I’ve been getting pretty deep into the abstract with this one. There are so many connections I want to convey with this. I hate to explain them because I feel it will leave no room for interpretation. But then again, I doubt that anyone will really go into depth thinking and researching about this one...... so I will offer some of my main thoughts about this:

1. Asa Griggs Candler was a business entrepreneur who bought Coca-Cola company from its creator John Pemberton. Candler went on to bring the Coca-Cola company great success because of his huge push to utilize advertising in pushing this product.

2. I chose this way of composition to convey a more modern approach to advertising. More aesthetically minimal. A more pure form of the product. This is a photograph of a vending machine which I find so pleasing to look at, especially at night. For me (as a photographer) I tend to notice ordinary things like this and I find it to look extraordinary. Although this attraction to the aesthetics of this.......... machine is on a conscience cognitive level for me, I think that the normal consumer takes this in at a more subconscience level but it is just as attractive to them (they are just not as aware of it.) Advertising relies on this subconscience level of thinking that quietly yells out “BUY ME!!!” It is so natural and they know that, and they use it against us. And it works....... amazingly well too...... if it didn’t work then there would not be millions spent every year on advertising.

3. Keeping the sub-conscience in mind I think of Freud, the father of the psychoanalytical field of psychology, filled with theories of the sub-conscience and many of concepts that directly affect the advertising industry. Now if you can follow me deeper into the abyss you can see Candler as the father of psychoanalytical advertising. When I think of advertising, I think immediately of the soft drink industry.

4. As a kid I used to down Coca-Cola and Pepsi on a daily basis. At least two a day. A few years ago I started drinking water instead. Now when I drink soda/pop/coke I feel horrible. It coats my throat and irritates it. My teeth are also coated in an uncomfortable way. After I drink it I have to brush my teeth and drink water to try to purify me. But yet I still feel a draw to drink it every once and a while. It’s weird because I don’t particularly like the taste of it either. It’s an interesting battle and it parallels so many things in life that are like this. Like money and wealth, I’ve never heard of anyone being content with what they have, even if they have everything...... it seems that people who have fame and fortune seem to have some of the most problems. I heard a sermon this weekend that talked about chasing after the wind. That all these tangible objects in this world will never completely satisfy a person. That we need to rely on Jesus for satisfaction and stay on God’s path. There was a very interesting story about a famous sportswriter named Gary Smith who interviewed the boxer Mohammed Ali not too long ago. Ali granted an interview with the sportswriter at Ali’s home. But when the reporter got there Ali was just silent and didn’t really respond to the reporters questions.... but he did lead the reporter out to his barn which was filled with pictures and memorabilia from his fighting days. Ali took a look at one of his framed pictures and then turned it upside down and set it back on the self. He then walked outside and mumbled something....... the sportswriter asked him if he could repeat what he had just said because he couldn’t hear him. And Ali said, “I had the world........... and it wasn’t nothing. Look now.”