It was a normal October day. I looked out the window of a 2nd grade classroom in Spokane, Washington, watching the kids out a recess. It was like a blizzard came out of nowhere. I was a student teacher and driving in the snow still made me nervous, even though I had gotten used to it in Iowa where I went to college. I asked my cooperating teacher if school was going to be let off early because of the snow. She said no, the snow probably won’t stick. But it did.
By the end of the school day, the parking lot was covered with inches of snow. I had a 30-minute drive back to my apartment, that include a long highway, rural roads, and the real possibility of deer running into the road. Somehow, I made it to my apartment safely.
By the time I got to my apartment, I was cold, tired, stressed and very hungry. As the blizzard continued outside, I preheated my oven to prepare to cook a homemade pizza. As the pizza was cooking, I put on my PJs and selected a cozy movie to watch. By the time the pizza was done the blizzard was still going outside.
This picture by Christine Wisnieski shows the comfort of being safe at home with good food, while the sound from daveincamas represents the chaos of nature outside. When driving back home from student teaching in the increasing snow, the thought of being safe in my apartment was my goal. Pizza and movie were the much-deserved reward.
Hi Michaela!
I love that you chose your image and audio to go along with a story! That certainly creates more of a connection between the two. On its own, I feel like the photo is a little ambiguous in that it could bring a few different baked goods to mind. Similarly, the audio reminds me of a brown or green noise, but the title and story really bring them together. In that vein, I’d say the combination transforms the meaning of the two items.
If I were to suggest any other audio, I’d say maybe something with a person humming and cooking/baking. That might similarly convey a relaxing/cozy vibe by enhancing the photo, rather than transforming it.
All the formatting and links look okay to me; I like how you linked to the creators in the text as well, so you don’t have to scroll back up to open them up.
The audio makes me think of busy chaos. At first it sounded like a running river but then it began to sound like a windy winter storm. When examining the image, it makes me think of order and perfection. The mounds of dough are perfectly round and uniform. For me the image and audio are on opposite sides of the spectrum. So, when the story is combined with the audio and image, they become transformative. An interesting sound that could be combined with this image is the sound of a stomach growing or even the dings of an oven or timers going off.
Hey Michaela!
I played the sound before reading your post and was wondering what the correlation between the two was. After reading your story, it makes so much sense! I think that pizza is the ultimate comfort food and one of my favorite things to eat after a long day, and I bet that pizza you had tasted extra good.
If you didn’t have that wonderful story, I would suggest using cute Italian restaurant music.
When I clicked the Flickr link to the picture, I saw that the author posted a pizza dough recipe, which was a nice touch!
Hi Michaela!
Your story really pulled together the audio and picture to make them complete. At first I thought the audio was waves or running water but then it really picked up and I could tell it was stormy weather. I can totally imagine you driving in your car trying to get home to some pizza hahah! An alternative picture could have been using a picture of an already made pizza or one in the oven to push the idea that it was your end goal to get home and eat some yummy pizza!
All the links worked and the post is formatted nicely. Great job!