Fears

According to the dictionary fear is the distressing emotion aroused by impending danger, evil or pain whether the threat is real or imagined. Fear causes apprehension and dread. Some people are afraid of things like spiders or heights. Others are afraid of losing the people close to them or death. Some people have phobias, extreme fears. Sometimes we do not recognize our fears until we are forced to face them. Many people that I tried to photograph said they did not have any fears until I brought some things up. A lot of people did not want to admit their fears to me because saying them makes them too real or because they did not feel comfortable exposing that part of themselves to me.

Necrophobia: fear of death

Gabby was the first and only person who admitted being afraid of death. She explained to her that death meant leaving her life and her friends and family behind. Not knowing what happens after death whether you go to heaven, hell, are reincarnated or are nothing no one knows for sure, despite what our personal religion tells us.

Apiphobia: fear of bees

Lexys, junior, is very afraid of bees. She has never been stung by one but she is afraid that she will be. Once she had an opportunity to do a beekeeping activity but she could not do it because she was so afraid of the bees so she had to stay in the van while her peers were able to do beekeeping with a professional.

Ophidiophobia: fear of snakes

Dimitriy is a first year student at Siena. he suffers from a crippling fear of snakes. He never had any traumatizing experience with them. He just thinks they look scary and they can kill people in many different ways. Snakes are one of the most common fears that people have. Many people believe that this is because they have no legs, scales, long tongues and beady eyes. Another reason people are afraid of snakes are because many have long fangs that can bite you or poison you to death. Some snakes like boa constrictors squeeze their prey to death. When Dimitriy was asked what he would do if he were confronted with a snake, he replied that he would set the whole building on fire.

Arachnophobia: fear of spiders

 Arachnophobia is another one of the most common fears. People are afraid of spiders more than anything else in the whole world. In fact, so many people I tried to take pictures of were afraid of spiders that I had to settle on one. Even some of the girls who are posted in this project recognized that the other major fear the had was Lauren, a first year transfer student, watched a horror movie called Arachnophobia when she was a young girl and ever since then she has not been able to look at a spider without crying or having to leave

Acrophobia: fear of heights

Haani and a student who wished to remain unidentified are both afraid of heights. Haani is not afraid of flying in planes but he never goes on roller coasters and could not imagine bungee jumping or skydiving. The unidentified student has never even been on a plane. He is worried that because he is in the army, he will have to do activities that will involve heights. He is also anxious about people in the army finding out that he has such a bad fear of heights.

Pediophobia: fear of dolls

 Lydia has been afraid of dolls since she was a little girl. She would always get them as gift and she was not allowed to give them back because it was seen as ungrateful. She hates their creepy stares and their lack of facial reactions and features. When she was younger she thought that they would steal her soul and she never got over it.

Fahima, freshman, is afraid of scary movies. She knows that none of the things that happen in the movies could really happen but they still scare her because of the psychological aspect. The few times she has watched a horror movie she has watched them from behind her hands. Fahima stated that she got this fear when she was very young and she watched a scary movie with some older family members. The movies that freak her out most are not monster movies but movies that involve ghosts, possessions and psychos. Most people have similar reactions. They are not afraid of movies that involve a lot of gore but the movies that make them paranoid, because even though it is unlikely it could happen. There is no name for a fear of scary movies.

There is also no specific name for Tori's fear. Tori is afraid of losing her parents. Her parents are older than a lot of other parents, and she is afraid that they will die before she gets to learn everything she needs to know from them. She also is afraid of losing them because did not have a great relationship with them when she was younger, and now that she is close with them she wants to be able to make up for lost time.

Tyler and Sean, both, had a fear of failure. Sean expressed that he was afraid of never being successful and having a job. He would be disappointed in himself if he never was able to meet the standards he held for himself. Tyler was afraid of trying his hardest and it not being good enough. There were people in his life that he considers failures and he tries his best not to be like them. I think fear of failure is one of the most common phobias people have.