{"id":75,"date":"2006-04-19T23:04:31","date_gmt":"2006-04-20T04:04:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2006\/325\/04\/19\/75\/"},"modified":"2008-02-13T21:00:07","modified_gmt":"2008-02-14T02:00:07","slug":"75","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2006\/325\/04\/19\/75\/","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

A) http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/nagarazoku\/122934109\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Caption: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153EXTREMELY WEAK. FAULT OF POT. SEED\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00e2\u20ac\u201cChris McCandless pg 191<\/p>\n

-This photo is a pot with tiny seeds in it. I felt the image was appropriate because it is the seeds that ended up being the demise of McCandless. The pot is old and dirty, the soil is black and all you can see are these beige seeds popping up. McCandless himself says that these seeds are what made him sick, and, in the end, caused him his life.<\/p>\n

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B) http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/bsmart\/122431382\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Caption: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153His ignorance, which could have been cured by a USGS quadrant and a Boy Scout manual, is what killed him.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u201cNick Jans pg 71<\/p>\n

-This photo is of a man with a large backpack on, holding a map and compass in his hands, all of which McCandless lacked on his journey into the wild. This photo and caption are ironic because McCandless was far from prepared for his trip. Though he did well for himself, in the end, if he did have a map or a compass he could have walked out of the wilderness just as easily as he walked in. I chose this quote because I think Jans had a point, it was ignorant for McCandless to neglect to bring the items that could have saved his life.<\/p>\n

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C) http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/dobak\/112772453\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Caption: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Unlike Muir and Thoreau, McCandless went into the wilderness not primarily to ponder nature or the world at large, but rather, to explore the inner country of his own soul.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u201cKrakauer pg 183<\/p>\n

– This is a photo of footprints leading through the snow into the wilderness. I chose this photo because I think it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s appropriate because it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a desolate area with just footprints leading to nowhere in particular. McCandless was headed for nowhere in particular and that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s where he ended up, stranded in what appeared to be the middle of nowhere, with nothing but his footprints littering the snow.<\/p>\n

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D) http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/bumpkinbwoy\/131235402\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Caption: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Attempting to swim the numbingly cold torrent or even to paddle some sort of improvised raft across seemed too risky to consider.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u201cKrakauer pg 170<\/p>\n

-This is a photo of a tiny puddle on the ground with white graffiti reading \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Weak Signal\u00e2\u20ac\u009d inscribed in the middle of it. I thought this photo was ironic because in order to get back into civilization and survive his journey, McCandless had to cross a terrible lake that happened to be flooded. This is clearly a tiny puddle, but the caption states otherwise.<\/p>\n

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-Throughout Into The Wild<\/em>, Jon Krakauer continually takes paragraphs and excerpts out of context, leading the reader along the path he chooses. It is the same idea with these photos and captions. I am taking a quote from the book and pairing it with a photo I <\/em>see as appropriate. In the photo of the tiny puddle, I am taking Krakauer\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s own description of the treacherous waters McCandless would have to cross and pasting them under a photo that clearly does not represent the words written. Therefore my reader views Krakauer\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s words out of context when paired with the photo of the tiny puddle.<\/p>\n

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I especially liked the footprints in the snow leading into the wilderness. McCandless would only have seen his own footprints in the snowy hills of Alaska, acting as a daily reminder of his solitude. The caption reads that he went on his journey to explore nature but to also find his inner self. The footprints in this photo are leading to nowhere in particular, causing the reader to believe that McCandless got nowhere in his travels. Though I personally believe that McCandless did find out a great deal about himself and nature on his journey into the wild, the fact that he was a loan traveler could have contributed to his ultimate death. There are only one set of footprints in the snow, should there have been more, it is possible that McCandless would still be here with us today.<\/p>\n

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Another contributing factor to the death of McCandless is his seemingly lack of knowledge as to what to pack. In the second photo there is a man who has clearly planned for the journey he is about to take. It shows a large, well packed backpack, and, perhaps the most vital items, a map and compass. This photo paired with the caption from an intoxicated reader of Outside <\/em>magazine make for an ironic scene. What I found even more ironic is that Nick Jans was also from the Washington D.C. area and now lived in the wilderness, but refers to McCandless as \u00e2\u20ac\u0153hardly unique\u00e2\u20ac\u009d, when he himself has taken on a very similar move. In his sarcastic, late night comment, Jans says that a Boy Scout map and a USGS quadrant would have saved McCandless\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s life. I agree with Jans, McCandless should have been more prepared, but his words paired with the photo of a man with an easy fifty pounds on his back seems ironic to me.<\/p>\n

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The first photo I found came when I searched the tag \u00e2\u20ac\u0153seed\u00e2\u20ac\u009d. I came across this dark pot of seeds and immediately McCandless\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s words sprang into my mind. He knew the seeds were killing him, and this photo is full of dark seeds. His journal entry portrays a very weak young man who seems to be certain of his nearing fait. The photo and the caption match the haunting words of McCandless himself paired with the old, dirty seeds.<\/p>\n

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Captions are very important to understanding a particular photo because without a caption the reader could completely miss the drift of the author; especially by way of irony. Captions sometimes directly match the photo it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s under, but sometimes they do not. For instance, the photo with the man and the fully loaded backpack, with the caption that states the traveler was ill prepared which would ultimately cause his death, could be seen as ironic. However, if I were to just leave the photo the way it was, the irony I see would have no way of making its self known to the reader. Sometimes a caption is perfectly fitting to a photo. For example, the photo of the seeds in the pot, the photo contains the seeds the author is describing in the text. I can see the seeds in the pot and I can read about the seeds McCandless ate, the photo and the caption match which, in my opinion, is a huge help when reading texts such as Krakauer\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s.<\/p>\n

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The photos are imperative to the captions because they are a visual representation of the text. It always helps me to see a visual in most any circumstance, and captions are no different. The text will always be the same text no matter how many times you read it. However, when placed with a photo the text could, and most often does, take on a completely different meaning for the reader. Now, whenever I reread the part about McCandless not being able to cross the rushing currents I will always think of the tiny puddle I posted above this caption and the irony it eludes to. The photo made the caption take on a whole different meaning. Though I know it was impossible for McCandless to cross that river, an image of a puddle will forever be burned into my mind.<\/p>\n

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Captions are also useful for focusing the reader\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s attention onto one aspect of the photo. For example, the photo with the man and the large backpack, in my caption I only referred to his backpack, the map, and the compass he held. I never made reference to the fact that the man has shorts on and is clearly not in the harsh Alaskan interior. Because I only focused on those aspects of the photo that the text referenced, the reader will most likely only focus on those aspects as well. The caption doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t say anything about McCandless\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s location; it only states what he should have possessed to prevent his death.<\/p>\n

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In addition to bringing certain aspects of a photo into focus, a caption also has the ability to revert the reader\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s attention. For instance, in the photo of the tiny puddle, I only referenced the tiny amount of water and the graffiti scribbled in the middle. I did not, however, make any reference to the factory like smokestack in the reflection of the water. Of course, if I had chose to focus on the reflection the reader would focus on it as well, but I chose to leave the photo with the caption to make for an ironic effect.<\/p>\n

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A) http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/nagarazoku\/122934109\/ Caption: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153EXTREMELY WEAK. FAULT OF POT. SEED\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00e2\u20ac\u201cChris McCandless pg 191 -This photo is a pot with tiny seeds in it. I felt the image was appropriate because it is the seeds that ended up being the demise of McCandless. The pot is old and dirty, the soil is black and all you can … Continue reading <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-75","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reflections"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2006\/325\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2006\/325\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2006\/325\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2006\/325\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2006\/325\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2006\/325\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2006\/325\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2006\/325\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2006\/325\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}