OUIL405 Visual Narratives SB1 - The Visual Journalist: Whats the Story?

Shocked by the crazy amount of caffeine-loaded foods i'd seen out and about in the find a seat task, I thought investigating the lure and appeal of them would make a good focus for my research. My original plan was to look specifically at independent cafes in leeds, and how we could promote small business in favour of avoiding more monolithic brands such as Starbucks or Costa - based on my pleasant experience in Mrs Athas; However Fred pointed out that the sheer amount of independent cafes in leeds was a sure fire sign that really - they didn't really need that promotion. There must surely have been a reason so many coffee shops could manage to stay open in such a concentrated area when we're going through such a bad recession?

 When looking into the health benefits and detriments of caffeine, I was expecting to find something similar along the lines of nicotine - in the respect of being horrifically bad for you but one of those things that people couldn't quite seem to kick. However, I was really surprised to find out that if you drink a steady amount of a long term period of years, it's actually meant to have some health benefits. A lot of the downsides of caffeine come from drinking it erratically; because its a drug and its addictive, you have to drink it on a frequent basis, otherwise the withdrawal symptoms synonymous with not drinking caffeine - the headaches, the anxiety, all seem to be amplified.

Again much like nicotine in cigarettes, the caffeine element of most caffeinated drinks isn't really the most harmful element to them most of the time - usually the frightening amounts of sugar, especially in coke and energy drinks have a better chance of poisoning your system than the caffeine would. 

As someone who never drinks energy drinks ever, I chose to drink one and document the effects it had on me through the course of the day after drinking it. I wasn't really expecting much of a difference but after an hour or so I definitely started to notice one - I found it difficult to concentrate, I was talking and doing things with little consideration to them and through a group crit this was pretty much what I didn't need at all. I imagine someone who drank them constantly would be pretty immune to these effects, and I can see why people would drink them to get that kick of energy - but it didn't feel like a healthy sort of energy, I felt like my system was running on some artificial speed it wasn't really ready to handle (which essentially is what energy drinks do) I felt pretty grim and fragile in the aftermath of drinking it. All of this explains why people feel the urge to repeatedly buy and consume these despite them being incredibly unhealthy. 

OUIL405 Visual Narratives SB1 - The Visual Journalist: Find a seat

Our task to kick off this studio brief was to sit in three various places and observe what happened there for an hour, collecting written observations, photographs and any bits of paraphernalia we could pick up around us. For my choices, I picked Mrs Athas - an independant coffee shop I'd been meaning to visit, The Trinity Leeds shopping centre and Leeds University Campus (on the benches out in the courtyard)

Mrs Athas

Mrs Athas was a super nice little independent coffee shop i'd been meaning to visit for a long while. The food and drinks were gorgeous - if not a little on the expensive side. As well as a free pot of red pepper soup (Lauren works as the cook there!) I also managed to score a bunch of decorated napkins that people left behind after their drinks and a little paper bag of coffee beans which was very nice. The experience on the whole was super pleasant and if i'd get a bit more money i'll probably go back again.

Trinity Leeds

Our seat in the trinity centre got changed around a couple of times - firstly by  a security guard, secondly by us as we tried to find somewhere with a bit more life in it. Amusedly - went we moved to the elevatores, we managed to bump into a couple of kids who were up to no good and their friend on look out duty. We didn't manage to figure out what they were doing.

Our final seat for this part of the task was in one of the corridor offshoots from the main centre. Away from the grandeur of the architecture in the main hall, The corridors seemed pretty depressing and a little bit sad. Eventually as time went on a lot more people started to pass through. The majority of people in trinity leeds were either large groups of families, office workers, shopping couples and kids from clearly affluent families strutting about with bags of designer gear. It felt less like a fun place to hang out around and well. More like what a shopping centre typically feels like. It was a much less pleasant place to hang out at compared to Mrs Athas - though I guess you could argue it was definately more broad in the sort of people you found there.

Collection wise, neither me or becky managed to find anything of interest or worth. The cleaners cleared any litter there almost as soon as it dropped and there wasn't anything in the respect of leaflets or information to pick up either. Even though it might not have been the most exciting place to sit in it was arguably very good for seeing the largest range of people from all walks of life.

Leeds University

Walking into the leeds uni campus was almost like walking into another town or some other world. I'd never been around the inside grounds before and had completely underestimated just how huge of a place it really was. The mix of architecture there made it genuinely feel like a back street in york or some such place. 

I'd always known the uni boasted a wide range of people but hadn't realised how much until i'd sat there for an hour and witnessed it. There were several clear examples of clear-cut social stereotypes (who eerily seemed to pack together, wore almost identical wardrobes and walked, talked and gestured in almost the exact same way as each other) but it was also really refreshing to see such a degree of diversity there. A large group of old academics walked down one path, when they were almost barrelled over by three guys on skateboards that looked like they'd just walked out of a grunge revival video.

I think one of the most startling things that me and becky spotted whilst doing this task was the sheer amount of hot caffeinated drinks we'd seen people walking past with. Upon counting, it came to about a total of 30 in an hour which is pretty staggering. when you consider an average grande latte from Starbucks costs around £2.50, thats about £75 quids worth of coffee, all in one concentrated area. No wonder all the coffee shops in the area manage to survive despite the intense competition