Artist Statement

In my portfolio, you will find a number of interesting images and artwork that I have worked very hard on for the past year. Most of the photographs that I took or created are somewhat simple and straight to the point. I try not to make my images too cluttered or busy because I believe that the simplest things can be the most beautiful. I feel very good about my portfolio and the photographs I have on it. I believe it is a reflection of who I am as a person.

Over the course of this semester, I have learned many things that will help me take better photographs and express my feelings through images. One of my favorite things I learned this semester was how to adjust the ISO and shutterspeeds of a digital camera. Now, instead of taking generic pictures like I used to, I can take exceptional photos of the moments that are important in my life. I also enjoyed learning about different functions on Photoshop. For instance, the Cross Processing was really interesting and made my pictures full of color and contrast.

This past semester, I feel that I was most successful on my program covers. Although my designs were not chosen for the final cover, I am still happy with what I created. Again, it was very simple but very nice to look at. The assignment I struggled with the most was our portraits. It was really difficult for me to decide on what I was going to do. After days of picture taking, I was able to get four photos but I know I could have done a better job. In the future, I could improve by thinking more about composition and lighting.

Throughout the semester, my influences were friends and sometimes just random things in my life. I think I have grown and improved a lot from first semester. I know much more than I did and I try to take everything from composition to facial expressions in account.

aDjustMents

seLf pOrtRait

My self portraits were inspired by how I was feeling and things happening in my life. At first, I couldn’t settle on one idea. However, as the days went by, it began to be much clearer. I think the photograph I was most creative on was my Light photo. I thought the lighting was very interesting. The most difficult thing about this project was actually coming up with an idea for my portrait. It took a lot of pictures to finally decide which ones I was going to stay with. I think that my creativity benefited my pictures by their lighting and different textures.

For my composition, I wanted to establish very bright whites and dark blacks. Some of the pictures were set up specifically and some were taken by chance. I think the angles and my position strengthened my photographs. Maybe I could have worked on my poses to make the picture have a more artistic feel to it. I think that my Element photograph had the strongest composition. In that picture everything thing just feels soft and “flowy”. The portrait I would change the composition on is the rule of thirds. I think it could have been in a better place than where I took it.

I believe the only portrait too bright was the Rule of Thirds picture. I think the rest are pretty good with craftsmanship. Although I have to say that most of them do appear pixilated. My partner and I did play around with the shutter speed and ISO. When the picture would come out dark, we would just change one of the two and take the photo again. I think my craftsmanship was pretty good. One of my strengths is that none of my pictures came out blurry or extremely dark. However, one of my weaknesses was that some of my portraits were a little pixilated.

My over all opinion of my portraits is that they turned out pretty good. I think I did well in my lighting. If I were to do this assignment again, I would definitely think about my poses more. My favorite shot was my Light portrait. I think it was good lighting and has the most artistic feel to it. The least favorite picture was the Rule of Thirds. I don’t think it was really different or had much thought to it. In the end, I am thankful to have learned all that I have in this class and will definitely use my new skills throughout my life.

sHutteR SpeEd

The two things that shutter speed effect are the lighting and the focus of the picture. Shutter speed is represented in fractions of a second. Modes that allow shutter manipulation on the camera are Manual and Shutter. The difference of Manual and Shutter is that on Shutter, the camera automatically changes the apature (F-stop) for you while Manual does not. You would want control of your shutter speed when you want a certain amount of light in your picture. The first photo I uploaded was of my partner in a really bright area and I tried to make it look as normal as possible. The second photo was of me taking a panning picture of my partner.

ISO

With the ISO 5000, it made the picture visible but a little blurry. In the picture with ISO 50, you can't even see my partner. Then, with the flash, you can clearly see the person and everything else around them. However, it made the photo really washed out and you can't see the effect of the light. Changing the ISO can allow you to get the perfect picture you want. If you want to emphasize the lighting of the room, you can do it by changing the setting of the ISO.

LiGht MetEring

The first thing we did with was meter with the light from the computer. We held down the capture button while the camera lens adjusted to the computer light. Then, while still holding down the button, we took a picture of our partners. This photo made computer look fine but made our partner really dark. After that, we metered our partners skin then repeated the same process. This photo made our partner actually visible and the computer light really bright. Metering from the skin tells the camera that that is the lighting we want.

pErsOnaL MetapHor

Metaphor Evaluation

The artwork that I created was based on how I was feeling at the time. My simile was “I feel like a bottle drifting in the ocean further and further away from civilization”. That simile was about how I felt like I couldn’t really be where I wanted to be in life. I would always be sort of “pushed” into situations that I didn’t want to be in. Then while I’m in the situation, it would cause me to be unhappy. The feeling of unhappiness is what I was trying to capture in the lighting and my facial expression.
I thought that my compositing was done fairly well. I placed the bottle in the middle because it was the focal point of my picture. I also placed my text in the middle because I felt that it wouldn’t feel very balanced if it was off to the side somewhere. I think that my picture does feel unified. I feel that it is simple yet it still gets my feelings seen and understood.
I think I did my composition well. My photograph was very simple and clean. The part I found difficult was trying to blend my body into the glass bottle. I was sure on how I would morph the two together. I think I could have spent a little more time blending myself into the glass so it really looked like I was a part of it. The thing I would change in my picture is the morphing that I did to my body and the glass.

The aEstHetic eXperience

My experience with this exercise made me thing about some of the bad decisions we make in life. We may make a bad decision here and there throughout our life and we think that they won't really make a difference. However, the more bad decisions we make, the more they'll take over our lives. To me, the clear water represents our once pure life and the color dye represents the bad decisions we make.

HybRids

An exercise borrowed from “I’ve Got a Human in My Throat” by Chris Johnson.
In preparation for our PERSONAL METAPHOR project we brushed up our skills combining objects together. Using layer masks and the clone stamp we blended this dog and bird together.

Movie Moments

Inspired by Cindy Sherman, a contemporary photographer who took photos of herself starring in movies that never existed.

Movie Title: Clueless
Genre: From a book or story

Two of the most popular girls in school, Cher and Dion, got a bad grade and decided to hook up two of their teachers to get on their good side. While on this mission, Cher tries to look for a boyfriend of her own. Throughout the movie, Cher and Dion learn about caring for others, friendship, but also pain. Despite all of the hardships she encounters, in the end, the two girls find love and happiness.

In my scene of Clueless, I am getting a massage because I had a bad day and I just need to relax and get my mind off of things. So I am laying down on the bed trying not to think of all the stressful things happening in my life at the moment.

cHocoLate fRog

For Valentines Day we turned frogs into chocolate. I thought this project was interesting. I learned that adding little details could make the image even better.

sHadows & RefLections

In these exercises we learned how to create shadows and reflections to help us create more realistic artwork. A new tool we learned was layer masks. The things we learned here can help me in the future by allowing me to turn a regular object into something creative and realistic.

pRogRam cOvers

These are the images that i created for the Graduation and Student handbooks.

aGed pHoto

In this project we used one of our frame photographs to practice using Photoshop to create specific effects.

baLance WitH fRames

In this project we were given a frame. We had to use it in our composition. We also had to be in our photo, but not in the center. It was to be in black and white, and we needed to create a sense of visual balance.

I created balace by having an object and/or another person on boths sides of me.

rAndom oBject

We were each assigned a random object to photograph. We could choose to hve it in color or black& white. We were to focus on "The Three C's".

According to my peers, one thing i did well was my creativity and position of the object and picture. One thing they suggested I work on was to enhance the colors a little bit more to bring the picture to "life".I agree with what they said because i think my photograph was interesting but it could have used a little more enhancement.

My fAvorite pRoject fRom Last sEmester

This photo is the cover page for my portfolio. I used the cross process effect to bring out the vibrant colors in the background. I also added my name and my favorite quote. I like this photo because I thought the colors were very interesting. I thought I did a really good job on balancing the different colors and making sure none of them really overpowered the whole picture.