Creative Critical Reflection

With the last post for this project, I'm feeling a little bittersweet.  I'm happy have to put forth the product I created, but it will be strange to not have to post anymore on my blog and not have any single project to work on.  Still, I'm content with the magazine I have created and the CCR I made to go along with it.  Click here to watch my screencast.  (If it's hard to understand anything I'm saying, here is the script I used for my screencast.)

This has been such an amazing journey, and I'm so happy with how much my skills have improved over the past year.  I'm excited for the future and for whatever is next for me.  

Thanks for coming along for the trip. 

Magazine is Complete!

My magazine is done!  This was an extremely grueling process with countless hours put into it to create the best product possible.  There were so many different things to think about when I was creating this project.  I made decisions that I eventually stuck with or completely discarded based on what I thought was best for the final product.  I'll talk more about my magazine in my CCR.  For now, click here to view my magazine!

Last Minute Changes

As the due date for this project fast approaches, I see more and more issues with the way I am presenting my final product.  In order to create the best product possible, there are certain things that I want to change, add, or alter in order to produce the best magazine possible.

The first of these things that I want to change is the cover page, I believe that I should change the font of the cover lines to make the image and different texts appear more cohesive.

Once I do this however, it will lead to some changes within the magazine as well.  I had been working to use as few fonts as possible to provide something that served as a constant throughout the magazine.  Since I will be changing the font of the cover lines, that means I will also have to change the other font.  This fix should be as quick and simple as the last one, so I don't see this being a major issue towards completing my project.

The final thing I need to change is the layout of double page spread.  I had been planning to include a side bar in order to break up text, but I managed to simply forget about it.  I'm not really sure how I managed to lose count of this idea that I had spent so much time deliberating about, but I managed to do it anyway.  I'll need to take a couple more pictures to get the sidebar exactly how I want it, but I'm sure the payoff will be worth it.  

Writing and looking over this blog post has given me the opportunity to see my project as a whole and analyze both its success and its shortcomings.  I can't wait to finally finish this project that I have dedicated so much time to.  I am confident that the final product will be worth all the effort I put into it.

Story Complete!

Since my last post, I have been working to integrate Ms. Mason's responses into my story for the double page spread, and I am happy to say that I have finished my story!  I have been working with the information she supplied, reading and rereading her responses to find what was relevant to the story I wanted to write.  Like I said in my last post, I found that I asked her far too many questions that really weren't relevant to the direction I wanted to take.  Still, the information that she provided helped me to write the story I wanted to create, so I'd like to thank her for the help she provided.  I'm very happy with the story I managed to write, and I look forward to integrating it with my layout for the double page spread.  Once I finish with this, I will begin to work on my CCR.  This seems interesting, so I'm excited to work on that.  Until then, here is what I wrote for my story:

        weed

wēd/ 

noun

1.a wild plant growing where it is not wanted and in competition with cultivated plants.

            Anonymity is a luxury not often afforded to the things we choose to hate.  We know the names of the people we don’t like, the foods we think are disgusting, the brand of the sweater with the scratchy collar.  Regardless of the trend, this still isn’t true for everything.  One object of our hate that is unknown and largely misunderstood is something we see everyday: weeds.  We see them in our yards and in our neighbors’ yards, and immediately there is judgment.  We decide that the person who let them grow is lazy or uncaring, that the plants themselves have something inherently wrong about them.  They are simply bad.  There is something intrinsically negative about them.  But do we really understand these plants?  Never mind understand them, how many of them can one person name?  These weeds are considered menaces and scourges but we can’t give a name to this enemy, nor do we truly understand anything about them. 

            When scientists consider weeds, they arrive at a dichotomy.  Since weeds are wild plants growing where they aren’t wanted, this could be because they are growing in competitions with two kinds of plants, cultivated plants or native plants.  In both cases, the weeds are competing against the preferred plants.  However, this situation lead may sometimes lead to an interesting occurrence: both plants involved may be labeled as weeds.  This is because one is a wild plant growing where it is not wanted and the other is an invasive species.  The first approach to this idea is the one that is more commonly thought of.  This perspective holds that weeds are issues to be dealt with and eradicated in order to maintain a perfect garden.  Examples of these such plants are the Asiatic Hawkesbeard and the Spanish Needle.  But looking at these examples introduces a further dichotomy in the idea that the former of these two plants is an invasive species and the former is a native plant.  People often don’t think about this difference when they are attempting to remove these plants from their lawns and gardens.  They will indiscriminately attack both types because they supposedly pose a threat to cultivated plants, which are probably nonnative and may then be labeled as weeds themselves. 

              While it is important to look at weeds through the first lens, it is also imperative to consider the complexly and look at the from different angles.  To do this, invasive plants must also be viewed as weeds. According to Christen Mason; Chair of Land Resources Bureau, South Florida Water Management District; some examples of these kinds of weeds are “Brazilian pepper, Mexican petunia, earleaf acacia and carrotwood”.  These plants are often grown in homes but may sometimes manage to creep into protected and natural land areas where they will grow and begin to compete with natural plants.  They will then be designated as invasive species.  These plants can have disastrous effects upon native ecosystems.  These are especially dangerous in places such as the Florida Everglades.  “Terrestrial species such as melaleuca create dense thickets that outcompete native plants, provide no wildlife value and alter topography and hydrology.  Old World climbing fern grows up and over tree canopies in our tree islands, causes canopy collapse and alters fire behavior,” says Mason.  These are just some examples of these plants' negative effects, but these plants are issues across the world and pose a constant problem to natural ecosystems.

            Weeds are good and bad, invasive and native, small and expansive.  Nothing is what it seems, and everything deserves a second look.

A Response and What it Means

Earlier this week, Ms. Mason finally got back to me with the responses to my interview questions I had previously emailed her.  While her information was helpful, and I hope it will be an instrumental part to my magazine, her responses weren't exactly in line with what I had planned. I had thought that her answers would pertain more to the different types of garden weeds, but a lot of her answers also pertained to invasive plants. To be fair, I should have prepared for this outcome, considering that many of my questions were formatted and worded in such a way that these kinds of answers were inevitable.  Still, I believe this interview to be something I can work with. I will work it  into the draft I have already created for the story for the double page spread.  Below are the typed answers to my interview questions. I look forward to including them in my story!

Interview Questions and Responses

Why did you get into this area of study and work and what is your favorite part about it?  Many years ago I worked in greenhouses and nurseries in Connecticut and California.  When I moved to Florida I saw the plants that I used to sell as house plants growing in the wild.  I thought that was really cool.  But then I learned that these plants didn’t belong here and I became even more interested.  My favorite part about this job is restoring areas that have been invaded by invasive, non-native plants and seeing the native plants return.

In your experience, how often are what people consider weeds invasive species and how often are they actually native plants that are beneficial to the environment?  In our yards, plants that are considered weeds are frequently just annoying to us.  Many yard weeds aren’t aggressive in our natural areas and many (such as Spanish needles) are native plants that are very important to our pollinators.  However, we do see invasive plants in our neighborhoods and yards.  Many of these problematic species are ones that people recognize, even if they don’t know what they’re called.  Plants such as Brazilian pepper, Mexican petunia, earleaf acacia and carrotwood are good examples of commonly seen invasive plants.

What were your responsibilities and experience concerning "weeds" when you worked as a field biologist for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission?  When I worked for FWC I monitored invasive plant removal contracts.  I was responsible for ensuring that the conditions of the plant removal contract were being met.  Contractors had to have the appropriate equipment, they needed to be applying herbicide at the appropriate rate, and all the plants needed to be properly treated.

How do herbicides work to remove plants that would be considered weeds?  What effects do they have on other plants in the ecosystem?  There are different types of herbicides.  Some disrupt hormones which cause the plant to grow itself to death, some disturb photosynthesis, some impact cell membranes, others inhibit amino acid production.  The impact herbicides have on the surrounding plants depends on many factors including method of application, type of herbicide and individual site conditions.  Herbicide applications to a cut stump, if applied correctly, have little to no impact on other plants in the area.  The herbicide is “painted” on the cut surface and is immediately absorbed by the plant.  Foliar applications can sometimes impact non-target plants because the application is not as precise. 

What is an invasive plant removal contract and what is your experience with them?  An invasive plant removal contract is a general term that encompasses any type of agreement with a company that provides non-native plant treatment services.  This work can be completed using heavy machinery on woody species, using herbicide to treat terrestrial or aquatic plants or even using a helicopter to apply herbicide to very dense infestations.  I have and continue to oversee these methods of non-native plant removal.

What are the dangers of non-native plants within the Florida Everglades?  Non-native, invasive plants if left untreated, can dramatically hinder Everglades restoration.  Terrestrial species such as melaleuca create dense thickets that outcompete native plants, provide no wildlife value and alter topography and hydrology.  Old World climbing fern grows up and over tree canopies in our tree islands, causes canopy collapse and alters fire behavior.  Fortunately we have many agencies in Florida that are all working together to address invasive plant issues.  We are continually sharing research and coordinating invasive plant removal efforts.  We are very fortunate to have a stellar community of invasive species biologists in Florida!

Magazine in Motion

Since my last post, I have been working on my magazine.  However, the goal I set for myself in my last post was much too large of a goal.  I said that I would be finished with both the cover page and the table of contents.  While I was almost finished with the former, the latter still had a lot of work left to be put into it.  Here is a picture of the finalized cover page:

While I might still add more elements or change some existing ones, this is pretty much the final product for my cover page.  

As for the table of contents page, I realized that I had a lot more things to do then I had originally imagined, just as with the rest of my project.  I  have so far increased the number of pictures and added the smaller stories on the far right.  Because of the little amount of time I have left, and the amount of work left still to do, I will be taking this time to establish a schedule of things to complete over the next week.

By Tuesday, I will be finished with the table of contents, and I will finish writing the story by Wednesday.  Hopefully, Ms. Mason will respond by then, but who really knows. By Thursday, I want to have the the entirety of the magazine completed.  However, I have a lot going on this week and weekend so I'm worried about not finishing or keeping up with this schedule exactly.  Hopefully, everything will turn out okay.  

Progress with Pages

I have been working on the magazine since my last post, and also a little before then.  I've been making certain strides towards accomplishing my goal, but there is still a lot of work to get done.  So far, I have been working on my cover page and my table of contents page (because I'm still waiting for Ms. Mason for the double page spread!).  We're not going to talk about that right now, it's a time for progress, not setbacks.  

Out of the two pages I have been working on, I have made more progress on the cover page. This is what I have been doing so far:

I picked the name because it is a synonym for vegetation.  I think I want to add some cover lines, but I will wait until I finish the table of contents page to figure out what my exact stories will be.  

For my table of contents, I have only made some progress.  It obviously still looks like it is in the rudimentary stages of production, but this is what I have for right now:

I've started to create the table of contents by simply writing the title and by putting each of the pictures into a circular format.  I still want to add more circles and to add a different section on the right which will be lined and more rectangular in comparison to the rest of the pages.  

By the next post, I hope to be able to be finished with these two parts of my project.

Progress and Updates

As the deadline for my project gets closer and closer, it is imperative that I move ever closer to completing it.  Over the course of this past week, I have made major strides towards accomplishing this goal. 

In my last meeting with my peers earlier this week, I had a lot of things to think about.  Namely, the layout of my magazine and the content of the double page spread.  The first thing I want to talk about is the content for the story.  I wanted this material to be largely focused on an interview I would conduct with a field biologist whom I have mentioned in previous posts.  At the meeting, I explained my frustrations regarding how Ms. Mason has yet to have responded to my email with answers to my questions.  I'm concerned about whether or not I will even be able to include this section in my project and if I will have to change the way I wanted my story to go.  The only good thing that happened was that she did send me an email on March 29th that said she would be busy for the next two days.  Since her first free day will be this Saturday, I'm hoping that she will have time to answer my questions.  However, if I do not receive a response by the end of this weekend, I will be forced to abandon this idea for the sake of finishing this project in a way that I can be proud of.

The other thing that happened to me at the meeting was that I was forced to think about how I would actually construct the layout for my magazine.  I asked the group of people I was meeting with if they knew of any online software I could use, but they had little experience in the area and could offer me no feasible examples.  One of them did suggest Photoshop, which I knew one of my friends is using, but I knew I couldn't use that program because of cost issues.  Having made little progress with my group members, I decided to look through the Internet for websites that would be of use to me.  I quickly stumbled upon a site called Lucidpress.  This site allowed me to sign up for free and offered me opportunities to create a magazine layout that looked both creatively unique and professional.  I'm excited to continue working with it in the future and to hopefully posting some progress pictures in my next blog post.  

Despite the setbacks I may be facing, I am confident that I am still moving closer and closer to my goal.

Citations:

"Easy from the Start." Lucidpress. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Mar. 2017.

Questions!

Yesterday, I posted about conducting and interview with Ms. Mason.  

This morning, I set about accomplishing this goal.  The first thing I needed to do was to write up some questions to email her.  I worked towards doing this by rereading her bio, which was located on the contact us tab.  From the information provided there, I was able to write these questions:  

Why did you get into this area of study and work and what is your favorite part about it?

In your experience, how often are what people consider weeds invasive species and how 

often are they actually native plants that are beneficial to the environment?

What were your responsibilities and experience concerning "weeds" when you worked as a field biologist for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission?

How do herbicides work to remove plants that would be considered weeds?  What effects do they have on other plants in the ecosystem?

What is an invasive plant removal contract and what is your experience with them?

What are the dangers of non-native plants within the Florida Everglades?

Once I finished writing the questions, I emailed them to her through the email that had been provided with her bio.  

Hopefully these questions will help me to learn more about the subject and be able to form a more complete story.  Since she didn't answer today, however, it's a bit of a waiting game.  Hopefully, she will respond tomorrow though.  I look forward to her insight on the subject!

Citations:
"Florida Exotic Pest Plant Council Chairman and Board of Directors." FLEPPC. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Mar. 2017.

Interview?

Since I have been working on the design of my magazine, I feel that I have allowed myself to neglect the story I want to write.  Therefore, it is time to revisit the story!

A while before (a couple weeks ago, I think), I asked Ms. Stoklosa about what I could do for my story, and she suggested I do an interview.  While I liked the sound of that idea, at the time, it only allowed me to continue on with my project in the direction I had been going and had not produced any concrete elements within the story I wished to construct.  However, I still want to utilize that idea.  That's why I have recently been searching for someone to interview.  Well, actually that might be a bit of an exaggeration because it is more accurate to say that I stumbled across a person who seemed like a good fit for an interview and I went on from there. 

While I was researching weeds, I made my way to http://www.fleppc.org/.  This website is that of the Florida Exotic Pest Plant Council.  It even had its own magazine about weeds called Wildland Weeds.  I looked through the magazine, which was abundant in information but was a bit lacking in the formatting department; nonetheless, it was cute and educational.  After going through some of the other information on the page, I began to remember and consider the idea of an interview because obviously the people who put together the magazine and were major members of the organization would be very knowledgeable about weeds.  

This brought me to searching the website for the contributors and eventually finding them under the "Contact Us" tab.  Reading through the bios was fun and reinforced the idea that these people were extremely knowledgeable and experienced in this field.  In addition to providing information about these people, their bios also included contact information, as the tab title had stated.  I decided to email Christen Mason, the Chair of the Land Resources Bureau, South Florida Water Management District.  

In my email, I explained my project and asked her if she would like to answer some questions about weeds.  Her response time to the email was super fast; it only took her two hours to get back to me.  She was excited about the prospect of the interview and agreed to it wholeheartedly.  

While my email response time is not nearly as impressive as hers, I hope the content in my next email will make up for the wait.  I plan on emailing her with a list of questions tomorrow.  I'll make sure to include my questions in my next post.  Hopefully, Ms. Mason will keep up her reputation of fast response time so that I can include some of her responses in my next post as well.  We'll just have to wait and see!

Citations:
"FLEPPC." Florida Exotic Pest Plant Council. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Mar. 2017.

Meetings

I was recently able to meet with different people to discuss my project in two separate meetings, with my peers and with my teacher.  Both brought me insightful information concerning the direction of my project, and I look forward to utilizing it.

The first meeting took place on Tuesday with my peers.  All of the five people I met with were working on film openings, so their comments weren’t always following the same kind of applicability that I had imgained.  From the presentation of my idea, however, I was able to notice some problems with the preliminary layout of my project, such as the single page Table of Contents and arrangement of the Double Page spread.  These issues were largely cleared up with the second meeting.

The second discussion took place with my teacher Ms. Stoklosa.  I raised to her my concerns regarding the unbroken text on the right side of my double page spread, and she suggested a sidebar.  I also told her that I was thinking about possibly switching the cover page image with the image on the left page of the double page spread, but she agreed with my initial vision of an intense visual component on the double page spread.  She also showed me some examples that looked like the kind of style I wanted to emulate.  I really liked this example because it had both an engaging visual component and a sidebar.  So I will be leaving the picture of the dandelion where it is.  However, I still want to try and fix the cover image to make it look more engaging.  For my table of contents, she confirmed my concerns that my Table of Contents was too small.  Because of this, I think I will move to make it into a two-page layout where the two sides will produce a visual contrast, as the stories they concern will be different, such as with stories common to the magazine as well as feature stories. 

With all of this information of consider, I decided to look up some examples of table of contents pages that followed the direction I want to go in right now since I already some examples of double page spreads.  These two articles (1) (2) were especially helpful, and I would really like to emulate the kind of layout that was presented in them because of the engaging visuals and contrast between large stories and smaller stories.

These suggestions and pieces of information will help to promote a more directed approach towards creating a fully realized magazine, and I can't wait to implement them!

Citations:
Design, Kalico. "Stowaway Spring 2014." Pinterest. N.p., 23 Jan. 2014. Web. 23 Mar. 2017.
"Discovery Channel Magazine September 2012 Table of Contents." Library Media Center. N.p., 20 Sept. 2012. Web. 23 Mar. 2017.

Nikola. "Structure of the Magazine." Magazine Designing. N.p., 14 Oct. 2013. Web. 23 Mar. 2017.

Let's Just Lay it All Out

I'm tackling this project by taking it one step at a time.  Now that I have a topic, preliminary photos, and a rough idea of the story I want to tell, I want to start with the layout of my magazine.  

The three things that I have to make layouts for are the cover page, table of contents, and the double-page spread.  Even though it was the latter of the list, I decided to start with the layout for the double-page spread.  The first thing I decided to do was to look up some examples.  This website shooed me away from the idea of putting text on both pages and towards using a larger photo than I had originally imagined.  This was my final result: 

This is a big step forward toward the kind of product I want to create, but I am not yet completely satisfied.  For one, I still need to figure out a tagline.  Another thing was that I need to find some way to break up the text on the other page.  I know from looking at other magazines that the text is commonly broken up with pictures or quotes, so I will try to find some that work well with the story.  That aside, I am really proud with the way it turned out, which would have been much harder without two resources (1) (2), which helped me to label the dandelion.

The next thing I decided to do was to create the layout for the cover page.  I wanted to take inspiration from National Geographic; therefore, I decided to plan for a cover page that had a emphasis on the main subject and with very few cover lines.  Taking after that, I was able to produce this:

I think I will change the location of the cover lines, but I do like the amount that are present.

Finally, I got to the table of contents.  I know that I didn't want to create a blocky layout, so I decided to go with the exact opposite: circles!  While searching for inspiration, I found this Pinterest post.  I liked the use of the hexagons, but I thought it would be better for my project to have everything a little more spaced out.  This caused me to create this:

I really like the way this one came out, but I think I might change the layout to go from a one page table of contents to a two page layout.  

These layouts for each of the components of my project will make it easier to put together the final product because I will know what I want it to look like, instead of just a nebulous idea in my head.  I'm looking forward to working off of these layouts in the future.  

Citations:
Labby, Mz. "Recognizing & Collecting Dandelions « Antlife." Pinterest. N.p., 18 Aug. 2012. Web. 19 Mar. 2017.
Lady Moxie Design | Erin Murray. "Design | Layout." Pinterest. N.p., 17 Feb. 2015. Web. 19 Mar. 2017.
Smith, Mol. "Micscape Microscopy and Microscope Magazine." Micscape Microscopy and Microscope Magazine. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Mar. 2017.
"36 Stunning Magazine and Publication Layouts for Your Inspiration." Inspiration Hut. N.p., 08 July 2016. Web. 19 Mar. 2017.

What am I Even Talking About?

Up to this point in time, all of the work that I have been putting into this project has gone towards choosing a topic.  Now, I have finally chosen something: weeds!  This subject may appear to contain little depth and be a very boring topic overall, but I'm going to endeavor to disprove the two aforementioned points.  I want to discuss certain things about these little hardy plants that often receive unearned hurt and not enough appreciation.

Although I have some exposure to weeds because of my own personal experience and the research I did earlier this week to know what I had taken pictures of, I, like most people, hadn't given much thought to weeds.  What is there to consider, you may ask.  To tell you the truth, I didn't think there was much there either.  I expected to go into my research and learn a couple random facts like how different types of invasive weeds have overcome certain landscapes and the like.  While there are plenty examples of this happening, there was so much more as well.

My first step in the weed research was to look up the definition of a weed.  According to the Merriam Webster dictionary, a weed is "a plant that is not valued where it is growing and is usually of vigorous growth; especially :  one that tends to overgrow or choke out more desirable plants".  From this definition, the interesting information comes from the interpretation of the wording.  Since the plant is not wanted where it is, they are immediately placed in a lower echelon in relation to the other flora that inhabit America's lawns.  The persistence of weeds is further elaborated upon in the second clause.  Although weeds aren't desired, they possess the necessary adaptations to survive and even thrive. These different characteristics would vary from species to species.

Now that I knew that what weeds were, I thought it would be best to move into what they do. From reading an article on the subject, I learned about what looking at the types of weeds that exist and where they are growing can tell about the land itself: whether the soil is high or low in nutrients or if it was dry or too wet. Since weeds have such an innate ability to grow and thrive, they will persist in situations where other, more "desirable" plants, often those that have been domesticated, will not.  And if certain types of weeds can grow under conditions that will choke out competitors, it becomes easy to discern the condition of the soil.  From this, farmers and gardeners would be able to adjust the the conditions appropriately to best promote the growth of their crops.  If people were more familiar with what the presence of certain plants signified, they could more effectively, and at a lower cost, manage their crops or flower beds or any other plants they were growing. 

So weeds can tell you the conditions of the soil, without any expensive lab equipment or other types of highly specialized tools. Still, I wondered what else weeds could do for us.  Could there be a link to something greater?  Could tap roots and weaving stems be holding together something much greater than just the ground we stand on?

These questions show the way to a more meaningful story that could be present in this seemingly simple subject.  However my story eventually forms, I think the inclusion of this information will greatly help with the understanding of weeds, I know it sure helped me.  This would probably be good information to include in the introduction of the story located on the double-page spread.  I look forward to further researching the subject and learning more about the greater impact of these "undesirables."

Citations:
Jay, Farmer. "What Is the Purpose of Weeds And Why Are They Important?" New Times Broward-Palm Beach. N.p., 18 May 2016. Web. 16 Mar.          2017.
"Weed." Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 16 Mar. 2017.

Time for Photoshoot

Over the past few days, I have been fervently searching for the topic that would serve to be the main focus for my magazine.  In order to look further into my options, I decided that a photo shoot was in order or, more accurately, two photo shoots.  

So what I did was that I took my camera out with me around my yard and neighborhood and took pictures of the kinds of things that I had been considering for my project.  These included plants, spiders, and butterflies, all of which I got pictures of.  

I really liked the way this photo came out, the composition of the light versus the dark with the Eastern Swallowtail Butterfly (Papilio glaucus) on the bottom third.  However, I'm not sure how well this photo would fit into the magazine; it's good by itself but perhaps it would not work well when combined with other elements.

The Zebra Longwing butterflies (Heliconius charitonia) were generally easier to photograph than the swallowtail (which flew really fast), but this picture was my favorite overall.  The location of the butterfly on the top third implies the motion of the descent just as well as the unfocused wings.   

With this picture, I began to explore the possibilities of putting a focus on plants.  Pictured here is a flower from what I originally thought was clover, but I learned through research that it is actually Oxalis and is commonly confused with clover.  If I decide to head forward in this direction, I would like to retake this picture or something of similar composition but changed in such a way that the background was comprised of green leaves instead of brown dying ones.

This picture is probably my favorite from the first photo shoot.  This small yellow flower was one that I was familiar with, having seen it all the time where I live, but I never learned the name of it.  From some quick research, I learned that the name of this weed is Asiatic Hawksbeard (Youngia japonica).

As I began with my second day of shooting, I decided to see if I could recapture the out-of-focus background that I found to have made the picture of the Hawksbeard so aesthetically pleasing.  Although I wasn't able to accomplish that goal with this picture, I did like how this photo of Spanish Needle (Bidens bipinnata) turned out.

I don't really want to end with this picture, but I do feel that it is important to include it.  This is a photo of a Star Spider (Gasteracantha cancriformis).  I managed to find one of these while I walked around my neighborhood, and I took several pictures of it, of which this photo was the best.  Still, the subject is out of focus.  Perhaps it was the wind that made this picture hard to take, but I think I'll stay away from spider pictures in the future because they are so small.


Looking at all of the different pictures I was able to take, I am most in favor of those of the butterflies and the weed flowers.  Perhaps a good direction to take with magazine would be to put a focus on those two subjects, although I feel that I now have a slight preference to the weeds.  Regardless, these pictures came out better than I could've hoped, so I'm looking forward to more photo shoots in the future!

Citations:
"Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio Glaucus)." Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Butterflies, Caterpillars, Chrysalis Photos : Gardens With Wings. N.p., n.d.       Web. 15 Mar. 2017.
"Florida Weed Identification." Florida Weed Identification. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Mar. 2017.
"The Star Spider - Gasteracantha Cancriformis." The Star Spider - Gasteracantha Cancriformis. N.p., 23 Feb. 2014. Web. 15 Mar. 2017.
"Weeds." Garden Talk - Weeds. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Mar. 2017.
"Weeds of the Southern United States." (1975): 10. Web. 15 Mar. 2017.
"Zebra Longwing - Heliconius Charitonia." Zebra Longwing - Heliconius Charitonia. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Mar. 2017.

It's Got to Look Pretty!

As the title implies, this post is all about "the look" of my magazine, specifically the cover.  

The first thing I did was to revisit the page that showed the "Top 10 Nature Magazines".  This gave me some ideas regarding the nature of the cover page.  I naturally gravitated toward the magazines that featured few cover lines, striking images, and an absence of yellow used solely for garnering attention.  (Don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan of yellow, but the color seems like it's being used to yell at the audience in these examples, and it's a bit jarring.)  I'd like to create a product where the main focus is the cover image and where the cover lines are present but not the main focus. 

Moving on from that decision, I began to look at other examples of magazine covers within my chosen genre.  To do that, I looked at nature.com.  There, I was able to look at recent issues of their magazine, and the one from the past week caught my eye specifically.  The cool colors of this issue of Nature were a step in the direction that I wanted to take.  However, the picture was computer generated, and I was looking to use a photograph for my front cover.  Therefore, there was still more research to be done.  

I continued to look up nature/science magazines, but this was a bit difficult because the most common results were concerning Nature, the specific magazine company that I had already researched.  However, I typed in “environmental magazines” and was able to find this blog.  It showed some good examples of what I would like to produce, especially the TIME magazine and the one from PhotoMedia.  I really liked the play on a famous picture done by the TIME magazine, but even more so did I enjoy the striking cover of the PhotoMedia sample with the lemur on the front that looked straight toward the camera.  Since taking a picture of a mammal or other high order animal could prove difficult, it may be in my best interest to work with either insects, arachnids, or plants.

Still, I wanted to keep looking at different possibilities, so I checked out some photos from the NWF's website.  These pictures may not have been magazine covers specifically, but the still provided ideas. Looking at this website, I saw even more examples of really great
beautiful nature subjects, the kind of things I would like to emulate.  However, it was becoming more and more obvious that photographing an animal would be extremely difficult and overall hard to execute.  Instead, I’m thinking that taking a picture of an insect or arachnid like a butterfly or a spider would be much easier.  I know I have some nice spider webs in my front yard that look really amazing when they are covered in dew in the early morning.  Maybe that could be what is on my cover or perhaps on the two-page spread instead.

From my research, I have found a lot of different options, but I'm not ready yet to commit to any one direction.  My goal for the next week will be to have some concrete decisions made so that the planning can commence. 

Citations:

"Environmental Magazine Covers." Tomjroberts2's Blog. N.p., 07 Dec. 2009. Web. 12 Mar. 2017.

"Top 10 Nature Magazines." All You Can Read. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Mar. 2017.

"Volume 543 Number 7643." Nature News. Nature Publishing Group, n.d. Web. 12 Mar. 2017.