Occupy Tucson

Italia

The Chupee

Hold A Baby

Hawaii 2010

Though they may not be the best pictures in the world, they have very significant meaning to me. These pictures are memories of my first trip to Hawaii and I believe these four photos are the ones that caught the feeling of the island. "Pure", "relaxation" and "culture."

Artist Statement

This semester we covered a lot of techniques involving both Photoshop and the camera modes. We learned how to create appealing pictures and how to use adjust our camera for enhanced lighting. Though it seems easy, some of it wasn't. A lot of techniques we use in this class are kind of complicating and take some time to have the pictures come out the way you want them to. For example, my surrealism project is very diverse from everyone else’s because I took a lot of time to make it look different and original. I had some trouble with my blending on the layers, but I think it came out okay. Though it came out how I pictured it, it isn't my favorite piece of work from this semester. My favorite piece of work that I did this semester is my quilt squares. Though I still do not like my future quilt square, I do think that I did pretty well on all the rest of them. I think the future quilt square is by far the worst one I did all year long because it just looks so generic.

However, despite the fact that I haven’t exactly mastered the whole Photoshop curriculum, it was one of my favorite things I learned this year. I took this class for two reasons, to learn how to use a camera, and to learn how to use Photoshop. Furthermore, I really liked learning about all the different types of artist that inspired our work throughout the year. The artist that I relate to the most would probably be Salvador Dali because he’s so weird and a little creepy but his work reflects how his mind works and my mind is sort of similar because I always picture the most bizarre things happening. I think that pretty much all the work we did this year connected to my life. For instance, the quilt squares definitely reflected my life and the kind of person I am. The surrealism project also reflected how my mind works while I’m asleep and how bizarre my dreams are. The social issue kind of related to my opinion on how I view human behavior at its selfish side.

I think I’ve seem a lot of improvement in my craftsmanship and my levels of lighting. Sometimes I make my pictures too bright or too dark, but think I’ve had improvement. Of all the projects, I really think my quilt means more to me than all the others because I spent the most time on them and they were hard to put together. Overall I enjoyed this class because I learned so much in so little time. Ms.Cook taught this class very well and she’s the whole reason I took this class because she’s a cool teacher and I knew she’d teach me well. Thanks Ms. Cook!

Blowout and Panning

The blowout image we took using an ISO of 5000 and by standing in areas with a lot of lighting. This is a good way to capture a really good way to capture the dark details of an image but using ISO makes the photograph very grainy looking and unnatural. The best way to take a blowout I would say is to take a picture in a light setting with a lower ISO and then photoshop it and up the levels of the whites.

Panning was actually really hard to capture. At first we had it on shutter speed but we didn't know that our ISO was still up from us taking pictures for the blowout. Once we figured it out, it kinda got a little bit easier. Next time, I think that we should wear darker clothing that way we won't blend in with the wall so much.

Shutter Speed

The shutter speed is the in charge of how long the light is allowed in. It also allows you to show movement and allows more light in. This project was a lot of fun, though it was hard to come up with something really interesting. We did do a lot of things with this camera mode though like doubling images. My personal favorite is the one with the double imaging of the two guys in our group. We had a hard time making it look really good but i like how it turned out.

Aperture

Small Aperture

Large Aperture



Aperture is a very confusing thing to understand about cameras. When you set your camera to aperature mode, you are putting it in charge of the lighting of the camera and how much light is getting in. The aperature mode kinda works like a pupil. The bigger the hole is, the more light that comes in. The hole is big for the small aperature and small for the large aperature. Big number, small hole for light, big hole, small number for light.

ISO

By using flash, you are able to show your main focus and what it is exactly that you are trying to show. However you can do the same thing with ISO, only you don't need to flash and you won't get rid of the natural lighting. ISO is a figure on the camera that refers to film speed which refers to how sensitive the film is. So if you are trying to take a picture inside and its lighted a little, you may use ISO 50 because its not so sensitive. However, the darker the room gets, the more you may want to pump up to ISO so that it can capture the image better. In a really dark room with only a little bit of lighting, you may use the ISO 5000, although it may come out very grainy looking.

Flash

Flash is not normally good when you are trying to capture a picture of people for maybe memerable reasons. However thats maybe the only thing that it may be good for because all the natural lighting gets whiped out and leave you with nothing but your main focus. Sometimes, the flash captures your face and makes your skin look shiny and oily. Natural lighting is normally best, unless your just trying to capture something with clear focus. The picture I chose is one that I took in on a boat to greece and by not using a flash, I was able to capture the image of the sky and the light hitting the water.

Metering

Light metering measures light at a given speed. It is also good for measuring gray and creates shadows. A lot of cameras have an automatic light meter in their cameras that measures the light for them but sometimes it doesn't work out so good because your background may be too bright and make your emphasis too shadowy. I personally had a little hard time understanding it because I had to hold the button down halfway for a couple of seconds than take a picture of my partner. Some of them came out a little blurry, but I think I got the idea of it pretty well.

Surrealism: Time Flys, I Fall

In this picture, a young girl looks as if she is dreaming of a disturbing world where everything around her seems to be falling apart. Time seems to be flying and she seems to be falling into a mysterious wretchedness and has no idea what is going to happen when she hits rock bottom. The rain clocks appear to be flying upward, representing that only time can fly and will continue to do so. Meanwhile, the raindrops of the girl seem to be flying downward in to a big pile of clouds that seem to have no end to it and everything will fade away. The lightning is especially inquisitive because there’s so much of it and it could represent the annoyance and misery within the dream and the sky is blue which could also mean that she is miserable and very scared of what could happen next within this dreadful nightmare

Surreal Practice Tutorials

This week we studied surrealism and did two tutorials to help us practice for our upcoming project. The first tutorial we did was the eye wall. We took a picture of a simple eye and turned it into a more abstract and artistic looking photo. The second one was a desert photo landscape with an lamp post that is out of place. At first, the desert landscape looked to much like an ordinary picture of the desert, but by adding the lamp post and scratchy star sky, we were able to turn this photo into something to look at. Both tutorials were fairly simple and are going to assist us in our surreal project because it taught us to think outside the box.

Graduation Program

Graphic designing wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be. It was hard to come up with a really good idea but I still found it challenging yet interesting as well. Yes! my ideas for both of the programs were a lot different from my classmates, but I kinda like that they are different because I like having unique ideas. Even if other people find them odd. Graphic design is a huge roll in our marketing industry because it sells a product. Furthermore, we see them everywhere and they play an important roll in our society because its a way to market a product in style.

Senior Portfolio Show Invitation

After evaluating the work of my classmates I would have to say that mine isn't bad, though I could have found other features to include in it. However, I still like my invitation because it's original and I kinda like my idea of how it has a different look to it. I had a lot of problems with making the pegasus look more artistic, but I think it turned out okay.

Personal Quilt

My Quilt

Outside

Inside

Past

Future

Of all the assignments given this year, the quilt was by far the most challenging. I had to really use my imagination to explore different abstract ways to express my point of view without it being so obvious. I realize that my quilts are a lot more abstract and confusing than the others, but I think I followed through with the assignment fairly well. Whenever I’d picture what my next quilt square would look like, it always altered because I could never make up my mind on which idea seemed more superior. For the most part, I’d say I did well on most of the squares, except the future square. I had a lot of trouble with the color and I don’t like the glow in back of me but I forgot how to remove it and ended up havbecause in my past square, I’m exploring the world and everything in between. As I look at my past, I see that I’m still exploring, but I’m looking at the world from a different angle. I am no longer as naïve in my future and the world isn’t as much of a playground as it once was. When I asked others about how they saw me as I person, I wasn’t all that surprised. The people who’ve known me for years know that I’m a fun, warm hearted person. Those who didn’t know me just saw me as smart and quiet. My symbols for this project were extremely abstract because I wanted people to really think about my pictures rather than having them look at my quilt and having it be so obvious to them. I’d say that all of my quilts have interesting patterns and symbols that show my emotions and personality. Because of this, it was hard to portray myself visually. The easiest part was putting them all together, but other than that, everything else was rather complicating. However, after I spent time on each square, I came to find it fun and I learned how to improve them and make them more interesting and unique for people to determine. ing to keep it there. The quilt I like the most is probably my inside square because I spent a lot of time on it trying to portray how I see myself. When it comes to comparing my past and my future, I’d say there are some similarities

Artist Statement

This semester has been full of a lot of hard work and creativity. Furthermore, it was a bit of a challenge because most of the computer programs I’ve learned in throughout my four years of high school have been of standard, everyday usage, such as, Microsoft Word, PowerPoint and Excel. In my opinion, Photoshop was very confusing and a little tricky, however, I did benefit from learning it. Within my portfolio, I have incorporated all of my coarse work of this semester and my descriptive details on those pictures to signify the implication of the picture and how I felt about my work.

Over the course of this semester I have learned about significant artist who express themselves and opinions through their artwork. I’ve also learned about compositional tricks for camera usage that not only help our pictures have a more enhanced composition but better quality and craftsmanship as well. My favorite project from this semester was the social issues and learning how to turn myself into a vampire, though it was the project I struggled with the most. The hardest part about the vampire and alien project was all the steps that it took to make it look real.

Overall, I think my portfolio is about a seven on a scale of one through ten because I did keep up with all my post and projects but some of them I believe I could’ve possibly put a little more effort into them to make them of better quality. Next semester, I will try my best to improve on the effort in my work and put a little more contemplation into my projects.

Personal Words

The Lyrics I chose for this project are "The Voice Within" by Christina Aguilera.


"when there's no one else, look inside yourself. Like your oldest friend just trust the voice within. Than you'll find the strength that will guide your way. You learn to begin to trust the voice within. Young girl don't cry. I'll be right here when your world starts to fall."

I chose these lyrics because The Voice Within is one of my favorite songs and it sends an inspirational message to anyone who ever felt hopeless because their whole world is crashing down upon them. Furthermore, any line in this song can be pulled out and be used as an encouraging quote to be used to motivate people to realize that they can accomplish anything as long as they trust their instincts and have faith in themselves to keep trying. People will one day learn that the only thing holding them back from something is their own intedermination.

My Smile Is Your Frown

In this picture I have positioned a young girl at the corner of an old, historic vehicle. Further in the background is an old and dead pomegranate tree that had lost most of it’s beautiful green color over the years and had grown gloomy grey leaves over it. The young girl sits alone with her head down in sorrow for she has no a reason to smile. To me, this issue signifies the delight of one’s misery. There are certain situations when people are more contented when they see someone they despise unhappy. For instance, if President Obama were to be assassinated on this very day, the republicans of this country would be overwhelmed with gratification. Furthermore, there are also other times when a person stays silently dejected to please others. As one is smiling, the other one frowns. I chose express this social issue because in many ways, it portrays to me and my life. If I were to be in ALL honors and AP classes, my teachers, family and everyone around me would be proud and happy while wearing a pleasant smile upon their faces. Meanwhile, my frown that I’d wear would be of no importance because I’m doing what’s right while in deep despair from being besieged with a large amount of work and focus. However, it just seems that as long as everyone else is happy, it doesn’t matter what the person that it affects wishes.

Scary Effects

My favorite post of these two would have to be the vampire because I had a lot of fun putting it together on photoshop. I honestly think that I could've made my eyes and blood look more realistic but I liked this project anyway because we learned about a lot of different brushs and tone effects for our pictures. The biggest difficulty I experienced was when I missed a day of school and had to try and figure out how to put the octopus legs on my alien by reading a manual on Microsoft Word. The thing I think I did okay on was my compsition on my alien picture. I missed the tutorial on the skin composition, but I still think I did somewhat of a good job.

Formal Critique

Upon a field of gloomy rigid sticks and grass stands a man wearing a tuxedo who appears to be walking through a line of malevolent fire while tears run down his back. The man is centered in the middle of the picture and seems to be darker than the light smoke from the fire that frames his upper body. In my opinion, this man feels dejected and depressed. The tears are representing all the things in his life that are making him weak and distraught. The fire seems to be the solution that will dry the tears and be rid his misery. This photograph is beautiful and astounding because it depicts the grief that one person can feel and is also a photograph of many possibilities.

Photoshop Tricks

Portraits

Artistic Portrait

Face Portrait

Prop Portrait

Surprise Portrait

1&2: The portrait I think I have been the most successful with was the artistic photo. We searched forever to find a creative background and luckily the sprinklers turned on while we were taking photos and created a very misty looking scenery. Furthermore, I think this photo looks even more better on the rule of thirds.

3. While choosing a prop for the the prop photo, we decided that since it was business day that we would just use the business clothes as the prop.