The Space to Breathe
Emma Preston
The Jellyfish
For this assignment, I chose to rework an image I took at the Kansas City Zoo last year in the aquarium exhibit. I cropped the image to focus in on the two largest jellyfish, using the rule of thirds to draw the eye towards them as the focal point. I also darkened the image and added highlights to illuminate the the glowing details of the jellyfish. I felt the original image had too many details for one to take in, so I narrowed in the the details I wanted to be noticed.
On the Dunes, Reading
For this assignment, I chose the above image titled On the Dunes (Lady Shannon and Kitty) by James Jebusa Shannon. Shannon painted this portrait of his wife and daughter sometime around 1900 to 1910. I was drawn to this painting because it reminded me of being read to by my own mother. One of our favorites to read together was “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” by Robert Frost. I chose this audio pairing to evoke the feeling of being read to by a parental figure as illustrated in the painting. The painting becomes an experience when paired with poetry reading; in this particular work I am drawing on my own experiences and memories of childhood.
Terms of Use: On the Dunes, Reading by Emma Preston. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
“All that had happened and would happen was meant to be. Everything happens as it is meant to be.”
Hello! My name is Emma and I am a first year graduate student in the Information Science program. I am working to become a librarian after graduation, preferably in an academic setting. I am a third-generation FSU graduate and I received my undergrad degree in Studio Art in 2021. I lived in Tallahassee for almost 20 years and moved to Jacksonville, FL in 2020. I enjoy reading and building my own library collection in my spare time. My favorite books are Kristin Lavransdatter (the title of this post is a quote from this book), Crime and Punishment, and Little Women. I am excited to take this class to build upon the technical skills I learned in my time studying digital media as an art form. I studied photography and photo editing, but I have very little knowledge of audio and video editing.
One of my favorite memories I have from my childhood is visiting Strozier Library with my dad when he was a PhD candidate in the early 2000’s. He would often bring me along to return books on the weekends while my mom was working and I loved walking with him through the towering rows of books and breathing in the smell of old books. As a college student, I often frequented Strozier late at night, enjoying the quiet opportunity to study, read, think, and develop my own beliefs and opinions as an adult. I hope as a librarian to contribute to the culture of independent thinking and the protection of information. I’m looking forward to growing as a student in this class and connecting with others in Information Science!