What’s Your Meaning of Life?

This assignment is focused around photography and how it is used in Journalism. We used four different camera techniques for this project which include lighting, aperture, shutter speed, and the rule of thirds. The rule of thirds can either make or break a picture, depending on how visually appealing it is and how you’re trying to focus or center you subject. Through these photos and the interview we are having with this person, we are answering the question, “What’s the meaning of life”. Through this interview, my friend answers the question along with other ideas about his meaning of life.



I started the interview off by asking my friend, Ben Dealy what his happiest moment in life is. He thought about this question long and hard and I told him not to think too much. He kept scratching his head and rubbing his chin until he found some memories from the back of his head.

“Well, when I was little it was like bliss. I wasn’t thinking and I didn’t realize…”

 He trails off again while he thinks about a moment he didn’t take for granted and mentions the first time he saw me upset. He connects that moment to the feeling of youth, stating, “I got really sad and I just felt like a little kid”. Ben starts to tear up a bit as he remembers this. Growing out of youth but having the feelings of youth remain made him emotional. Time also makes people feel emotional because everything can move so fast and it can be hard to find meaning in anything that flies by.

When we were together over the summer, I had to go back home to Chicago while he had to stay in Cambridge, MA. After telling him that I had to go home early, we had limited time together and it made us both incredibly upset. The feeling of going when you just want to stay so bad made us both feel like little kids. It can be compared to seeing your favorite cousins as a child and then having to go home when it gets too late. These experiences gave him meaning because, “you can't take some people for granted”, and you have to enjoy every moment that you have with them no matter how fast time moves. Ben felt that he never really found meaning in life until he met me because I filled a gap that he had since he was really young. He found meaning through his youth and the people who changed his life. Again, time is a big part of youth because we don’t appreciate the moments we spend as kids. We also have a different perception of time when we’re young. As an adult, time feels like it moves really fast but as a child, a year can feel like 3 years. There’s a feeling that you will never see someone again when they walk away from you as a kid and experiences like that are a lot more heartbreaking and sentimental.

Ben also speaks about how graduating gave his life meaning. He says, “I finally felt like I reached… the Ben I wanted to be and it just ended right there. And I felt like I was left with a lot of regrets.”

When he finally graduated and it was announced, everyone threw their hats in the air and it felt weird and unnatural to him because he was in high school for 4 years, but also it went by so fast. He knew that his life was starting and he didn’t know exactly where to start. He describes this as, “Getting a Lego set without the instructions” because after high school there isn’t any real structure anymore. Ben learned that without structure you have to guide yourself and create the structure yourself because no one else will do it for you.

After asking Ben if he thinks everyone has a meaning of life, he gives me this simple but beautiful answer, “People are always questioning themselves of what their meaning of life is and that’s where people f*** up. I think the meaning of life is what you make and what’s in it. Maybe there is a big scale meaning to life that we just don’t know because we’re little people.”
Ben stops talking and thinks for a long period of time on this question and finishes it with, “I don’t think everyone does, no.”

I then asked him, “What is something that you think everyone lives for?” and he says, “I know it sounds corny… but I think everyone does live for love once they have it. It could be in a person or a thing.” In summary, Ben believes that the true meaning of life is love. Without love, life hurts. And with love, life hurts. But when we’re in love or love something, it makes people want to live and thrive for that love. Although it can be the worst emotional pain you ever experience, it feels better to have that person or thing rather than not have them at all. Love is the best kind of pain you can face in your life.

I wanted to capture Ben in his most vulnerable moments. The picture of him holding up his baby picture is a photo he gave to me. I found it in my room and took a photo of his expression towards the photo. That picture of him represents his youth. The two other photos represent him in a deep or emotional thought.

I used a pretty normal shutter speed for the first photo because he was still and the lighting adjusted on its own because I was using my I Phone XR camera, not an actual camera where I can adjust the lighting or shutter speed. On my I Phone camera, I don't have many options except for filters and size of photo, but for the last two photos, I used a slower shutter speed on my phone camera by gently pressing down on the photo button and it created a blurry effect. Here, the lens is allowing more light to enter it. For a moving image that looks still in the photo, a faster shutter speed is needed. Less light enters in the lens when the shutter speed is faster. On the I Phone, I pressed down on the button harder to get a faster shutter speed. I used a faster speed in the image where he is lying down, because it captures it when he is just hitting the bed.

For example, I probably used 1/60 or 1/250 shutter speed for the picture of him lying down, but for the blurry image, it’s possible the shutter speed was 1/8.

In the first photo, I’m not using natural lighting and barely adjusted the lighting on my phone, so it was a bit duller than the last two photos. There was more natural sunlight coming in from my window, creating a brighter effect in the photos.

A wider aperture on your camera creates a shadow depth effect, focusing on one subject and making farther or surrounding images appear unfocused. A narrower aperture focuses the subject, creating a deeper depth. In the camera, when the diagram is opening it brings in light. The size of this opening will regulate the amount of light that travels through the lens. 

I made sure all of my photos were focused because I wanted people to see the subject fully and where he was. I didn't want anything to be out of focus.

When I was taking these photos I wasn’t exactly thinking of the rule of thirds, but it still applies to all photos. I wanted all of the photos to be in focus so I use the camera to draw the viewers to him. When he is falling and then lying in the middle of the bed, he’s in the center of the photo rather than being seen on the side.