Arthur the Aardvark and the Concurrent Saga of Arbitrary Titles

Fact: Congressman Chris Lee gave a presentation this afternoon at the Fireside Corner, the mystical study environment of the B. Thomas Golisano Library -- where hardcore research and knowledge meets an electronically operated fireplace.


Fiction: I attended this mini-conference/presentation with hopes of understanding the Congressman's political plans.


Truth be told: I attended this meeting to see how a Congressman interacts with a seemingly arbitrary College. So, I took special notice of how he performed his presentation. In doing so, I became distracted (hard to believe, right?) and watched the event's photographer snap pictures.


He was kneeling one row in front of me and was positioned in such a way that I could see his camera's screen after he took a picture. I saw how he would manually change the focus and play with foreground to achieve a specific shot: one consisted of a student looking off into the distance and thinking so constructively, while two other students were blurred on opposite sides of him.


After the Congressman's presentation, I sought out the photographer and spoke with him about his photography work. His name is Matt Wittmeyer and he graduated from Syracuse University's Newhouse program. He is a freelance photographer and videographer, doing some events for the school upon request. I told him about Intro to Digital Video and mentioned the articles we read about the "film vs. digital" debate. He agreed that digital is about the end result and can see how film focuses on the process. He added that "film" will become a lost art form because so many people are going digital with their works.


It was awesome meeting Matt and hearing what he had to say about film and digital artwork. Our conversation also made the articles we read for class more tangible. I tip my hat to you, Matt.


Adios.