ARTIST STATEMENT

The portfolio consists of several photographs of many different assignments assigned throughout the second semester digital photography class. Also each picture will be fallowed by a reflection based on the picture. This reflection talks about the concept of the picture and to better understand the theme. Moving on I’d like to enlighten you on behalf of my portfolio. I‘d like to say that I feel a great sense of completion. Although I may have missed one or two assignments I feel very proud of my self for having so many assignments posted.

During the semester I have learned many skills dealing with a digital camera that I was never aware of. First of all I learned about ISO. The ISO selection makes pictures in the dark not only show the main focus but also show its surroundings as well. I also learned about new ways to combine two things together and make them look real. I felt that I did well at a lot of these assignments but still the metaphor was my most successful assignment. I worked on this picture all by my self, and that is something a rarely do. On the other hand I had most troubles with something so simple like taking a picture. When we were assigned to capture contrast I failed. No matter what I did I just could not get the job done.

There are many improvements in my case but for now getting to know the camera I work with would help. Some assignments were difficult for me just for the fact that I was not familiar with the camera. And easy assignment turned out to be the hardest since I did not know the functions to the camera. I noticed an improvement in my photo shop skills. I am now more knowledgeable when it comes to creating a photo using photo shop. There is not much I would like to say other than thanking my instructor for being there for me whenever I came across some problems or had concerns. I would also like to thank Miss. Cook for making my first hour easier for me than it would normally be in other classes. I had a great year in this class and learned so much.

SELF PORTRAITS

When coming up with these photographs the creativity varies. There were some pictures that weren’t so good meaning not enough contrast or the composition was not my strongest point. Otherwise the setting and the theme of the image was very good I might add. Therefore the element photo was one of the most creative out of the four photos taken. When creating these images I came across a lot of setbacks, for example the rule of thirds picture was hard for me to compose into looking more artistic like. Generally speaking the creativity played a huge role in my pictures since the contrast and composition were not cooperating.

When it comes to craftsmanship I did a good job. My pictures were not blurry unless the one where it was purposely blurry. The photographs were also not pixilated and of course came out just the way I wanted them to come out. A camera technique that I used was the ISO technique but unfortunately you can’t tell because of the black and white color. Overall I did a good job with craftsmanship from having pictures looking none blurry or none pixilated to having pictures that are well crafted.

Composition was a little tricky for me. As apposed to good contrast I did a fine job with the emphasis of my photographs. All the pictures were purposely arranged in the way shown for various reasons. First of all, the background coincides with all of the picture’s composition. Second I moved things in the background to make the picture more accurate. Finally I focused on the emphasis to correctly portray my expressions.

All in all I had fun with this project and feel I did a great job composing these self portraits. There were many things I did well but I will just name one for now, my element picture displayed the element of texture just right. If I had the chance to do the assignment over again what I would change would be my rule of thirds picture. My favorite shot would definitely be my prop photograph. This project was really exciting, and if I could I would do this for a second time.

ISO

First of all the flash selection would just be a picture only focusing on you and excluding the surrounding. ISO-50 would be best used in the outside only because it makes pictures that are too bright not to bright, therefore you can't even see the detail of the picture. Finally the ISO-5000 was used correctly in this scene because this selection makes pictures in the dark not only show the main focus but also show its surroundings as well.

LIGHT METERING

For the first picture the focus was on the computer to reflect lighting onto this person's face. This caused the computer screen to be over exposed and show the person in the picture. The second picture was meant to make the person's skin tone stand out because I focused on the color of his skin. It is good to use metering in dark places to cause a main attraction of light.

PERSONAL METAPHOR

“I feel like a fish in the desert” Is my form of personal metaphor. The reason for which I chose to write this metaphor was for various reasons. First of all I would like to start by letting you know that I was in a hopelessness mood. I felt that I had so many problems I could not even breathe. Therefore a picture of a fish in the desert would portray my feeling exact to what I felt. In this photograph I was trying to express my self as if I could not breathe. I was also trying to express a desperate feeling in this case desperation for a drop of water in my mouth. The mood I was trying to come across was a mood in which I have no one to help me out “lonely mood”.

The composition in this photo was very good. I think that I did a great job placing things where they belonged. When I took the photo of the background I made sure that there was an open space just for the fish. Also the fish was placed at an angle where the shadows coincide with each other and cause it to belong. The wording was also placed properly in my opinion. The text was not in the way of the main focus, so it worked out just fine. When putting it all together I got a sense of completion. I thought everything was well combined.

When finally finishing my project I honestly felt I did a great job. I felt that I did a great job especially when turning my self into a fish. The reason for which I am so sure with my self that I did a fine job was basically because I did it all on my own with no help. This was actually the only assignment I did on my own. There were quite many difficulties for example the fusion of the fish with my head. I had trouble matching the pigment of the fish with my face. Furthermore I believe that I could have made the fish and me come together in a more believable way, meaning making it look more realistic. The only thing that bothers me and would like to go back and fix it would be the letter text. Otherwise, I am very satisfied with my work and very proud of my self.

HYBREED

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. This project was very exciting and it was easy to splice a bird and a dog together.

MOVIE MOMENTS

Inspired by Cindy Sherman, a contemporary photographer who took photos of herself starring in movies that never existed. These scenes take place at the apartment of two roommates who have known each other since they were little. Jerry is tall and Joe is a midget. They both are mean and like to mess with each other. Jerry always has the habit of taking things away from Joe because he is so short that he will not be able to reach for them.

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 mask. The things that we learned here can help me in the future by letting me know how to make shadows appear realistic when starting from scratch.

CHOCOLATE FROG

For Valentine's day we turned frogs into chocolate frogs. I thought this project was cool although it did not turned out the way I wanted it to. After finishing the frog assingment I learned how to turn a frog into a chocolate frog using photoshop.

PROGRAM COVER/SI SE PUEDE!!!

Si Se Puede is a cover for honors and awards. This cover contains a quote based on the achievement I took.

In this photograph I went out and took a picture of the middle of the baseball field. I chose to take the picture right down the middle because it captured a great amount of the field.

PROGRAM COVER/GRADUATION

These are my designs for the front and back cover of our graduation cover.

I took the picture on the right by standing on the stadium bleachers to capture the natural light of the sun. On the picture on the left I took a picture of the view behind Chavez, and also placed a fading pegasus to make it a little more interesting to accompany the quote.

AGED

We used one of our frames to create a different image on our photo by using photoshop. From the original image we made a duplicate and played around with photoshop to make the picture look older than what it really was.

I made a few adjustment to my picture to create a photo from years ago. First of all I made the picture look a yellow brownish color to make it look aged. I also made some tares and scratches which made the picture look very old fashioned.

BALANCE WITH FRAME

We were given a frame and told we had to be in composition mode, it had to be in black and white also it was assigned to be balanced.

This piece of art was one of my favorites. I managed to create balance by placing my self in the bottom left corner of the picture, and dragging some attention back to the right side by leading lines heading towards the left of the photo frame.

RANDOM OBJECT

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

According to my peers, there were many good comments on my art work. Some of those comments are; good contrast, composition was perfect, and finally this picture made people take a second look and brought back memories of Sleepy Hallow. I definitely agree with these comments. I do feel that I did a pretty good job when it came to good contrast and composition for example.

EGG CHALLENGE

In this photograph me and my partner were given an egg to work with. We were to take this picture in black and white or color. I chose color because the reflection looks awesome when I took the picture. One other motive for which I chose color instead of black and white was because with black and white there was not much contrast.

MY FAVORITE PROJECT FROM LAST SEMESTER

Last semester we created many different kinds of arts. One of my favorite as you can see is reffered to as the cover page. Last semester we made a portfolio. In this portfolio some of the requirements included a front page and many other photographs. I chose this piece for various reasons. The main reason I chose this picture was because it portrays my personality and who I am. I love cars and my phrase, "the race is not over finish it" means don't ignore the problem face it. Furthermore creating this picture was some what difficult. It was a challenge but I managed to overcome it. At the end this project turned out to be a whole new experience in which I learned many photoshop skills.