"Tell the audience what you're going to say, say it; then tell them what you've said."
- Dale Carnegie
As I approached this journal, I struggled to understand the difference between audience invoked, and audience addressed. Reflecting on past work made me realize that I only think of the audience invoked. I do not enjoy sharing my work with others, so pretending only the audience invoked views my work is easiest when I publish something. This course has been one of my first experiences with the audience addressed; teachers, peers, and any ePortfolio viewers are now reading my work.
To familiarize myself with the two concepts, I reflected on past instances where I may have encountered an act of communication with both terms. As a photographer, I have people who contact me to do photoshoots such as family portraits, senior pictures, engagement photos, etc. Photographers are artists, so when choosing a photographer, always look at their portfolios to see if you like the vision and creativity of their photos. Some photographers will take pictures based on the inspiration you have provided them with, while some may not. There have been instances where I have taken pictures for someone, and they did not like their look. I am not opposed to editing photos differently, but I do not like to stray from my vision in the staging or shooting process. Luckily, I have only encountered issues with clients relating to the final editing look and not staging or shot position. This is an instance of the audience invoked, and the audience addressed unaligned. I edited the pictures according to my style and vision, not how the client wanted the photos to look.
As a writer and photographer, the audience I intend to view my work is rarely the addressed audience. When it comes to photography, I like to experiment with clothing, makeup, staging, editing, and angles. I know that my work will not align with every client's vision, but I try my best to incorporate both parties' ideas. Unlike photography, I rarely write something intended for someone else. I write for myself so that I can improve my skill. Although I wish I experimented more with writing, I like to write in styles that I am comfortable with. I hope that I can eventually start experimenting and writing things I would consider out of the box.
I hope I never let the audience, whether invoked or addressed, affect my writing. While the work should pertain or relate to the topic at hand, it should never change due to fear of what the audience might think. Without authenticity and creativity, all writing would sound similar. My unintentional disregard for the audience in past works was established due to my fear of what others might think. Now that I have more awareness of different audiences that may read my work, I will consider how different audiences shape my work.
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