A picture is worth a thousand words

I am a firm believer and personally live by the saying “a picture is worth a thousand words”. These words are the exact reason as to why we have chosen to use photography of students within Rhodes University in order to portray our feature story of student life and the diversity of beings presented on our blogging site.
Rhodes is considered as a very alternative university, catering for a variety of ethnic cultures, as well as beliefs concerning dress codes, habits and personal characteristics, which all constitute for a wide array of imagery, which our blogging site aims to capture and share with students from other varsities that do not experience such lifestyles. These particular happenings experienced within and around campus are common ways of life and home to this particular campus. Such activities include that of stereotypes made about Hippies, Rastafarians and alternative rockers, all of which are less common in other education institutions.

Mirror, mirror on the wall blogging site has been designed by a group of first year journalism students that attend university at Rhodes with intentions of capturing everyday moments and turning them into memories for those who attain a being of this diverse way of living. Our aim is to display these real time photographs on our site and allow for others to take note of and view the typical Rhodes way of life, with reference to the format of dress and culture.
As students of a contemporary lifestyle, we are constantly made aware of the image conscience that goes with our daily appearance, some more so than others. Within the “chilled” environment and nature of Rhodes University, it is evident and that there is a fashion sense that differs among the students and their social output. Photographs used in our site display this particular routine and place emphasis on the assortment created within this diverse institution.
Studying Journalism at this particular university used in the site allows for first hand image resource and has taught us how to portray the media as students of this modern-day way of living, that it is the current format of image and sense that is topical and how we learn through not only ourselves but the people around us, who create the way in which we perceive our surroundings and chose to categorise individuals simply by their physical appearance, which indicates in our minds who we consider them to be. Photography is an expressive way of feeling the emotions and expressing characteristics of this large arrangement of cultures and beliefs. All achieved through the use of image rather than that of words, creating a sense of reality.

Tay Johnston