Project 6: My Story

Ever person has milestones or turning points in their lives. Reflecting back on mine, I instinctually associate symbols or items to serve as mementos. The following photos reflect important life events for me in chronological order.

 

Time Machine

I’ve had this watch since 5th grade. It has been with me through all my big moments, so in a sense it is a memento to all moments. It serves as a reminder that my time is limited, and to make decisions with no regrets.

“And I never gave up on you”

I got my first job in summer 2016 and my manager’s name was Patty Kim. She served as a motherly figure in my life who helped me in establishing my personal identity, and overcoming hardships in high school. The most impactful thing she did for me was to have faith in me even when I couldn’t see it in myself. The symbolism behind this photo is a female figure (a mother) reaching out to a distraught audience. The flower serves as a way to tell the audience that “everything will be okay.” The photo is made to be intentionally warm to create an inviting tone for a mother’s embrace.

Contender

I fell in love with the sport of boxing because the sport teaches you how to be mentally strong. Often times in the eyes of the public, the real winner isn’t the guy who performs the knockout, but it is the one who gets back up. I believe the mindset that this sport teaches you is the most powerful asset in life.

Go.

Green lights are a symbol of progression and momentum. I am obsessed with progression and feel the need to constantly improve at some skill whether it is coding (for my career) or a hobby. This obsession has led to some of my greatest success in my life.

Vindication

My senior year in high school (2016-2017) was a particularly difficult time for me. My coping mechanism was to just throw all my time into academics and career as a distraction. This led to graduating top of my major, and an internship at Bloomberg LP. It was vindication for me that all the the hardships I had endured in that year were worth it.

Forever Grateful

I spent my senior year of high school and majority of my college years interning at Bloomberg LP as a software engineer intern. My experiences at this company has not only fast tracked my career development, but has let me meet extraordinary people. I am forever grateful for every opportunity at Bloomberg, and look forward to returning there full time.

Brotherhood

Joining Theta Tau engineering fraternity in my sophomore year contributed greatly to a positive college experience. Prior to joining, I was socially awkward and struggled to develop myself beyond academics. This organization has given me influential life skills and a network of people that I can always rely on.

The Dark Side

This past summer, I interned at Facebook. At first, I was extremely excited because working at a big tech company is the dream for most software engineers including myself. However, I had a really negative experience working at Facebook and it exposed to me the dark underbelly of the tech industry. I considered the experience a “necessary evil” because it provided me tangible evidence as to why one should value work-life balance over a paycheck.

 

Bonus: Duality of Tech

The tech companies I have worked at: Bloomberg LP and Facebook have shown me the best and worst of the industry. The composition of the photo for each company is intentional. I will contrast the two images by discussing the subtleties.

Bloomberg represents the “good” of the tech industry which is why the keycap of the Bloomberg logo has a shine on it. When creating that photo I had my lamp directly overhead making sure that the light on the logo would draw the attention of the audience. The keycap is also facing upwards which generally has positive connotations (promotions, progression, ascension).

Facebook represents the “bad” of the tech industry. Facebook has an appeal to many aspiring software engineers. That “appeal” is represented by the visible portion of the logo. However, notice how a portion of the logo is covered by a shadow. That shadow represents the dark underbelly of the tech industry which most young software engineers ignore, including myself prior to working there. The logo is also inside of a depression. This represented my deflated mood as I completed my internship. I entered that company with great vigor, excited to be working at big tech. However over time the internship become more and more disappointing, and my enthusiasm was completely deflated.

 

References:

• http://lenscratch.com/2020/06/macaulay-lerman-storytellers/
• Product Photography inspirations
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0jGg-MUd-U
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S032w8H6f-A
• http://www.9thstreetstudios.com/memento