Fine Art- Drains

For my fine art project in photography, I wanted to focus on something that most students don't concentrate on. Around school, drains are everywhere! I went around school taking pictures of the many different sizes and shapes that the drains come in.

Describe: After editing my photographs and reviewing what I have done, I see color and shape. My purpose was to display photographs of drains that students wouldn't really be fascinated by. I didn't use different objects because the I didn't want my purpose to be distracted by added objects. I am satisfied with the end results.

Analyze: After reviewing my photos, I see texture, line, color, and shape. I added color to the image because I didn't want a picture of a drain to be boring. I wanted to liven my photographs by showing off the line, texture, and shape. To further express those qualities I added color to enhance the image.

Interpret: I just wanted to communicate the beauty of drains by focusing on the shapes and texture. My conversations with peers don't ever consist of drains so I wanted my audience to look at something that is everywhere but not focused on. One of my image doesn't have color, in order to see how I edited it you have to enlargen it. After uploading it onto Blogger, the texture was lost. All my images were taken outdoors with natural light.

Judge: Overall, I am happy with my final work and impressed with how I have grown as a photographer. At first I was stressed with Fine Art Photography, but I told myself to get creative and now my images look great. (In my opinion).

Still Life - Graduation

Ms. Miles wanted her students to practice their still life photography and add shadows to their work. We all had to pick something that was meaningful to us. I decided to choose Graduation 2010 as my theme because graduating from high school is huge! It's the day that everyone looks forward to. It's the day that students work their butt off to get to.

Describe: Still life photography was hard for me because I am used to taking pictures of people or outdoor objects. Thinking of a theme for still life takes creativity, picking the right objects, and picking a good amount of objects. In my image I decided to use a card that had graduation on it, my class ring and case, and my black box that contains letters I wrote in 8th grade. I made an oath with my eight grade teacher to not open my black box until the day I graduate. Each of these objects have made me eager to graduate.  

Analyze: In this image I see shadows that create shapes, rectangles, circles, diamonds, and a little bit of color. I didn't want too much color in my image because I didn't want the color to distract the meaning behind each object. 

Interpret: Graduation is an important day in a students life. So to further express that joy, committment to school, pride, and motivation I chose my objects carefully. The lighting in the image didn't come out too good. If I had to change anything it would be to have better lighting.

Judge: I am excited for my image and can't wait for the day I graduate high school. I can't wait to wear my class ring, open my black box, and open the cards that congratulate me for my hard work.  

Hairspray: Awareness Photograph

"No Dumping I Live Downstream!"

I am sure everyone has seen those drains around school that say "No Dumping I Live Downstream!" There are many students who don't care and they should because students are polluting the home of the ducks that live underneath the drains. It is important to clean around the drains and pick up trash that is left behind. We want to make sure these ducks live a clean and uncontaminated life.

Describe: I purposely made this image look dark so that I could express the darkness underneath the drains when the homes of the ducks get polluted. So When I look at this image I see darkness. I also see trash that is around the drain. There is also many sticks from pine trees that fall and go into the drains.

Analyze: When I look at this photograph, I see texture, lines, and shape. I see the pattern that the drain is made of, I see lines from the pine tree sticks and from the drain, I also see squares.

Interpret: Through this image I just wanted to express why we need to make sure trash doesn't go downstream because ducks live underneath the drain.

Judge: Overall, I am very happy with my final image. I made the image look dark, added a black and white contrast, and I think the message will be successfull.

Ethnic Portrait Assignment

Describe: When I look at this image I see a beautiful, young Japanese lady who is very happy with her cultural background. She looks like she is comfortable with her ethnicity. To further express her ethnic background,  I used a fan for my Japanese portrait, a kimono, and a background with nature.

Analyze: When I look at this piece of art, I see texture, line, color, and shape. My objective was to focus on the model, so some of my portraits have a background that was lighten with the dodge tool or blurred so that the model could be in focus.

Interpret: I was trying to communicate the cultural background that we all have. When I have conversations with my peers, our conversations are mainly about what we did last weekend, what we are going to do this weekend, and other random stuff. Very rarely do my peers and I talk about our cultural background or where our family originated from so I wanted further display that by powerfully expressing their ethnic background.

Judge: Overall, I am happy with my final work. When I presented this image to my Senior Exhibition panel, one of my panelist told me, "It almost looks like a painting." Another told me, "I've been to Japan and that looks like it was taken there." I feel I have grown as a photographer and have learned to work with Photoshop. I lightened her face to make it look like she was wearing powder, I added lipstick, and blush. I also darkened her hair, the kimono, and fan using the burn tool to bring out the beautiful colors in this image.

Senior Ex Portfolio: Ethnic Portraits

Describe: When I look at these images of mine, I see beauty within each ethnicity. This was my purpose and the reason why I chose to pursue ethnic portraits as my Senior Exhibition project. I used different objects to further express the cultural background; such as: a flower and faux turtle shell bracelet for my Samoan portrait, a shamrock necklace and hat for my Irish portrait, a fan for my Japanese portrait, and a violin for my Mexican portrait. I also see a variety of vibrant colors. The only disappoint when looking at these pictures is that my images don't look the same since I have uploaded them onto my blog. 

Analyze: After reviewing my photos, I see texture, line, color, and shape. My objective was to focus on the model, so some of my portraits have a background that was lighten with the dodge tool or blurred so that the model could be in focus.

Interpret: I was trying to communicate the cultural background that we all have. When I have conversations with my peers, our conversations are mainly about what we did last weekend, what we are going to do this weekend, and other random stuff. Very rarely do my peers and I talk about our cultural background or where our family originated from so I wanted further display that by powerfully expressing their ethnic background. Some of my images are dark and some are light. And all my images were taken outdoors because I love natural light. 

Judge: Overall, I am happy with my final work and impressed with how I have grown as a photographer. I will definitely say that some of my images are stronger than others. But, I am happy and glad that I challenged myself.