[Last modified: October, 28 2024 10:40 AM]
Fieldnotes
This weekend I have a travel to Leeds by train. It is a good chance for me to have an observation and take notes in the train car with crowded people.
At begin, my attention was attracted by a family sitting beside us. A young parent and a little boy with a colorful sweater. As soon as they sat down, the man pulled out a deck of playing cards from his backpack and organized a game with his wife and child. His wife looked more reserved and gentler compared to him, and most of the time she just smiled. Their son, on the other hand, was always talking. Playing cards seemed to make him a bit quieter. After one round, the father won. The child was not very happy and did not want to continue playing. “I want some food,” he said. “You can buy it yourself,” the father replied. “On which side of the train car?” the child asked as he stood up, but it didn’t look like he was too willing to go by himself. The mother got up and went with him to buy the food.
During this pause, I noticed a group of young girls in the distance, who looked very similar to me. They had black hair, deep eye sockets, thick eyebrows, and brown skin. One of them was making up. A small yellow bag on the table in front of her which seems like carrying the makeups the girl need. She began by taking out a brush, then squeezed some foundation onto her hand and delicately dipped the brush into it to apply the foundation to her face as if she were painting. Next, she retrieved a larger brush and dipped it into translucent powder, sweeping it across her face; I recognized this step as essential for setting the makeup. “This blush is truly exceptional,” she remarked to her friends while extracting a pink cream-like product and applying it to both cheeks. Initially taken aback by this makeup method, I soon found myself admiring how beautifully she blended the blush. The subsequent two steps astonished me even further: instead of using an eyebrow pencil to define her brows, she took out what resembled mascara and brushed upwards several times on them. Furthermore, rather than employing an eyelash curler, she directly applied mascara onto her lashes. To my amazement, every technique that I’m unfamiliar with, she executed resulted in stunning effects on her visage.
Reflection
To be honest, I love observing the world. However, this is the first time for me to take notes when I was observing which is totally different from the previous random observation. I realize that it is hard for me to just keep my mind on the things I observing. My mind always flies away based on the observation. I always have lots of ideas and associate them with the things observed. I feel that taking notes can drag my mind back,