Senior Thesis

For my senior year at Arcadia University, I was tasked with two parts for my thesis. The first, a written essay taking media and communication concepts I have learned throughout my time here, analyzing them, and applying them to a topic of my choice. The second, a creative project of my choosing.

For my essay, I wrote Sporarts: The Artistic Representation of Athleticism, covering the importance of sports photography in the artistic world. I looked at sports photography in the context of the halo effect, as well as using gaze theory to justify my perspectives. I also broke sports photography down into different categories: gender, architecture, and traditional and experimental.

For my creative project, I created a photo essay titled Division III, which showcases the life of a student-athlete at the NCAA Division III level. I chose this for a few reasons, one, because I go to a DIII university, but two, because I see how my classmates live and how different their college experience is from both my own but also any other athletes. I chose such a simple title after being inspired by the photo essay from Alana Paterson, Title IX. I have two printed copies of my photo essay as a photo book, however the only difference between that and my web page is just presentation; the order and collection of the photos are the same, as well as the pairing. Best viewed on laptop/desktop.