Plants Seeking...

Plants Seeking...

I found the original image in a home decor magazine, and the outlined pots that implied plants were seeking a new home made me think about global warming and how we can help reduce it’s effects in our communities. I was watching the opening ceremonies of the Olympics and Brazil created a beautiful piece on global warming that encouraged the olympians and those watching to combat global warming through the planting of trees and other plant life. It brought me back to this image that I had found. Though global warming feels like one of those large, inconceivable environmental issues, this ad and the olympics reminded me that there are manageable ways to reverse the effects of global warming within our own communities and lives. 

Breanne Smoley

HGTV Magazine. September 2016. pg. 77. Photograph by Emily Kate Roemer

Remix Ad - Morton

Photos by John Solem (flower) &  Sam Droege (bees)

UMASS Amherst: For Alumni and Friends of the Flagship Campus  // Fall 2015

I chose my original image from an article titled, Our Fight for Bees: Creating a new global generation of beekeeping. Massachusetts Agricultural College (now part of UMASS) was once the hub of beekeeping education and was the first college to offer a formal beekeeping program with a full-time beekeeping professor until 1969. Focus shifted away from beekeeping and the program slowly went dormant. Now, years later, with disappearing honeybees, there are more and more people interested in beekeeping. The article goes on to highlight the researchers, staff and students at UMASS who are focused on helping all bees: domestic and wild. Part of the article shares what we can do to help save the bees in our environment.  

To remix my image I searched for pictures that help support a healthy environment for bees. While I was reflecting on this topic I was also thinking about the relationship between humans, bees and our food supply. I included pictures of flowers, vegetables and water in my image. I then put the flower from my original image over the new background and added a handful of bees to the image. It is up to everyone, not just beekeepers, to make a difference in this issue. Plant bee-friendly flowers in your gardens, avoid using pesticides and chemicals in your yard, keep a birdbath in your garden for thirsty bees and buy local honey. 

New Perspective

New Perspective by Julia Phillips

GoodPlanet Info Magazine (online)

July 25, 2014

The original image was taken right outside of San Francisco, California, showing the devastation of the recent drought the past few years. To remix this image, I wanted to focus on one of the major causes of this drought, global warming. Global warming is a real issue and continually getting worse. One of the leading causes of global warming is the emission of carbon dioxide when we burn fuel in our cars and other vehicles.  For my remix, I wanted to demonstrate and highlight what is causing the devastation that has occurred in the original image. The piece layers the problem starter on top of the problem, giving the viewer a new perspective on the drought issue.

Gallina Real

                                                        Gallina Real by Jennifer Mitchell

Original Photo by Aaron M. Conway: Preservation, Spring 2016 p. 37 

When I saw the original photo in the magazine, I was struck by the beauty and regal qualities of this hen. Her plumage is like an elegant, velvet tapestry. Using torn paper, I created an Elizabethan collar and added naturalist, framed drawings of the kind a hen might like to have hanging in her parlor. Gallina Real portrays this beautiful creature, often mistreated and undervalued, as a member of royalty with all its trappings. Children often anthropomorphize animals in an effort to make a connection with them. The result is a feeling of love and respect. Perhaps it's not so misguided?

Doorway to a Future

The original image shows tallgrass prairie land giving way to an iconic American symbol, the McDonald’s archways. Next to the fast food giant, smaller lights can be glimpsed through the prairie grass. The article discusses continuing development in midwestern America, causing tallgrass prairie lands to become smaller, contained, and more scarce.

My remixed image explains the doorway that we have opened, the path that we have chosen, as humans have opted in favor of land development. The skyline shows tiny silhouettes of the buffalos that used to occupy the land, as flames project into the sunset -- signs of beginning destruction. We also see more views of American “progress” in land development: more pavement, more cars, more buildings.

Brandenburg, J. (1980, January). Can the tallgrass prairie be saved?. National Geographic, 157(1), 44.

Kate Szumita, Doorway to a Future. 2016.

Digital Remix #2: A (Necessary) Big Leap

Remix: Laura Kathrein, "A (Necessary) Big Leap," 2016

Original Image: 

Etzel, K. (2016). Cristian Herrera makes the mandatory leap towards the descent after climbing Left Y Crack (5.9) on the Y Boulder in the Buttermilk area of the Eastern Sierra [Photograph]. American Alpine Club. (p. 11)

This image is a continuation of my first image "Safety Never Felt So Good." The man is jumping from a foundation of society that is built on environmental devastation. He is making the hard but necessary leap into a greener future. Here, society's values and its foundation center on initiatives that work with the environment as well as promote health of the people and animals on the planet.

Is Seeing Believing.... Imagine!

A Boy and His Goggles 

A Boy and his Imagination

My original image stood out to me because it shows a boy about the same age as my son.  He’s smiling and seems very content.  But, when you focus off of his smile, you see his surroundings.  His environment is one of trash, waste, and an unhealthy mess.  To the viewer it seems that he is happily walking through it all.  I began to think… “This happy little boy should be exploring something new and exciting.”  For my remix I decided to have him do just that… EXPLORE!  What the world has to offer is much more than the scene by the water.  I wanted to give this little boy, Rodello, an environment of exploration.  I put his smile in a robotic image.  I surrounded him with the amazing things children should be studying and learning about.  For me, Rodello is learning about space, the ocean, energy, DNA, and the world of fantasy and reality!  This is the world in which a smile like his should exist.

Original image:

Title – A Boy and his Goggles

Magazine – National Geographic

November 2013

Article by Kurt Muchler

Photo by George Steinmetz

Photo of: Rodello Coronel, Jr.

by Elsa Roderick