Realizing that I had totally forgotten about this second part of the activity until this morning, I decided to do this activity in my office at work. I share the office with two of my coworkers who are also online teachers. It is a small space with 4 desks and the decor truly leaves much to be desired as offices go. However, boring as it is, this office is a big part of my life. I spend 6-7 hours a day here, five days a week. My coworkers are what makes this space one of my favourite places to be. In between our bouts of work, I enjoy occasionally chatting and laughing with them over things that happen at home and on the weekends.
To protect my coworkers’ privacy, I tried as much as possible not to take pictures of them (even though I personally think they make the space!). I found it difficult to find interesting objects around the office to take pictures of and I realized how little I actually pay attention to my surroundings while I am at work.
My favourite picture is the one of my blood test kit next to the jar of Carnation hot chocolate powder. I brought in the hot chocolate mix last year to share with my coworkesr. As a contrast, my blood test kit (for my gestational diabetes) sits next to it. I like this picture because it kind of reminds me of the way life changes as time goes on. Last year my coworkers laughed with me when I delighted in the fact that I could have a cup of hot chocolate with 60% few calories whereas the past couple of week, we have been laughing at how I can’t even eat an apple without worry about the sugar levels in fruit.
Looking through my pictures, I realize that my favourite pictures are the ones that I connect memories with. For example, as a “creative” photo, I took a picture of the calendar on my wall. My coworker gave me the yoga cat calendar last year for Christmas when I first started working at Coquitlam Open Learning. However, just looking at the picture, it is obvious that the emotion is cannot be connected without telling the story. I would like to explore more opportunities to take photos that can communicate emotion without any dialogue.