Arriving early to the International Center of Photography, I strolled by many works of art. There were a couple of pieces that caught my eye before entering John Wood's exhibit. The pieces had a theme of evil vs. good, dark vs. light, red and black vs. white and naturally God vs. the devil. The photos were nicely color coordinated and strongly characterized between the sins of the world, represented with red and black colors, and the good of the world, represented by light beige and white colors.

I didn't expect the photographs to be so raw and powerful. John Wood showed how a "quiet protest" could speak volumes louder than any other. Each of his photographs touches upon a variety of subjects including violence, tragedy of war, nature, and the environment and conveys a message. The first photograph we looked at of John Wood was that of the  gun surrounded by daisies that were made to look like it could be splatters of blood. My eyes were immediately drawn to the gun because of its placement in the center. It had an air of gloominess.

John Wood's pictures were unlike anything I have ever seen. I wasn't in love with them but I understood them. And what's more is I respected him so much for holding himself back as he created his photographs. Let me explain: what I mean by that is John Wood had opinions and he definitely had a message. He was passionate about things. And being an artist, his art was an outlet for him and also a medium through which to spread his message. Knowing this and then seeing what he did through his photos made me really respect him for his restraint.

As I entered the International center of photography on Wednesday afternoon with some of my IDC classmates, I felt a bit out of the loop. As I roamed around the facility trying to find John Woods' exhibit on "Quiet Protest", I felt somewhat artistically uneducated. I looked and stared at many photographs on display, perplexed about what exactly the photographer was trying to convey. I thought to myself that maybe I didn't have the ability to appreciate photography like others did, until I caught a glimpse of certain Avadon fashion photography, which absolutely took my breath away.