Update on Littlefield

I am still in the process of organizing my project. My aunt Kate has raised seven cameras so far for me which is awesome. We had a photographer, Sean Kernan come in and give a talk last Monday. He teaches creativity so I thought he would be a perfect person to ask to help me develop my lesson plans. He put me in touch with a friend of his who has done similar projects to mine. His name is Josh Schacter. I emailed him today asking him for some guidance. I think he will be a great help. I still have a lot to work out in regards to research and my budgeting. Phase 3 is so intense and I already feel a little behind. Yikes! This weekend will be a good weekend for a lot of the shots I need to get done.

High Key and 1 Glass

I went home last weekend to shoot Meg and Emily. They are dancers at my family's dance studio. We set up in the studio and got a few great shots. I have not edited all the ones I would like to but here is what I have edited. I also attempted to shoot my glass and metal last night. I got an okay glass shot but completely blew the metal one. Let me know which high key is your favorite so I know which one to put in my portfolio for phase 3. Enjoy!

Self Portrait Art History Reference

We had an assignment to re create a fine art painting self portrait style. I chose so many and procrastinated like crazy. We have had it now for 3 weeks and its due this Friday. I shot it, uploaded it and edited tonight. I originally started with a very complicated painting trying to be an over achiever. As time went by I realized I needed to create a more simple phtograph. Most girls did sexy pin up girls and naked girls and I did on old Indian chief. I'm not sure I am that satisfied with it but here it is with the original painting!

My weekend Portraits

This weekend was the craziest weekend ever. I drove to my house in Somers to drop Arnold off (Arnold is my cat). It was Brenna's birthday so I went out with her friends and Alicia to some place in Springfield. We had dinner and then I drove to my momma's in Vernon. I woke up early and drove to my grandparents with my mom to go see Chicago on Broadway. It was amazing! Ashlee Simpson was Roxie which I wasn't sure I would enjoy but she actually did a great job. I shot my grandparents and aunt in the basement after dinner for some close portraits and they really came out great! Then I got an email from Lois Greenfield that she would like me to assist on a shoot for a dance wear company on Monday. I ofcourse accepted the opportunity! I then drove back to Connecticut to shoot Nanny and Pappa! They were wonderful and Nan fed me enough food for the week. I picked Jenny and Alyse up to help me and we had some fun. Alyse had her surgery and looked like she got beat up by a giant so we took some battered woman portraits . . . AWESOME! Hmm. . . then I dropped Alyse off and drove to Thomostan CT to my uncles to see my pop and have dinner with Mikey and Uncle Mike. Then I drove to Lucy's and celebrated her momma's birthday with the family! I slept at Lucy's and took a train from Fairfield to Grand Central at 5:40 am. I got to Lois's studio around 7:45 but didn't have to be there until 9am so I sat in Starbucks for a few hours and went up around 8:30am. I was there all day. I got out around 6pm then took a train from grand central back to Fairfield and then drove back to Somers woke up at 5am and drove to school this morning. WHOOO WHEE!
Lois and her staff were amazing but the studio was very crowded so I felt in the way a little bit. I am sure I will assist her again in the future. If you don't know of her, she is a very well known photographer who mostly photographs dancers. Check her out!
So, here are the portraits I shot this weekend. Enjoy!

Little Field Home

In June I will be traveling to Malawi, Africa. I am in the process of organizing lesson plans and a budget to present to the orphanage owners, Janet and Bill. I have been in touch with Bill and he loves my idea and plan. I will be traveling to the Little Field Home with donated digital cameras and equipment. I have sent a letter to many people asking for them to sponsor my project. They are purchasing the digital camera to the right of my page, taking a picture of themselves and their family, then sending it to me. I would like people to photograph themselves in order for me to have a picture of all my sponsors.

My idea is to work in the after school program teaching photography to the orphans. An example of one of my lessons is "photograph your favorite place at Little Field Home." The children will take a digital camera and complete the project. After they photograph their favorite place I will print out each child's photo on a small 4 by 6 printer so each child can start their own portfolio. The next class will be spent discussing our experience and explaining our photo. This will allow the children to start creatilvly thinking and improving their visual literacy. Bill thinks my biggest challenge will be the language barrier, but he is willing to provide me a translator. I think that I will be okay with the language. I am going to communicate in other ways such as visuals and demonstration.

I am in the process of making this happen and I am incredibly excited about the opportunity.

Wired Magazine Cover

We have an assignment to shoot the cover of either a seventeen, sports illustrated, wired or times cover. I was originally going to shoot Bess for seventeen but she backed out so I asked Jen Mais (a friend from highschool). She said she could do it but that ended up not being able to. I scrambled for people but then I thought about my friend Chris and how he would be perfect for my idea for WIRED magazine. I decided I would write HTML code over one side of his face and have dramatic dark lighting so his face stands out. I love my shot. Its my new favorite. Once I finished editing I brought the image into InDesign and created the actual magazine cover taking headlines from Google. Here it is . . .





Here are other shots from the shoot . . .

Brenna

Food Photography

Today we shot food! Mine is very simple, but I really like it. Enjoy!

Pilar

Todays lighting class

Today we had a class with D.T about advanced lighting. It was amazing. The school is going to set up a big studio so we can have a long sweep and use the octobank and a 9 foot reflector. Swweeeet! Here are some pictures from class today!

Environmental Portraits

I had to take an environmental portrait for an assignment at school. I ended up taking three; a homeless man, an embalmer, and a banker. I can't decide which one to submit. I think the banker one looks the best for a typical environmental portrait but the one of the embalmer is dark and dreary which creates interest. The one of the homeless man/my cousin isn't acceptable because it was blatantly staged. So here is one of them . . the banker in his environment