First Speech

After constructing my first speech in Interior Architecture class for this fall semester of second year I feel like I learned quite a bit.  I feel like it was a good assignment because it gave everyone in the class a chance to view all of the Smithsonian Museums in Washington D.C.  That was good because I personally was very curious to see what the others that I did not go to looked like on the inside of them and what they were all about.  For mine I talked about the circulation in the three museums that I visited.  These were the Air and Space Museum, The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, and the Freer Gallery of Art.  For mine I discussed how the air and space museum did not have a very good way of circulating through it because there was stuff in all different directions.  For the other two they had a very similar way of circulating through the space, you go around in order in either a circle or a square.  I think I did pretty well at presenting my speech and talking about the museums.  The thing I would like to improve on would be to become more comfortable with speaking in front of the class and not be so nervous.  I also would like to speak more on my own and not rely on looking at my notes quite so much.  I think the speech that the speaking center gave was very helpful, especially the packet of papers that they handed out.  It gave me very god tips for what to do and what not to do when giving a speech.  I however, did not have a chance to visit the speaking center before giving my speech but i do feel like I would of done somewhat better and more organized if I would of went.  I will do better on the next one by being more prepared and actually starting to plan my speech more in advance.  This is something I need to work on because I always tend to procrastinate and put things off until the last minute.  I also will try to seem less nervous when speaking and let my speech just flow naturally as I talk.

Beautiful View!

I came across this picture while on the internet this week and I just thought it was absolutely gorgeous.  I would totally love to have a vacation home that looked out onto a lovely view like this one.  I also love this picture because this is my favorite time of day when the sun is going down and it starting to get dark outside, I love it so much! 

Dreams!

I find this picture to be so incredibly inspiring.  I think this saying is very true and it shows that if you dream and believe that you can do something then you will in fact achieve it without a doubt.  I always look at this when I need to remember this and keep living that way!

Photoshop!

I took the above pictures while I was on the class trip to Washington D.C.  The first one is of the Capitol Building with the Washington Monument in the far background, that is one of the reasons why I love it so much.  I distorted the colors of the photo by playing with the temperature, contrast, color levels, and sharpness.  It was very cool to do, I think that the end result makes it look like a type of picture that you might see on a post card.  The second picture I took while in one of the exhibits in the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden.  I thought it was the most interesting piece of artwork in there.  I tilted the angle of the picture from its original version and boosted the pink colors in it to make it really stand out strongly with high contrast.  The last picture I took of the Vietnam War Memorial with the Washington Monument in the far distance.  I thought this one was especially special because of how I captured both of these very significant things in one photograph.  I changed the original picture to sepia and then played with the colors to really make monument and the clouds stick out in the back.  I also wanted to really show the reflection that the wall has of all of the things in front of it.

In Class Speeches.

After giving my speech in class today and watching everyone else give there's as well I learned quite a few new things.  I learned about the organization of a slide and which ones were more appealing than others.  The key thing I learned was to never stretch and/or distort pictures.. with that being said I will now know never to do that in the future.  I also learned not to use too many words on a visual representation because it can be overwhelming and hard for the viewer to read or interpret.  Lastly, I gathered that you should always make your visual presentation make sense and go with the order in which you are speaking.

Stop Lights...

As I was riding in the car just entering the city of Washington D.C. one thing that was brought to my attention was the fact that the traffic lights that I was seeing were all mounted on a street light post on the right side corner ahead of all the intersections.  I thought this was quite interesting because all of the stop lights on the roads that I am used to driving on have the lights hanging from a telephone wire going across the roadway.  I began to look to see if all the stop lights were like this in the whole city and for what I could tell all the ones that I saw were.  I also noticed there were no telephone wires hanging around anywhere.  I feel like this concept is pleasing to the eye and it gives the city streets an authentic feeling and looks like it fits in.  I however, do not think it is good for safety reasons because I can see where it would be very easy for one to run a red light if they are from out of state because they are not easily seen but more hidden.

Interesting Artwork.

While I was on the class trip to Washington D.C. I visited the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden.  When I was in this museum I found a particular piece of artwork that caught my attention.  It was one of a wall mounted structure that had pink light coming out in between gold squared shaped box like objects.  This was pleasing to me because I really think the color pink is very pretty and particularly this hot pink shade.  I also like how the light and the gold boxes are vertically aligned creating an organized format.  The first thing that came to my mind when approaching this piece was that it reminded me strongly of a Victoria's Secret bag because of the alignment and the color scheme it possesses.