Irving ISD Technology Media Fair 2008-2009

Entry Number: 1646 Title: Cemetery Serenity	Category: photography Grade Level: adult
Description: Imagine…going to another country, a country filled with peace and tranquility, where one fills the day stopping at temples, cleansing one’s hands in the local fountain, clapping twice and ringing a bell before praying, then continuing on to the next location. It was my good fortune to visit such a place. My son, after graduating from A&M, accepted a job in South Korea. Over the summer break I went to visit him. As luck would have it Justin’s break was scheduled at the same time as my visit so we managed to take side trips to China and Japan as well. In China we visited the Great Wall and the Terra Cotta Warriors. In Japan we traveled the rails from the southwestern tip to the mid-eastern shoreline, a trip that took several hours. As we admired the scenery outside the train window I began to notice areas with blocks of stones that seemed like tombstones, but I couldn’t be sure. I pointed them out to my son, commenting that I sure would like to visit one of the areas and get a closer look. The next day, we arrived at our destination, Toba, Japan, home of Mikimoto’s first cultured pearl. We walked out of the train station, completely lost, but that feeling added to the adventure. We made a right, attempting to follow some map, written in Japanese of course, which none of us could read. A block or two down the road we discovered a trail that went up a mountain covered in local fauna, so up we went. After we finally get to the top, (imagine walking at least five stories, a small landing to catch your breath and then two more stories), we found a scenic overlook of the harbor and rang the ‘Bell of Happiness.’ As beautiful as it was we finally decided to leave. At first I thought we would go back the way we came so we wouldn’t get lost. My companions, Justin and Meredith, had other ideas. We went down a trail that led to the other side of the mountain. At the end of the trail was a Buddhist temple with a cemetery, one of the biggest we had seen yet. Japanese traditions are very different from my own and the cemetery reflected those differences. The cemetery was surrounded by bamboo and pines as it creeped, section by section, up the mountain side. The tombstones were upright rectangles cut from a grayish marble type rock. There were no graves, cremation is the tradition. All family ashes are buried in the same plot. Some of the tombstones looked like they had been there for hundreds of years, layers of lichen and algae growing on the stone markers. Some of the headstones had carvings or statues of ancient Buddhist gods while others simply displayed Japanese characters, perhaps the family names. It was awe inspiring to walk from section to section, the spirits of generation after generation of ancestral ashes remembered with gifts of water in ceramic cups, fresh flowers left in fine china vases, the scent of sandalwood incense in the air. We easily spent two hours wandering around. When we finally decided to leave, Meredith walked ahead of my son and me. It was easy to do since Justin and I were continuously distracted by the sites. I think seeing the actual crematorium caused us to pause and ponder the differences between two cultures this time. When we moved toward the exit again there was Meredith sitting on the top step staring at the oldest tombstones in the cemetery. When I saw her there I thought, “This is how I feel, entranced and amazed at my surroundings. Out of all the beautiful places I had seen the past three weeks, this moment captured the way I felt through out the entire trip, awed and serene.” Meredith started to stand up so I asked her to stay where she was for a minute. I had to bend at the waist, half way bend the knee, and carefully hold the camera to get the right angle, (standing up was too steep downward and on the ground from behind eliminated the headstones in the background). The picture was of course taken in color. I only used a simple Kodak 5.0 digital camera with a 3x optical zoom and a 4x digital zoom. For this picture I didn’t use any of the extra features included with the camera. I did use a site called Photobucket to make changes to my picture. I felt that changing the photo to black and white brought out the solemn serenity of the cemetery. Adding the border helps the viewer to focus on the beauty and wonder the temple and Buddhist markers. Using Photobucket was a first time experience for me and I would recommend it to others. I was able to pick and chose from a large variety of changes from adding borders, cropping, changing colors, etc. It was a lot of fun exploring and playing with some of the features, but in the end I only chose to change from a color picture to black and white and add the black oval border. To me that was all the enhancements this picture needed. Picture taken by: Rhonda Dominguez, 8-1-2008, in Toba, Japan at a Buddhist cememtery. The young lady in the picture is Meredith Pinto.

Entry Number: 1646
Title: Cemetery Serenity

Category: photography
Grade Level: adult

Description: Imagine…going to another country, a country filled with peace and tranquility, where one fills the day stopping at temples, cleansing one’s hands in the local fountain, clapping twice and ringing a bell before praying, then continuing on to the next location. It was my good fortune to visit such a place. My son, after graduating from A&M, accepted a job in South Korea. Over the summer break I went to visit him. As luck would have it Justin’s break was scheduled at the same time as my visit so we managed to take side trips to China and Japan as well. In China we visited the Great Wall and the Terra Cotta Warriors. In Japan we traveled the rails from the southwestern tip to the mid-eastern shoreline, a trip that took several hours. As we admired the scenery outside the train window I began to notice areas with blocks of stones that seemed like tombstones, but I couldn’t be sure. I pointed them out to my son, commenting that I sure would like to visit one of the areas and get a closer look. The next day, we arrived at our destination, Toba, Japan, home of Mikimoto’s first cultured pearl. We walked out of the train station, completely lost, but that feeling added to the adventure. We made a right, attempting to follow some map, written in Japanese of course, which none of us could read. A block or two down the road we discovered a trail that went up a mountain covered in local fauna, so up we went. After we finally get to the top, (imagine walking at least five stories, a small landing to catch your breath and then two more stories), we found a scenic overlook of the harbor and rang the ‘Bell of Happiness.’ As beautiful as it was we finally decided to leave. At first I thought we would go back the way we came so we wouldn’t get lost. My companions, Justin and Meredith, had other ideas. We went down a trail that led to the other side of the mountain. At the end of the trail was a Buddhist temple with a cemetery, one of the biggest we had seen yet. Japanese traditions are very different from my own and the cemetery reflected those differences. The cemetery was surrounded by bamboo and pines as it creeped, section by section, up the mountain side. The tombstones were upright rectangles cut from a grayish marble type rock. There were no graves, cremation is the tradition. All family ashes are buried in the same plot. Some of the tombstones looked like they had been there for hundreds of years, layers of lichen and algae growing on the stone markers. Some of the headstones had carvings or statues of ancient Buddhist gods while others simply displayed Japanese characters, perhaps the family names. It was awe inspiring to walk from section to section, the spirits of generation after generation of ancestral ashes remembered with gifts of water in ceramic cups, fresh flowers left in fine china vases, the scent of sandalwood incense in the air. We easily spent two hours wandering around. When we finally decided to leave, Meredith walked ahead of my son and me. It was easy to do since Justin and I were continuously distracted by the sites. I think seeing the actual crematorium caused us to pause and ponder the differences between two cultures this time. When we moved toward the exit again there was Meredith sitting on the top step staring at the oldest tombstones in the cemetery. When I saw her there I thought, “This is how I feel, entranced and amazed at my surroundings. Out of all the beautiful places I had seen the past three weeks, this moment captured the way I felt through out the entire trip, awed and serene.” Meredith started to stand up so I asked her to stay where she was for a minute. I had to bend at the waist, half way bend the knee, and carefully hold the camera to get the right angle, (standing up was too steep downward and on the ground from behind eliminated the headstones in the background). The picture was of course taken in color. I only used a simple Kodak 5.0 digital camera with a 3x optical zoom and a 4x digital zoom. For this picture I didn’t use any of the extra features included with the camera. I did use a site called Photobucket to make changes to my picture. I felt that changing the photo to black and white brought out the solemn serenity of the cemetery. Adding the border helps the viewer to focus on the beauty and wonder the temple and Buddhist markers. Using Photobucket was a first time experience for me and I would recommend it to others. I was able to pick and chose from a large variety of changes from adding borders, cropping, changing colors, etc. It was a lot of fun exploring and playing with some of the features, but in the end I only chose to change from a color picture to black and white and add the black oval border. To me that was all the enhancements this picture needed. Picture taken by: Rhonda Dominguez, 8-1-2008, in Toba, Japan at a Buddhist cememtery. The young lady in the picture is Meredith Pinto.

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EL	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	4	5
B & W excels the dark side. Long write up on a long and emotional trip.

Sharon Dressel	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5
This entry reflects the creativity and the depth of the photographer. It is an unusual setting that calls to mind a subject that may strike fear into the hearts of some here in this country but that is approached with a different philosophy and mindset in the Japanese culture. Excellent choice of subject and setting!

melloyellocat	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5
Black and white enhances the feeling in the photograph. Good choice!

JD	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5
Excellent work!

RD	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5
Photo exhibits emotion, could be serene or lonely or sad.

MML	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5
A unique, creative and artistic approach created an incredible photo.

	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5
What an awesome photo! I love your choice of B/W and the oval border. Well done!