People are the cause of their own death, people make their own choices in life and no matter what choices one makes they will without a doubt lead to their death. It is who people are around that has an influence on what types of choices people make, who people spend their time around has an influence on their character. And peoples true character is shown when they think they aren’t being seen, when images are captured of them in that moment it shows. Images can give one insight as to what happens in the moments before it was taken to the moment it was taken and after it was captured. Images can tell the story of the beginning of a life to the end of a life and the following images each have their own story they tell.

Image one features a snub-nose revolver that has been marked as evidence in a crime. Many criminals carry these because of the key word “concealable”. The picture shows nothing but the ground, evidence marker, and the weapon. The evidence marker signifies that some crime has been committed and the gun was involved. Something like a robbery, or a gang shooting, or it was used in self-defense. The ground is completely clear of anything besides the two objects suggesting something that you expect to happen in a crime scene, like a car wreck or someone being injured, may not have happened. The weapon appears to have no owner in sight which could possibly mean they were taken away, arrested or shot. The lack of evidence as to what happened in this picture creates a sense of mystery, making someone wonder what happened? What was the gun used for? Or where is the owner? This mystery is what makes this image powerful. 

Image two is a picture of a news stations coverage of an incident where a man was shot for brandishing a weapon in public, terrorizing a community. The headline on the screen tells some of the story for the viewer, possibly the question most people ask is answered just by reading the headline “Police shoot man in mission bay.” The man in the image does not appear to have any gear other than the pistol he is holding which suggests that he did not go out that day with the intention of shooting people. The man also does not appear to be taking on an aggressive posture or pointing the gun at anyone so he may not have the intent of killing anyone at that moment. The image explains itself because most of the information one would look for is give, the only piece of information not given is the reason the man is holding a weapon out in public. 

Picture three, This image shows a young man taking a picture of himself in front of a mirror while pointing a handgun at the mirror. This image really speaks for itself, the picture just screams stupid. The person in this picture is holding a weapon and pointing it at a mirror to take a picture of himself. It is can be assumed the person in this picture has no legitimate training with firearms because they have their finger on the trigger of the gun while pointing it in an unsafe direction. Most likely the reason behind taking this picture was that the person thought it would make him look cool if he had a gun, and wanted to show off. 

Picture number four shows rioters standing around and on top of a car, kicking and attempting to tip it over. In this image the man on top of the vehicle has a bandana on his head and around his face, probably so he cannot be identified later and arrested for what he did. He is also on his phone most likely videotaping what is happening to post on social media in order to gain some popularity. There is a man on the left side of the image who appears to be kicking the vehicle, so one could assume that their goal in what they are doing is solely to cause as much damage as possible to this one car. The men in the background look like they are not doing anything to stop what is going on but are cheering on the people pushing the car over. There does not appear to be any indicator in the image as to why these people would be destroying this vehicle, but based on recent news it could be assumed that it is taking place during a riot after one of the recent police shootings.

Image number five shows a large group of people who appear to be in a standoff with police forces, the center of attention is a young man who appears to either be encouraging the protestors or attempting to calm them. The civilians on the right side of the image do not appear to be doing anything violent, nor are they holding signs or other indicators as to what their reason is for gathering. The police on the left side are in riot gear, which means they expect for this demonstration to turn violent just as they did in places like Ferguson. All of the people in the image seem to be very calm not causing any trouble or harm, except for the man in the center. The man in the center of the picture could either be attempting to talk to the people on the right to keep them calm, or he could be trying to get the people to become violent. The image seems to surround and focus on the one man in the middle, bringing him to the center of attention like a speaker at a convention or something. 

Image six shows myself and my shooting squad at a youth shooting event last year, as well as our coach. The main idea of this picture is the idea and practice of gun safety, each person in this image is properly handling their weapon so there is no risk of injury. The person in the gray jacket and the person in the camouflaged jacket both have break-barrel shotguns, the action on each of these two weapons is open so the weapon has no way of firing. Also both of the people have the barre pointed in a safe direction. The person on the left (me) has the barrel of the weapon pointed upward in a safe direction so if the weapon goes off no one will be hurt, and the action of the weapon is open with no shell inside. At the even this photograph was taken at safety is the number one concern which is why the people in this picture are handling the guns as they are. 

Image number seven is an image of just myself. In this image you can see the shooter is wearing protection and practicing safe techniques for gun use. The shooter is wearing both hearing and eye protection which is required for official shooting events. He is inside a shooters box which is a specific place shooters stand at events when it is their turn to shoot, beyond which nobody is allowed once the event has begun.

The final image is of a national skeet shooting competition in Sparta Illinois, this event is held every year where hundreds of teens from all over the country come to one place and shoot. In this picture shooters from several different states can be seen lining up at the opening ceremony to the competition. Despite these young men and women being from different states and different backgrounds there is no apparent violence in the image and everyone seems to be getting along. Along the top of the image is a building in which the clay throwing machines are housed, shooters line up next to this building and the target is thrown out of a door in the side for the competitor to shoot. This image shows the atmosphere at these events well, they are typically friendly with no problems between people. 

It is what people are around that determines how they will act in the future. The people in image four and five are acting the way they are because they are in a large group and the people around them are doing the same thing, while the people in image five aren’t acting violently it is a group of them influencing one another. The same idea goes for pictures six, seven, and eight, in pictures six and seven the people are behaving in a safe manner and practicing safe handling of their weapons. In picture eight everyone seems to be acting generally friendly towards each other or not bothering each other because they are around people doing the same. 
