artist statement.

In my portfolio you will find photographs captured and creatively designed by me. I have used two very important techniques while creating my artwork in Mrs. Cook’s digital photography class which are Photoshop and just a camera. I have not really had the chance to do as much as I would have liked in photography class but what I have accomplished is worth every struggle that I’ve overcame while thinking of creative effects to add to photos. I feel very good about this portfolio because I’ve put a lot of time and effort into the work that is in it.

Over the course of the semester I have learned more about the tools and effects that I could use while creating a work of art. ;) I feel that I was most successful with the lyric assignment because I actually enjoyed doing this project. I liked this project because we were able to express ourselves through the lyrics we chose. I struggled the most with taking photo’s of the shoes because there was not an actual ideal way to make shoes look creative. This project in particular took a lot of patience and thinking because a shoe was such a random object. Out of all of the projects that I have completed over the semester this one was the hardest to me because it was hard to figure out a good picture for the certain elements. In the future I could improve by actually trying to capture a photo of the original big idea that I think of when the project is assigned, although it may be complicated. I have seen improvement in my Photoshop skills and my creativity based on this years portfolio and last years.

At the end of every assignment all of the stressing and the hard work were worth every second because my artwork came out very unique although I did not have a good time doing all of the assignments. I have learned more about transforming pictures and also giving them certain looks. I had a very great experience over the time period that I have been in Mrs. Cooks Digital Photography Class. I have learned how to make a boring picture look very interesting. This class was a success and I am proud to have taken it.

lyrics.

The lyrics I chose for this project are "Going Crazy" by Natalie Brown.

"Thats right baby I'm goin crazyI need to be your ladyI've been thinking latelyThat you and me, yes we can make itJust ride with me, roll with me I'm in love with you baby"

I chose these lyrics because the picture that I wanted to use reminded me of going crazy because I am pulling my hair. These lyrics mean alot to me because they relate to me and the way I feel about a boy that I have been with off and on for three years. These lyrics make me feel relieved because they are actually saying everything that I am feeling.

social issue.

My Social Issue is on high school relationships. This issue affects me because I am a senior in high school and I have been involved in relationships that I often thought would last forever. I also have friends who have been in relationships where they did actually love the other person but the relationships still don't last. Very few people are still with the person that they were dating in high school. In most cases couples leave high school with the ideal that everything will be like a fairytale which is so untrue.

High School relationships are far from reality although at some points you are forced with real decisions. Like me, in other peoples relationships couples think that they will be together forever which is not true. Forever is nonexistent and that's what most teens fail to realize. A relationship in high school is completely different in the real world which is why I chose the statement "til' graduation do us part" because most high school relationships end shortly after graduation or in college.

self portrait hw

This assignment was my favorite because I got the chance to take a picture of me that actually expresses me. I chose to have the picture captured with me behind the street sign because it made me feel as if I was trying to decide on which way to go. In life you can either go the right way or the wrong way but sometimes you actually dont know which way is right or which way is wrong. At the end of the day we all chose a way to go and as you can see im looking in the right direction which is the right way for me.

haunted chavez.

For this project we were assigned to take a picture including ourselves that was haunted but in the setting of Chavez. My initial idea was to be in the library hiding behind a bookshelf as a monster was approaching. By the end my original idea changed drastically because the library was not open the whole week that we were taking photos. I ended up having to come up with a completely new idea but it still turned out nice. The most difficult decision that I had to make was where exactly I would be in the photo. I faced some problems such as the sizes of each person in the picture looking unrealistic and also the lighting in the picture looking different from each picture. I solved these problems by changing the levels of each photo in the overall picture. I think I did well on making my characters and myself look very bloody. My overall thoughts on this project is that I did very well but I am sure that I could have came up with better ideas if there was a major time extension.

light hw

For homework we were assigned to capture a photo of light. I could have easily chosen to take a picture of something like a lightbulb or a lighted room but I chose to take a photograph of the sun rising behind houses in my neighborhood. This picture looks very natural to me because it is right next to palm trees and I did not change the levels very much. I like this photo because I can actually see it range from darkness by the palm trees to brightness where the sun is. I enjoyed doing this assignment because light is everywhere.

critique

In Parke Harrisons photograph of the Guardian there is a man who looks tied into a tree with no leaves or branches. This dead tree is very skinny but on a very wide tree trunk as if it has been sculpted. The sky in the background is very dark and gloomy and the ground beneath the tree is full of branches. As the man is looking down his facial expression shows a frustration. The lighting in the photograph gives off a look of death and loneliness. The title confuses me because when someone is referred to as a guardian the stereotypical idea that comes to mind is very bright and angelic which seems to be the complete opposite in this case. One who looks at the photo can easily interpret death by the dark colors and the dead tree. This is a very good piece of artwork and the effects used by the artist help you interpret the feelings that the character had.

scary expression .

I was assigned to capture a photo and find tutorials to creat an effect and I chose this picture because the person I photographed had a very intense look on her face. I used 2 different tutorials for this picture which were a vampire lady tutorial and a tutorial for glowing eyes. I chose to make her lipstick pink to make her different from the average pale-faced, bright tred lipstick vampire. I chose to make blood splatter out of her mouth to make the photo look more realistic. The handprint on the side of her face brings a scary feeling that she has hurt someone.

empty ;

For this homework assignment we were instructed to capture a photo of what empty meant to us. I had previously taken a picture of waves while I was on the beach in Mexico. I chose to take this picture to represent empty because normally when people think of any type of large body of water or anything like that they picture fish, seaweed, and other creatures that live in the water. But this water was very empty which was shocking to me because I too had the stereotype that there were always going to be some type of creature even in the shallowest part of the water.

the scream

As you can see in the picture there is a black figment in the back of him. I feel as if the man is screaming due to the person that is approaching and the surroundings are starting to fade. The figment in the back seems to be coming closer and closer and the man has no where to run. He is at the end of a dock and the only place to go is backwards into the strange person approaching or frontwards into the wavy body of water.

photoshop explorations .

I loved doing this project because I got the chance to experiment with photoshop which was very exciting and fun! I hope we have more projects like this !

elements ; shoes

At the beggining of the year we were given an assignment in which we had to take 7 pictures representing each element of art. Although this may seem easy, it was somewhat difficult to capture great photographs of shoes. ;]

Color : I enjoyed taking this photograph because it had a very wide variety of color in it. The photo was taken in my room but I did not want the average carpet flooring of my room to be apart of my picture so I decided to make my background paintings that I've created in my past art courses. These are two different paintings one being the back and one being the floor. I accented the colors in the background by choosing shoes that shared the same color value as the background.

Lines : This was the most easy picture to take because there are so many ways to capture lines. I took this photo in my closet where all of my heels were placed neatly on a shelf. I chose to make this a black & white photo because it showed more variety of the darker and lighter colors and lines.

Shape: I chose this photo to represent shape because the point of the shoe looks triangular and the backround also has a variety of shapes.


Space: This picture was the hardest to capture because the background was actually a little bit larger then the actual shoe but it turned out to be a great success.

Texture: I chose this photo to represent texture because it is very detailed with deep rough ridges on the shoe and the floor that the shoe is on also shows texture.

Light: This was very easy once i adjusted the levels of the photo.

Value: This was a very hard photo because I could not get theconcept of value but it turned out very good.

The overall project was complicated but I finished it and did a great job.

red - hw

We were assigned to take a picture of what red means to us so I chose to take a photo of a red lighter. When I think of the color red, the first thought that pops into my mind is fire. This red lighter can eject fire flames so I felt the need to use this in my photograph.

urban - hw

This homework assignment was to capture a photo of something urban. I chose to take a picture of graffiti which is often thought of as urban. I think that this was a good choice because not only is it graffiti o a brick wall but the wall also looks kind of beat up and old. This picture is very interesting to me because I like the bright green color that was spray painted on this wall.

macro - hw

I enjoyed this homework assignment very much because the pictures that I took came out to be very interesting. This picture was the best because the macro kind of causes the background of the photo to blur which makes the lines blend into one another.

reflection - hw

For this homework assignment I chose to take a picture of this glass table in my house which is directly beneath the light fixture. This caused a reflection of the light which actually resembles the moon in darkness. This picture is very interesting to me because everyone usually thinks of mirrors when they hear the word reflection but this shows that a reflection can be seen in many different objects.

desert - hw

For homework we were assigned a project in which we had to take a photograph of the desert. I chose to take a close-up picture of a tree which showed the tree branches, flowers, and leaves. I chose this tree because usually everyone that has never actually been to the desert thinks that it is just full of cactus plants and snake. Although those things are in the desert there is a more modern look. Not only is there dirt, cactus' and tumbleweed everywhere there are also green leaves and beautifully colored flowers. The desert has much more than the standard expectations.

photo mosaic

-artist statement.

In my portfolio you will find art created uniquely by me. Throughout this year I have learned a variety of techniques that I was unknowledgeable of until I came to Ms. Cook’s digital photography class. My artwork ranges from straight forward photographs to more abstract and angled photos. I feel very strongly about my portfolio and I think that it was a great success. Over the months of being in digital photography class I have created a lot of creative photos.

At the beginning of the school year I did not know half of what I know now. I never knew the amazing things that Photoshop itself could do to a picture. I have learned new things ranging from F-Stop to shutter speed. These are very important tools to taking a good photograph. This class has expanded my knowledge on taking photographs and also editing them.

Within editing photos on the Adobe Photoshop program, I feel that I was best at creating filtered images with very different effects. I was most successful with taking very meaningful photos. The tasks that I struggled with were creating a different looking background due to always taking the photos on campus. I could improve in the future by planning further ahead and bringing props to detail the setting of the photos. Some of my influences have been other great pictures that I had seen.

These gave me an idea on how I could make my pictures look as well as theirs. Other influences have been my feelings at the time of taking photos. I have seen growth and improvement in my poses because before learning about all of the tools that could be used on the camera I used to take pictures that I like to say are specifically for “MySpace”. I feel like this class has been very fun and at the same time it has taught me a lot of things that will be useful artistically.

adjustment

self portraits

In my self portraits I wanted to express the emotions that I was feeling at the time that the photographs were captured. While I was taking my pictures my attitude towards capturing my emotions in the pictures did change. For example in my picture with my personal prop I made a serious facial expression but the mood that I was in was happy. The photograph that I feel was most creative is my element photo because the colors are very nice when they are black and white. I think that the writing on the brick wall really accents the picture because it is one of the very few things that is white. The thing that was difficult for me was finding the right amount of natural lighting so that the picture would not be too bright or too dark. This creativity plays a great role into the success of my self portraits because without it my photographs would be very bland.

In these photographs the setting was not planned but when I came upon places with nice lighting I decided on a pose and a prop and began to take photos with different expressions and poses. To strengthen the composition of my photos, I had my photographer take the photos from different angles and positions. Things that I did not do that weakened my photos was change my facial expressions. The majority of them are very serious. In my opinion the photo that has the strongest composition is the rule of thirds photo. This composition is the strongest because It was taken from a very nice angle and it has a wide variety of different types of grey, black, and white colors in the background. The portrait that I would change the composition on is my personal prop photo because I feel that it could have been taken from a lower angle.

I honestly think that my light picture was too bright. During taking the photographs my partner and I often changed the ISO and the shutter speed to fix the lighting. My knowledge with the different features that were available for use on the camera helped me drastically. My weaknesses were finding the correct location with the right lighting. My overall strengths during taking my photographs were how I posed.

I feel that my portraits were a success because I put a lot of thought into them and they turned out to be really good. I think I did well with the costume because it was very creative and it added black and white colors to the photo. If I had to do the same assignment again I would have changed the poses and faces that I made in my photographs. My favorite shot was the one where I was walking but also leaning on the brick wall. This was my favorite because I felt that the writing on the wall added white color and that overall this picture looked very peaceful. My least favorite was my light picture because you could not see my face due to the brightness.

iso

In each one of these photos the ISO is different. The first one has the lowest amount of ISO and this makes the photograph very dark and blurry. I learned that the higher the ISO then the more light is let in. In the second photo the ISO is 1600 and you can actually see the difference in this one and the first one which actually had an ISO of 400. In the last photo the ISO is 5000 which helps a lot because you can actually see more detail in the picture although it remains blurry. ISO can cause a very drastic change in a photo depending on the current lighting. ISO has helped me improve a lot of my pictures because there isn't always settings with the perfect lighting conditions.

light metering

In the photograph on the top I took the camera in close to her skin color and captured the picture. In the one on the bottom I focused the camera lens on the computer screen and then also took a picture of her. This caused the photo to become really dark because it had been focused on he computer screen which was very light. What is happening in these two photos are the effects of the focus and the lighting. This can help you if you are ever takling a picture in the dark.

The concept of my personal metaphor was to express my feelings. I chose to be a mermaid because I felt that would express my feelings of being out of place. The mood that I wanted to capture for my metaphor was lonely.

In my photograph I placed myself leaning on a rock while lying on the ground. I decided to place myself here because you could see only the dryness of the ground and the plants in my surroundings. I feel that my composition is balanced for the most part because the picture actually looks as if I am a mermaid. I also feel that my image is much unified because it goes with the statement that I typed on the photo.

One thing that I think I did very well was made the shadow of the mermaid on the ground and on the rock. A shadow is a very important part of making a picture seem realistic and I feel like I captured that. The most difficult thing to do in this picture was making the bottom half of my body match the lighting on the top half. I think that I could have made myself look more like a mermaid if I actually spent more time. If I could change anything I would change the brick wall that is in the background of my picture.

the Aesthetic Experience

This experience made me recognize how things can start off so small and not completely destroy something. But if you don't catch it in enough time than it can completely ruin it. The clear water inside the cup represents what is pure and not yet destroyed. The blue dye represents what is slowly overpowering the clear water.

HyBRiD

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/Story
Cher and Dionne, whom are two of the most popular sophmores in their school. They are percieved as clueless rich girls who can only succeed at shopping which they are truely not. Underneath their superficial outter personallities they are truly intelligent and charming. These characteristics help them to deal with relationships, friends, family, school and everything else important in their teenage social lifes.
Scene Explanation:
In this scene Dionne, whom is supposed to be studying is on the phone with Cher.

ChOCoLaTe FrOG

FOr Valentines Day we turned frogs into chocolate. I thought this project was hard but it turned out to be a success. I learned how to make real things look fake.

ShAdOws & ReFLeCtiOns

In these exercises we learned how to create shadows and reflection s to help us make 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 place things where they dont belong and making them look realistic.

prOgram designs

I created a graduation cover that I felt would be very elegant to have at CCHS Graduation Ceremony. I added the school mascot and also included animated pictures of different locations in Cesar Chavez. The quote by Dr. Seuss that is on the back of my program cover is very inspirational towards students that are graduating. It is motivating to keep students on a good path to success.

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 balance by...photographing myself in a tree that was centered in the picture. I used the black frame to show the darkest color and the white frame to show the lightest color.

RaNDoM ObJeCT

We were each assigned a random object to photograph. We could choose to have 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... putting the photograph in black & white and in very good focus.

One thing they suggested I work on was... that it could be taken from a better angle.

I agree with what they said because I actually like it better in black & white than I did when it was in color. I also feel that it could have been a more interesting photo if it was taken from a different angle.

EgG ChALLeNge

In this project each student was given an egg to photograph. We were to take a photo in both color and black-and-white. We were supposed to exemplify one or more of the following: Creativity, Craftmanship, or Composition.

I believe my black-and-white photo was most successful because the setting of it was different from the pictures that I am used to seeing. It looks as if it was taken back in the 1800's inside of a lantern.