Artist Statement

In Digital Photography class this semester we have learned so many things, as far as compositional tricks, and also Photoshop, like all the tools, shortcuts, and cool effects that can be done and used to enhance your photographs overall appearance (hue/saturation, color contrast, levels, etc.). Also, how to put a portfolio together to show our work and progress over time on different projects using different skills. I am very happy that I chose to take Digital Photography, because I love to take photographs and use cameras. Now that I learned how to take nice photographs, I know that I will continue to use my knowledge for the remaining years of my life, thanks to Miss. Cook.

I love my portfolio. I feel that I did a good job on it along with the photos because even though some photos may not be my best work, I still did the best I could and I worked hard. I think it turned out great. In my portfolio you will find photos pertaining to rule of thirds, leading lines, macro, extreme angles, crop, and self portraits. You will also find photo projects that I did in Photoshop, my Contact Sheet, Adjustment Layer, Creative Me, Scary Expressions (scary face, ghosts and zombie), Haunted Chavez, Social Issue, and Lyrics photos. There is also an interpretation of the photo “The Scream" by Edvard Munch and a critique on Parke Harrisons “Guardian”.

One thing I think I was most successful with was the “Lyric” project. I truly believe I did well because I chose a powerful song that relates to me in so many ways. It describes what type of person I am and that was the whole intention and purpose. It is my absolute favorite project I have done out of this entire semester. Although, there was a project, or a few projects I struggled with, mainly the Haunted Chavez. My ideas kept changing. I struggled with the positions and places that I thought my characters should be in and I struggled with the emphasis. It was not as clear as I wanted it to be.

In the future I could improve by practicing my skills, knowledge and composition on my own time, like concentrating on lighting, positions, places, and background. Practice makes perfect, and believe it will come naturally to me the more I practice. I have seen improvement in my photos the more I became familiar with Photoshop. In the beginning I struggled with Photoshop but I learned to teach myself. I am proud of the artwork I have done. It’s the start of a great, new beginning and I plan to become enhanced and learn a lot more as I progress.

Lyrics

The lyrics I chose for this project are: She Got Her Own, By: Ne-Yo, Jaime Foxx, & Fabolous.

”I love her cause she got her own

She don't need mine she say leave mine alone

There aint nothing that's more sexy

Than a girl that want but don't need me

Young independent yeah she work hard

But you can't tell from the way that she walk

She don't slow down cause she aint got time

To be complaining shawty gon shine

She don't expect nothing from no guy

She plays aggressive but she still shy

But you'll never know her softer side

By looking in her eyes

Knowing she can do for herself

Makes me wanna give her my wealth

Only kinda girl I want

Independent queen working for her throne

I love her cause she got her own

She got her own

I love it when she say

It's cool I got it, I got it, I got it

I love her cause she got her own

She don't need mine she say leave mine alone

There aint nothing that's more sexy

Than a girl that want but don't need me

Lovely face, nice thick thighs

Plus she got drive that matches my drive

Sexy thang, she’s mcfly

All the while paying her bills on time

She don't look at me like captain save em’

Gold diggin no she don't do that

Now she look at me like inspiration

She wanna be complimentin’ my swag

And everything she got she work for it

Good life made for it

She take pride in saying that she paid for it

Only kinda girl I want

Independent queen working for her throne

I love her cause she got her own”

I chose this song because it represents what kind of person I am. It’s a strong independent song for women who are independent and strong. The lyrics explain how one woman doesn’t need a man or his money to keep her happy or keep her on her feet. It’s saying that she’s working hard for what she wants in life without any help. These lyrics make feel powerful, like I can do anything I wanted to if I put my mind to it, and that’s exactly how I am. The meanings of the words are very powerful and they stand out, which for example my favorite saying is “Independent queen working for her throne”, this can make a woman feel like she’s on top of the world and very proud of herself because she did it on her own.

Social Issue

I did this social issue on teenage pregnancy, showing how it is difficult to carry a baby inside you when there is no father around to help or take care of you and how you are all alone raising a child. It not only affects me to see my close friends and family get pregnant so young and struggle with the consequences and fears but it affects other people like their family and close friends. It affects some more than others because everyone has a different point of view.

I chose this photo of my best friend Luisa; she was really pregnant and due any day from when I took this photo. I chose this photo because I like how it shows that she’s not really happy or sad, she’s just thinking. Also because it reveals her real life situation she was going through at that time (being alone and dealing with the absent father) and still continues till this day, even after she had the baby. I feel really close to this picture not only because she’s my best friend but because I went through all those hard times with her and I was there for her to make sure she kept her head up high. I chose the statement “I’ll be a Great Mother” because that’s what every mother wants regardless if he father is absent or not. It just means that mothers are strong and they can do it by themselves without the neglect and help.

Haunted Chavez

For this project we had to take a picture of a scene or area in our school and add zombies or ghosts. The intention is to make it look haunted. My initial idea was to have a girl doing her makeup in the restroom and have zombies coming out of the stalls and attack her. In the end nothing changed as far as my idea. Some of the most difficult decisions I had to make were choosing where to put the zombies and how to actually make the restroom look haunted, like choosing tools, colors, and other functions that could possibly make the picture look better. One problem I faced was making the girl the emphasis and not making the zombie on the ground the emphasis. So, what I did was add sort of a leading line to the desired emphasis. I made the zombie on the floor look like she was looking at the girl and it worked out ok. I think I did well on the color contrast, the tint of green, and also making the decision to add a lens flare. On this project I think I could have done so much better, on choosing character positions and also a place that would be easier to make haunted.

Critique: ParkeHarrison's "Guardian"

In a misty forest, what looks like a deserted, empty War field, there is a man in a suit crouching over the land on wooden stilts tied to the middle section of his dress shoes. On his back, are branches piled together to make a protective surrounding, what look like wings stretched out ready to fly away. He looks like a tree, focused and determined, ready to protect from any harm.

Being in the center, he is the main emphasis. The misty fog in the background creates a mixing mood with the soft light and darks that also have a soft edge of contrast letting us know that he has a duty to fulfill and will accomplish it no matter what. The light will soon fade away and he will be surrounded by darkness. I think this is a beautiful photo. It makes me feel like I am really there, feeling what he feels. In most photos, I believe that the emphasis should not be directly in the center but I could tell the artist thought deep and hard about where to put the emphasis. It works.

This photograph deeply portrays the meaning of the need to be safe and always wanting to have your guardian angel by your side. It corresponds clearly that there will always be someone there for you during the ups and downs that we all face in everyday life.

Scary Expressions

When I look at this picture it makes me think of those movies or books I've seen or read that have scary and abnormal looking creatures that everyone is afraid of or make fun of. These are the type of living things that people think are mean and monstrous which sometimes they are and sometimes they're not. You never know what anyone or anything is like until you give it chance, to get to know them. Things are not always what they seem.

When I look at this picture it makes me think of a dream I remember having when I was younger. I had a dream that I was a scary ghost with blood all over my body and I was standing or leaning over my own body that was alive and sound asleep. It was like my soul was dead but my body was still alive and my spirit was haunting my own body because I wanted to be alive. I didn't understand my dream. I was thinking maybe there is a reason why I dreamt that my bloody spirit was haunting my own body. I believe all dreams have reasons whether you did something in the past or present.

When I look at this picture it makes me think of scary movies I have seen in the past, usually movies I would avoid watching. Also, it makes think of the music video "Thriller" by Michael Jackson because of the way my eyes look. At the end of "Thriller" Michael's eyes have that yellow glow and look almost exactly like mine do. Honestly when I look at this picture I get scared of myself. Yea I know funny huh? This photo also reminds me of when I am completely heated and full of anger when someone makes me more than mad. This is what I would probably look like if I really expressed how I was feeling at that point and time.

Scream: My Interpretation

In this photo I see a person screaming. He is in shock because something devastating happened. He was walking on the side of a huge bridge with water flowing rapidly underneath. Cars are passing by every second; he sees a head on crash collision. Five cars are involved. One of the vehicles happened to be family members; his sister as well as her two kids. He is freaking out at the moment. He is so in shock he cannot move. It took him a while before he realized what just happened. He ran to the vehicle, and everyone was seriously injured and his sister died. It was the worst day of his life.

Creative Me

This project was an opportunity for us to put the tools we have learned to use. We were to take one of our portraits, and change it creatively using the following: selection tools, layers, adjustment layers, layer styles, blending options, paint brushes and opacity.

The thing I like about this image is the window with the reflection. Even though you can see what is on the other side, you can still see the reflection which I think is really cool and unique. The tool I liked the most was the magnetic lasso tool becuase it is more precise on the selecting, by selecting the edges of your object but only the contrast. I also like it because you can customize it. So far I really wish I was more confident with the Photoshop knowledge. I have a hard time with computers, remembering how to do things and it takes me a while to learn new things, even at home.

Adjustment Layers

In this exercise we learned about Adjustment layers. Adjustment layers allow you to add adjustments to your image on separate layers instead of directly to the image itself. This comes in handy during long complicated projects. In Photoshop every tool is specifically designed to help improve your photo. However, here we took some artistic liberties and explored adjustments creatively.

Self Portraits

For our Self-Portrait project we were to take three self-portraits. They were all to be in black and white, and they were all to capture a mood of some sort. We were also challenged to be as artistic as possible, and stay as far away from normal, cliche portraits that we see on personal pages etc. as possible. One had to use the rule of thirds as the base for the composition; one had to incorporate leading lines, and one had to be taken from a more extreme angle.

It was hard to be the model while someone was taking the shot of you. You had to be able to think about where you wanted to be in the photo, where you wanted it to be taken, how you wanted to be positioned, what facial expression to do, and you also had to think about the lighting, if it was to bright, just right, or too dark. I think the most successful photo out of the three is the one below because it's not a photo you would see everyday, it's not a snap shot, my facial expression is exposed well, and it came out creative to where it looks interesting and fresh. Next time I would bring props to show who I really am to make the picture a lot more meaningful and stronger. I would also do different facial expressions as well as poses. Overall I am very happy with the outcome of my self portraits. I think I did a great job.

Contact Sheet

I think my contact sheet turned out ok, it could have turned out better. The thing I believe I did well on was the size of the pictures, the style of the wording, and the organization of the photos. Next time I would choose better pictures and organize them differently. Out of all the compositional tricks I think my macro depth of field came out the best. The trick I really like the most is the macro depth of field because it already sets up the emphasis with the faded background, making it clearer to see exactly what you're looking at. It also looks very interesting, not many photos are taken using macro. It's a unique sense of style.

Compositional Trick #5 Cropping

Cropping is a trick that photographers do all the time, even if they don't realize it. Every time a photographer chooses to cut something out of his/her frame, before they snap the photo, that is in essence cropping. We also have learned tools on Photoshop that allow us to crop an image after we have taken it. When cropping in Photoshop it is possible to improve our composition or change it completely.

I changed the composition in this photo by cutting out extra space that did not need to be in the photo and also I cut out the people that were standing in the background. I like this photo better than the original one because it looks more like an actual photo and there is nothing that distracts you from it.

Compositional Trick #4 Extreme Angles

To get this angle I tried to get lower than the main focus in my photo. I kneeled down and faced the camera up towards the building behind him. I like the shades of grey in this picture. I also like the background with the lines and small windows, and the grass in front is really cool too because it has a type of texture-looking feel to it. I could have done better with this photo being in a more extreme angle, either being higher or lower. I think photographing from an extreme angle makes your photographs have a view that is outside the way we normally look at an object. I would choose to use extreme angles because it creates an unfamiliar perspective.

Compositional Trick #3 Macro

The macro function on a camera does an incredibly awesome thing, it captures very small objects, very close to the lens, and makes it larger than what it appears to be. This allows you to see every detail of your photo up close. Depth of field is the amount of distance between the nearest and farthest objects that appear in acceptably sharp focus in a photograph. A deep depth of field will keep everything in focus, including objects or people close to you, and everything in the background. It is quite good for landscape, architectural shots, technical photographs, or close ups.A shallow depth of field will only focus on the on the object or person you have photographed, allowing the main subject to be "isolated" within the frame. Everything else will be out of focus. This is useful for portraits for instance, because it draws the viewer's eye to the person photographed, and softens any distractions in the background.

Macro would be a compositional trick of choice because you can see things that are too small to see in everyday life and make them large enough to see every detail about it. That is the beauty of it. I could use it on interesting insects, textures, and also plants or flowers whenever i wanted, just to enjoy the nature this world has to offer.

The photo I like best is the flowers. Using macro enhanced this photo by softening the background, fading it, and putting focus only on the flowers, isolating them from the rest of the picture. I like how the flowers are so clear and unique. You don't see flowers like these everyday. I also like the colors and how the background fades just perfectly.

Compositional Trick #2: Leading Lines

A leading line can be almost anything: a road, river, sidewalk, fence, tree line or shadow. Lines in a picture should lead into, not out of, the picture, and they should lead your eye toward the main subject. In this photo I had many leading lines. The long, wide cement-like surface leads you directly to the emphasis which was the whole purpose, it being the main leading line. Other leading lines would be, the lower cement-like surface to right of the emphasis, the curved shadow to the top left corner, the horizontal pole in the middle, and finally the curved line on the ground by the letter C.

Compositional Trick #1: Rule of Thirds

The rule of thirds is like a grid that has two equally-spaced horizontal lines and two equally-spaced vertical lines. It is often used as a guideline to more professional-looking pictures by lining up your subjects on the intersections of the grid lines. This technique creates more tension, energy and interest in the photo than simply centering the feature would.

In this photo above, I used the rule of thirds technique on the horse statue. It is placed on the grid line directly on the bottom right hand corner, the horse statue being the emphasis of the photo.