My Culture (a series)

 I am made up of several different nationalities such as Mexican, Hungarian, Polish, and a few others.  I have been to Hungary twice in my life and that is where most of my relatives are born and raised.  When I first heard about this assignment I wished I could've used the photos I took of my family while in Hungary.  They have such a strong sense of culture there, it is amazing.  As I thought more and more about what I should photograph that represents my family's culture I realized that we don't have nearly any cultural traditions.  There's always the occasional Hungarian meal or a dinner at our favorite German restaurant, but there's no particular god we pray to and there's definitely no strict dress code we have that reflects our culture.  All of these factors put me at a loss as to what to shoot.  I knew that food is a huge part of any kind of family traditions we have so I decided to focus on that aspect.  In the long run I decided to shoot my three brothers from my dad's side of the family and their eating habits.  You could say that the way my dad is raising my brothers and I is the "typical American" way.  Sometimes he'll cook dinner but in most cases we dine out.  Fast food is key to so many mouths to feed, it's cheap, easy, and tasty!  Because of this way of bringing us up, we all have quite the sweet tooth.  The kitchen is filled with name brand sweets.  I feel really strongly about this aspect of my American culture.  I believe it is as valid as anyone else's more "traditional" culture.
  I decided to put everything but my brothers and any food item in grayscale.  I did this so that the focus wouldn't be on the rather colorful background that my dad's house seems to have.  The focus is strictly on the children and their junk food of choice.  All of these photographs are not posed.  I informed my brothers that I would be taking their pictures but I needed them to just ignore the camera.  This was successful in each picture except for the one of Cody in the kitchen next to several boxes of cereal.  Despite the obviousness of his camera shyness in this photograph, I still liked the message it sent because it is the most colorful box of cereal in that kitchen and he chose it.  Advertisement towards younger kids at it's finest.  Each food item my brothers snacked on were ones of their choice, I had no influence among them.
  My brothers are J.J. (8 years old), Cody (5 years old), and Dylan (1 year old).  I feel like their ages are significant with what they are eating.  They have no desire to pick a healthy choice like an apple because who can reject a cherry slurpee?

Timeline: Firsts in Photography

We had to pick significant times in photography history that were all apart of the same theme.  For example, Kayleigh and I chose the firsts in photography, meaning we focused on all of the very first significant times in photography.  On our timeline we have the first camera phone, the first photograph with a person in it, et cetera.  This was a fun assignment because we were able to express our creativity through the arts and crafts side of making the timeline.  We made a fold-able that is in the shape of a number one and stuck to a black and white color scheme.  This assignment was different from our others because we did not have to take any pictures and we had to research what our project was featuring.

Portrait

The assignment was to take a portrait in natural lighting with a model that was not posing.  This assignment was rather easy for me because taking portraits often require being well-acquainted with the model so that they feel comfortable being photographed without posing.  This was an easy task because I am best friends with my model and have known her for several years now.  I chose the location in front of the front office where the little garden is because I wanted a somewhat neutral yet interesting background.  I feel like the tree behind her achieved this.  Also, it was sort of difficult to find nice looking natural lighting where the sun or the shade wasn't overbearing around campus.  I enjoyed this assignment because it was easygoing, a bonding experience, and the result came out beautifully if I do say so myself.

Strobe

This photo assignment was fun but also rather difficult.  There was so much freedom given to us to decide who we wanted to photograph, where we wanted to take the photographs, and how we wanted to capture part of the essence of SCPA.  All of these freedoms were greatly appreciated because it offered a great outlook for each of our artistic expressions.  These freedoms were also hard to manage because we had to just leap into the project head first without any concrete rules.
Working with the strobe was very interesting.  It was neat to see how many different looks we could get with that source of lighting.
My group and I chose to shoot in the scene shop in the Grand Theatre.  We all agreed on this location because we wanted to represent the technical theatre aspect of SCPA because we felt that this art rarely gets any credit.  This location worked well for our photographs because there is so much to look at which keeps the onlooker interested without feeling overwhelmed.  This location was perfect for representing the building aspect of the technical theatre art.  It represents the chaos, dirty, and artistic sides of stagecraft.

A portrait is a depiction of ones personality captured within a photo. The photographer has to develop a relationship with the model in order to pull out their true feelings. It must convey an emotion in order to keep the viewer captivated in the actual photo.

A portrait captures the true essence of the model and are often very valuable and sentimental to both photographer and the model.

Photoshop Tutorials

Reflection

      In the first photograph, I altered the image by using stamps that appealed me.  I chose the colors of the stamps because they were all along the lines of my favorite colors.  Also, the colors I chose I found in the colors of my shirt and the colors of my hair.  I enjoyed using the brushes in Photoshop.  I was fascinated  by the amount of different brush heads that the program had to offer.  I believe that in the future I won't use as many brushes in one image.  I like the idea of slightly enhancing the picture but not to the point where the viewer can tell the image was enhanced, like this photograph.

      In the second photograph, I used the softening tool.  This tool is used to blend in blemishes with the rest of the model's skin and give the picture an overall soft/airbrushed look.  I really liked learning how to use this tool because I believe it is one of the most useful tools Photoshop has.  Despite how great the final product looks, the process getting there is slightly tedious and time consuming.  I don't mind this process but it definitely isn't simple.  I'll need to practice more with softening images in order to remember all the steps of the process. 

Photo booth Assignment: Self-Portrait

Reflection


I really enjoyed working on this project.  It was fun yet surprisingly difficult to come up with alter egos for myself.  I liked being able to have simple and straight forward self-portraits.  Each portrait gives a glimpse of some of my personalities and traits.  I was really excited to work for this assignment and I am very pleased with the outcome.

Fourth Assignment: Studio Lighting

Reflection

Describe - What do you see?:

I see a young woman looking down at her hands.  Her hands are touching and her fingers are spread apart.  She has long dark colored hair and a lightly colored shirt on.  Her hands are closer compared to the rest of her body.  The left half of her body and the bottom of her right hand is in shadow.  The background is mostly black.  This photograph is figurative because it is obvious that there is a young woman looking at her hands in the picture.

Analyze - How is the work organized?
There are several clear and distinct shapes in this photograph such as the subject's hands, right arm, and head.  The subject is in focus which was done intentionally because this was a figurative portrait.  There are few tones in this photograph.  There is black and grey but very little white.  There is a disticnt contrast between the background and the subject's face and right arm.  However, the left half of her body blends in with the background and her hands somewhat contrast and blend with the background.  This was all done intentionally because I wanted half of the subject to have one tone and the other half of the subject to have a polar opposite tone.

Interpret - What is the artist trying to communicate?
This photograph was taken indoors with studio lighting.  I believe the photograph has a nice balance between being dark and light.  While photographing the subject, I wanted the image to look one way on one half and a different way on the othe half.  I believe this was successful because the light hits the subject on the right side which leaves the left side engulfed in shadow.  This photograph represents the two sides to everyone's conscience.  The lighter half of this photograph represents the innocent side of the subject's conscience, and the darker half of this photograph represents the mischievious side of the subject's conscience.  The young woman is looking down at her hands with an expression of contemplation on her face.  Since hands have always symbolized action and power to me, this photograph represents a young woman at a loss of what now to do, torn between her innocence and her daredevilry.

Judge - What do you think of the work?
I believe this photograph was successful.  Not only did I use studio lighting correctly in order to have one half of the subject's body lit and the other half in shadow, I represented what I wanted to communicate with the lighting and the subject's body language and facial expression.  I ended up cropping a portion of the bottom of the original photograph because I felt it didn't add anything to what I wanted to represent through the photograph.  I believe this was a good decision that benefitted the final production.  I really enjoyed studio lighting and I would love to use it again so I could produce more raw portraits of people's faces, rather than having their body in the photograph.

Sixth Assignment: Photoshop

Reflection

I have mixed feelings about this assignment.  I liked the idea of combining two different photographs in order to create one.  I had to get the creative flow going in order to decide which images I wanted to combine and why.
As I was browsing through the photograph options, I settled on the picture of the castle as soon as I saw it.  I am fascinated with architecture and photographs of castles always grab me.  I wanted to find a landscape photograph that I could blend the castle with easily.
I am not an expert at using Photoshop or even moderately knowledgeable with the program, so I found certain tools were difficult to use and trying to undo something proved to be an epic challenge.  Despite these bumps in the road while working on this assignment, I look forward to editing images and getting to know the program more.

Third Assingment: Stop Action

Reflection

Describe - What do you see?:

I see a young woman lying on the ground.  Her eyes are closed and her hands are up in the air.  There are leaves falling.  The model's right hand and the leaves are very close.  Her body and ground are somewhat far away.  This photograph is figurative because it is apparent that the young woman is lying down and either throwing or catching leaves.

Analyze - How is the work organized? 

There are clear shapes like the model's hand and fingers as well as the leaf that is most in focus.  The majority of the photograph is not in focus.  This was done intentionally.  I specifically focused on the motion of the leaves and hands because I wanted to show stop action.  There are many different tones of black and white in this photograph.

Interpret - What is the artist trying to communicate?

This photograph was taken outdoors in order to communicate the playfulness of the outside.  Yet the image is more dark than it is light.  This tone represents the joy in solidarity.  The model is throwing leaves in the air and has a smile on her face.  She is happy to be playing outdoors.

Judge - What do you think of the work?

This photograph was successful in what I was trying to communicate to the audience because of the expression on the model's face and what she is doing.  I am still torn about whether or not I like this photograph.  It is a little odd, yet intriguing.  I really like the focus of her right hand and the leaves but I'm unsure about how much I like the rest of the photograph.  It gives off a mysterious vibe which I kind of like but also am unsure about.

Second Assignment: Depth of Field

Reflection
Describe - What do you see?:
I see a young woman standing in front of a cluster of treetops.  She is gazing up towards the sky and has a subtle smile on her face.  The background is filled with various treetops.  The trees appear very far off into the distance and the young woman appears taller.  The work is abstract because the young woman is elongated and the background is nothing but a collage of leaves.


Analyze - How is the work organized?

This photograph consists of various tones of black and gray.  The background is intentionally not in focus in order to show depth of field.  However, the model is unintentionally slightly out of focus.

Interpret - What is the artist trying to communicate?
I believe the model is not light enough.  Her face somewhat blends in with the background because of how dark she and the background appear.  This photograph was taken outdoors during the day.  I was trying to capture the spirit of the model herself.  I want the audience to look at this photograph and see how the outdoors brings the young woman a sense of contentment and security.

Judge - What do you think of the work?
I believe that the message communicated was successful because the model is looking at the nature surrounding her and has a subtle smile on her face.  However, I do not like this photograph.  The tone of the photograph was too gray for my liking.  I wanted the model to have more light on her face and I wanted the background to have a higher contrast between blacks and whites.