of depthlessness, where images have no necessary relationship to objects but can refer simply to other images or ideas.” This suggests that the creation of photographs, such as Image 4, for commercial use may well be a way to create a public image of gay identity. If a celebrity – the product – is shown in an appealing light, with good styling, and portrayed in a range of media (magazines, online news sources, etc.) a more positive identity can be created, which makes a difference to the photographs that previously criticized society for creating more negative identities. Pfluger’s photography, as a result, seems to show the problem and part of the solution simply through portraying the identities of his subjects.
Overall, the identity of the American gay community has been given a range of viewpoints through Pfluger’s photography. Whether it’s the commodification of celebrity portraits or the personal documentation of close friends, Pfluger manages to showcase how being gay in America still has a journey, incorporating symbolism, such as contrasts between light and dark, the use of objects as societal metaphors, and photo-manipulation as a way of creating a pleasing face of gay culture, to represent the struggles, along with some of the solution, within the gay culture. Within his work, the individual identity of his subjects is just as important as the celebrity portraits he creates to advertise the identity of the wider community.
Bibliography
- Clarke, G., ‘The Portrait in Photography’, The Photograph (Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 1997) p101-121
- Clarke, G., ‘The Body in Photography’, The Photograph, (Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 1997) p123-144
- Dyer, R., ‘Coming Out as Going In: The Image of the Homosexual as a Sad Young Man’, The Culture of Queers (London: Routledge, 2002) p116-136
- Edward, T., ‘Sado-masochism, masculinity and male dominance’, Erotics and Politics: Gay Male Sexuality, Masculinity and Feminism (London: Routledge, c1994) p80-84
- Hand, M., ‘Visual Culture, Consumption and Technology’, Ubiquitous Photography (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2012) p25-58
- Pfluger, R., About/Contact. Available online: http://www.ryanpfluger.com/contact/ [Accessed on: 16/05/2016]
- Pfluger. R., @ryanpfluger Instagram page biography. Available online: https://www.instagram.com/ryanpfluger/?hl=en [Accessed on: 16/05/2016]
- Ryan, K., “What Happens now? Photography, Technology, and the World: Instagram”, Aperture, 210, Hello, Photography (Spring, 2013) p15
- Warren, C. A. B., ‘Spaces and Masks’, Identity and Community in the Gay World (New York: Wiley, 1974) p32-33
Why don’t you write about it? Or make a documentary? How about talk about it?
Journalists are people who love writing, creating films, or talking in videos to post online. They document life for the rest of us to enjoy and learn. Often opinionated in some sense, any topic, feeling, or issue can be written about.
But how does someone get into the journalism game? Here are a few tips to get your foot in the door:
Get involved.
When it comes to journalism not just any work experience will cut it. Editors want to see you have skill with writing and researching and a talent for being current, or thinking in inventive ways – the things that will ultimately help magazines, newspapers, and online blogs rake in a higher readership.
It’s best to start doing this as soon as possible. If you’re reading this, then you’re already looking at an amazing place to start! University newspapers and local publications are excellent for getting started – you can be the person with a totally different perspective, which will bring something new and exciting to the paper.
Another example of a good starting point is national student journalism – written by students, for students. Give them both a go!
Keep your patience.
Like any other industry, it can take a while to get to a point where you feel like you’re making progress, but unlike any other industry, it’s incredibly difficult to just ‘get lucky’ and get the first job or work placement you apply for.
Dedication shows editors that you’re serious about getting involved with their magazine or newspaper, and it shows that when aspects of the job get very tough you can keep at it and make sure it becomes something valuable.
Anyone getting involved with journalism, even those on journalism courses, should expect a long period of getting work experience, developing a list of contacts, and creating a portfolio.
Create a portfolio.
A portfolio is a collection of your work to show employers in interviews in order to show your skill and qualification for the job. Without a journalism portfolio, how are editors going to know your skills for sure? The answer is simple – they won’t.
Journalism portfolios are the place editors will look to see your dedication and skill, so have one ready and update it frequently.
The most common way of creating a portfolio in the modern journalism environment is to create a website/blog, where you can easily update your work history, examples of articles, and even things you’ve written in your spare time.
Editors can then also see it easily if you send them a link or the title of the page.
Do your research.
In this industry, it’s considered social suicide to ask a silly question. You should know the answer – if you don’t, you should research and use the resources available to you in order to gain the information you desire, plus extra.
There’s no such thing as too much research. You need a lot to be able to back up stories and your reasoning behind assumptions or comments that you decide to follow up. As a student, research is a core part of university course work, so this should be fairly easy for you to do, but (as I mentioned before) patience is a virtue – not all information can be found after one Google search.
Keep these things in mind and you will be able to gradually move into the industry. You can be a writer at any time in your life and you can write about anything, so be passionate and take your time!
There are online forums and people to contact from publications who are happy to give advice, as well as the careers team here at the University of Hull (third floor of the Union) – don’t forget – the editor in chief of Vogue was in the same shoes at the beginning of her career, too! C
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