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What is a Lawyers Meaning of Life?

   This is an Action Project for my core class Journalism. During this unit, we had a few focuses. The first is cameras and how they work. We focused on the more core parts of photography, for example, rule of thirds, aperture, shutter speed, focus, etc. We were visited by a special guest Caleb Hamernick who showed us in better detail what it takes to do photography professionally. During the FE, he was able to show us some of his work and pieces he was proud of. I enjoyed being able to learn more about photography and how I can implement what I learned into how I take photos regularly. The second thing we touched on most were chapters from the book Our America: Life and Death on the South Side of Chicago. The sections we focused on most were the parts about a little boy getting thrown out of the window of a tall building. We talked about life and how death can affect people. We took these chapters and decided to interview someone and ask them what they believe the meaning of life is. As you read through my project I want you to think about what is the meaning of life to you?

CJH/Picture of Interviewee/2021

    What is the meaning of life? The meaning of life is a very difficult question to find out for yourself. It requires a lot of thinking and knowing what you are going to do with your dreams and passions. This interview had me thinking about what my meaning of life was. Sadly, it's not something you can just find out in a matter of days.  To help me figure out what the meaning of life is, I decided to interview someone who found his passion in being a lawyer and I wanted to figure out what he thinks the meaning of life is. He answers with, "I don't know." Hearing this caught me off guard and made me confused, although it is a fair answer. He then goes on to explain "That's sort of an unknowable question. I think that everyone at some level tries to define for themself the meaning of life. But that's an unanswerable question." After explaining why the meaning of life is such a difficult question to answer, he goes on to say what he believes would make his own life meaningful. "I believe I would have a meaningful life if I could contribute to the reduction of suffering in the world."

    JH recently decided to become a lawyer to help change the city of Chicago by serving the people that can't afford a good lawyer. When asked how he follows his meaning of life, he responded with, "I try to look for the places that I'm passionate about, the places where suffering is happening, and where I can help. I try to look at the middle point of those three and see how I can affect it." He now works at a law firm and is on the way to becoming a defense attorney for those who need it. To capture this, I need to take a picture of him in a time where he proves his meaning of life. Since he said his meaning of life is to help relieve some of the suffrage in the world, he became a lawyer. The image I took shows him on his graduation day from the University of Illinois Law School in May of 2021.

    In order to take the best picture possible, I had to take into account the many technicalities that come from taking pictures. For starters, I had to use the rule of thirds. The rule of thirds is where you have a grid on your camera to help align the subject of your photo with each side of the picture. For example, if you want your subject in the center of the photo, you line them up with the middle squares. If you want them on the left or right side to show the background of the photo yet still have the main subject in the photograph. The second rule I took into account with my photo is the aperture. The aperture is the opening of a lens's diaphragm through which light passes to print the image onto the back of the camera. Another word for this would be shutter speed. If I were to use a second shutter speed, it would most likely be blurry and unfocused because it's printing a whole second of the photo. While explaining shutter speed, I mentioned the photo could be unfocused. Focus is something very important while taking my photograph. I had to make sure the focus of the picture was on the main subject. In this instance, it was my interviewee. 

    Though I was only able to take a photo with an I-phone, I would have preferred to take a picture of my subject with a professional camera. It would have been a much better photo with better factors playing into the photo. For example, I could increase the shutter speed and make the camera capture the photo faster. Other than that, I think I did a good job with this photo and I'm glad I was able to interview someone to help me find their meaning of life. This especially allowed me to further understand my meaning of life. 


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