The Pen in Photography

In this picture of the laptop the iPhone and the pen I wanted to explore the practicality of the pen as a common tool. By having the picture taken with all of this relatively new technology I wanted to emphasize the fact that the pen is a tool that will continue to be used even when you can perform the task that the pen can do with other equipment because the pen is more practical and it is far less expensive than the iPhone or the laptop. I personally found that by exploring my idea visually helped to reinforce the understanding that I had that the pen was a very common tool because as I was taking the pictures I always felt like the pen was out of place and that it should be removed from the picture altogether because it wasn’t very special and it seemed very strange for this pen to be the focus of the picture. The process I used to take the picture was that I used the laptop as a background and the iPhone as a means to prop up the pen so that it could be seen and basically spent the rest of the time rearranging the three objects and taking pictures until I was satisfied with what I had. The exploration was not particularly helpful in moving me forward towards the next iteration because I had already mapped out what the measurements for the pen were going to be.

In the next pictures you can see all the components of the finished pen that were 3D printed and also those parts that could not be 3D printed such as the reservoir and the spring.

With the pictures of the factory and the Guatemalan garbage dump I hope to convey what I am trying to fight against by making such a thing as a printable pen open to the public. I decided to choose the Guatemalan garbage dump over the floating trash island because I have more of a connection to it since I visited it through a program I was in.

Inman, Phillip. “Fear of Slowdown in US and Eurozone as China’s Factories Cut Output.” Fear of Slowdown in US and Eurozone as China’s Factories Cut Output. The Guardian, 24 Mar. 2014. Web. 16 Nov. 2014.

Water Charity. “Filter Project for Garbage Dump Workers of Guatemala.” Water Charity. Water Charity, 1 Jan. 2014. Web. 16 Nov. 2014.

“Hand-writing | Arthur D. Simons Center.” Arthur D Simons Center. Arthur D. Simons Center, 28 July 2010. Web. 16 Nov. 2014.

And finally through the composite photo I hope to convey how I want my pen to be used. Although my Photoshop skills are very poor I do think I did a pretty good job of it.