American Soldier

A. I think the most powerful photo is this one because Ian is in the middle of his training 

and he had an earlier injury that he did not tell the Military about which is costing him. 

B. The images work well together because they all contribute to the story of Ian through the years from when he was training to when he was deployed in Iraq. This also shows the hardships of what he went through that tie into the overall theme. 

C. The captions enhance the photos because they tell a better in depth story of what Ian is going through. The images do tell a good story but they don't fully explain the whole problem. 

D.  Ian Fisher applied to the military and went there right after high school graduation hoping to eventually get deployed in Iraq. Ian was battling a elbow injury during his training and it hurt him terribly through the days. His basic training was happening through June of 2007 and he deployed to Iraq in September of 2008. Fisher went through a phase of drugs but complained to his father that they were just pain medication pills for his elbow but later told the sergeants that he did have a drug problem and they moved him down in rank. Fisher was generally very childish and spent a lot of time goofing around a lot which caused him to get punishments daily.  Fisher was deployed in Iraq for one year and when he got home there was a welcome home celebration in Fort Carson in honor for the soldiers. After his deployment, Ian and his girlfriend Devin got their marriage license and got married hours later. 

E. The tense of which the photos are in is primarily present tense because they use arrives and smiles. 

F. Breaking down the caption: 

1. On average the captions are about 2 sentences long. Some are 3 but it depends on the picture.

2. The information given in the first sentence is talking about the main parts of what is happening in the photo and what the reader should know. 

3. The second sentences provide background information and what happened earlier that is not shown in the photo. 

4. The third sentence is usually a quote of the people that are in the photo. 

5. Many of the captions do have quotes from the main character or people on the picture.  

6. The photo that had 4 sentences was the introductory picture giving general information leading onto the story. 

G. I think it is possible to complete the story with just photos and captions because you don't need a lot to achieve a story that you don't want to have a lot of details with. 

H. It is still good to have a story with extra background information incase the reader wants to learn more.