#7? It Gets Better

The picture above was inspired by all the people who submitted videos for the It Gets Better project. I would first like to say that in order to get all these pictures I had to watch every single one of these videos, take a screen capture, and edit them individually. Before I go on to talk about the picture I would like to give special thanks to:

Hilary Clinton,

Rob from Sydney, Australia,

Summer and Oscar,

Nick,

Wes Anderson,

Adam Lambert,

Brian,

David,

Sarah Silverman,

Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Eric Stonestreet,

President Obama,

Jewel,

Zachary Quinto,

Kermit the Frog,

"hauntednursery",

Jack from Taking Back Sunday,

Ryan James Yezak,

Terry and Dan,

Densil,

Ke$ha,

Margaret Cho,

Jill Craig and Shelly Taylor

Thank you all so much. Your videos and your kind words makes a difference and inspired me as well as others.

On to talking about the picture. One of the reasons why I wanted to do a picture about the It Gets Better Project is because at the time suicides committed by homosexual teenagers was a big thing on the news. It really upset me that these poor kids were bullied to death because of something they can't change. I wanted to let people know that it does actually get better and if the only way I can do that is through my art and photography then I'm going to do it. The first video that I watched was Ryan James Yezak's video for the It Gets Better project. That got me started on watching so many videos for the project. I thought "What if I took a screen-capture of everyone who made a video for the project and made a collage of all of them?" I think I was kind of in over my head though. I want to actually watch every video I included in it and because of that it would take me at least 5 minutes just to find a picture, sometimes even longer. After I took it I had to edit each individually. It just took way too long. I chose a few of my favorites and included them. A few of them are celebrities and the reason I included them is to show "Look, it's that really famous person, your idol, they've had problems too."

To be quite honest with myself I don't like it. I feel that there was no skill required to do this. It's plain. It's boring. It doesn't make me feel anything. I showed my mom and she said it was good but that's my mom so I don't think it really counts. I asked my friend Andrew, who has always been honest with me, what he thought about it and he said that he didn't like it as much as the others that I've done. My response to that was "Yeah, I think 'not one of my best works' might be a complement to this picture :/" I'm not sure if it gets the point that I'm trying to make across. I'm actually kind of disappointed in myself and I may not use this at all.

I get side tracked a lot when writing these reflections because I feel so strongly about the subject but this time I put it at the end. Yes, being a bisexual teen at this time isn't the easiest thing for me, especially when I know that some people won't accept me because of it, but I know that it will get better. Everything bad that has happened to me has made me a stronger, better person and in the end when I look back I think "Man, that was awful! That sucked! I never want to go through that again! But now I stand up for myself. Now I'm stronger. Now I see how other people feel." I believe everything happens for a reason. Maybe the reason those poor children died is because now people finally pay attention. Now people see that it actually hurts people! People are starting to take things more seriously and I think that's a good thing. Hopefully the people who committed suicide because of bullying will not die in vain. I know that I refuse to let them die in vain.

Please enjoy the links below

Bye :)

It Gets Better Project

Ryan James Yezak's blog

Why it Gets Better for LGBT Youth

What's Going On

Hey guys, it's been awhile. Sorry for not posting any new pictures lately but I promise you I'm working on them and I'm still alive. A lot of stuff has been going on lately. The holiday's are coming up and so are progress reports. This year has been one of the busiest and stressful years yet. I'm trying to keep my head above water so to speak. Trying to not drown in school work and chores. Unfortunately it has taken me away from what I love most which is photography. I'm hoping that during this break I'll be able to take more pictures. I have quite a few ideas. Here is a list of some of the ideas I have:

• Don't Ask Don't Tell: A soldier holding both the american flag and the gay flag
• Wedding Day: 2 women getting married while people are protesting it
• A student being told to take off a pro-gay shirt while another student has a shirt that says "God created Adam and Eve not Adam and Steve" 
  
• Children saying the pledge of allegiance under the US flag, words printed on a paper "for liberty and justice for all* ......... *unless you're gay"
• Last picture: group photo of all my non-straight models with someone holding up a sign that says "This is Who We Are"

So that's what you have to look forward to. I'm currently working on the It Gets Better collage. If I do all the photos above that'll put me to 13 pictures then I'll only need 2 more.

One of the other things that's been stressing me out is that I met most of the kids that I'll be traveling with to Australia. They're really nothing like me. Many, almost of them, are pretty rich. Almost all are white and look pretty conservative. I felt completely alone and no one talked to me. The only people I really talked to were the leaders and that was because we started talking about photography. Later in the car my mom told me that maybe I shouldn't tell them I'm bisexual because doesn't want me outcasted even more. I really agree with her too. I had a nightmare that they found out and hated me for it and did horrible things to me, then I got kicked out of the program. I'm probably making this a bigger deal then it actually is but I'm still terrified...

Well that's what's going on. Thank you to all my viewers especially those of you in other countries! I hope all of you enjoy my blog. More pictures are on the way!

Bye :D

#6 Gay Teen Suicide

"Gay Teen Suicide"

Fact: Suicide is 2 to 3 times higher for LGBT youth!
1 out of 3 queer kids have tried to kill themselves!
Kids rejected by their parents are 8 times more likely to kill themselves! 

The above photos are about gay teen suicide. When I heard about the suicides due to anti-gay bullying it really hurt my soul. I know how it is when a loved one attempts suicide but I can't imagine how much it must hurt for someone to lose a loved one due to suicide. One of the things that I hate about these recent news stories is that people are acting like this is something new. It's nothing new, this has been going on for a long time but I'm glad that it's finally getting attention and people are realizing that what they say can really affect someone. I can't really link you to any of the recent gay suicide stories because there are just so many to filter through and at the moment I just do not have the time, nor the heart, to do so.

In these images my model is Darrian. You remember her from last year in photo 1-2. For this shoot I did actually learn how to tie a noose knot and everything. I did not actually hang my model, I love her far too much to even consider it! The shot above was created by her holding onto a branch of a tree and I just realized that I should have included that tree trunk.... dang it.

The reason why I have 2 photos uploaded is that I could not decide which one to use and I really need some help picking. It would be very helpful if you could comment on this post and tell me which you like best. It's okay if you do it as an anon too. What makes it so hard to choose is that both the pictures were photoshopped the same way, the only thing that's different is that one is in black and white and the other's in color. Instead of telling you every step I went through when editing I'll just give you the link to what tutorial I used. I used a tutorial called Ghosting an Image. For the one that's in color I did things a little differently though. For the color one I only effected the legs and feet. A few people told me that I should edit out the person in the background but Ms. Miles actually likes the person back there. It kind of makes the viewer wonder "Why isn't the person in the back doing anything about it?!"

The feeling of these pictures is dark. But I'm not so sure......it some how doesn't feel dark enough to me. I'm considering re-shooting because I'm not 100% satisfied with my images from this shoot. I'm not quite satisfied because it almost looks like she's just jumping off the chair and I feel that it doesn't have that big of an impact on the viewer. Oh well. If I have time to re-shoot I will. I'm pretty excited about my next project though. I'm taking screenshots of everyone who has done a video for the It Gets Better Project, editing them at least 40% (so I can't get sued), and putting them together as a collage.

Well that's all for now

Check out the links below

Bye :3

Links:

Darrian's Photography Blog

Ghosting an Image

It Gets Better

#5 The American Dream

I shot these photos on Thursday, October 28, 2010. From left to right my models are Snapper Humphries, Demirae, Denmark, and Kyle Escobar. Kyle is Snapper's partner and Demirae and Denmark are their children that they adopted. I actually met Snapper the day of the shoot, that was the first time I had ever seen him. The way I met Snapper was through my mom. I told her that I needed models for a photo shoot and when I said that I needed a family she thought of Snapper. My mom is a surgery scheduler and Snapper works at Scripps Mercy and that's how they knew each other, although they never officially met.

Snapper and Kyle's story (how they adopted their children): I believe that when they adopted Denmark it was a normal adoption. But for Demirae it was a different story. One of the great things is that Denmark and Demirae are biological brother and sister. Snapper and Kyle had already adopted Denmark when one night they got a call from the hospital saying "The mother of your son just gave birth to a daughter, do you want her? If you want her you need to come get her right now." They rushed to the hospital and adopted Demirae. Snapper was holding Demirae's car seat and the nurses wheeled Snapper out in a wheelchair just like they do for the mothers. I find it sad that they were put up for adoption but I'm so happy that Snapper and Kyle adopted them. They have an adorable family.

I got the idea for this photo shoot when I saw an article reporting that homosexual couples can now adopt children in Florida. Some people believe that by allowing homosexual couples to adopt children that 2 things can happen 1. by being raised by homosexuals the child turns out being homosexual. I have a problem with that because not being straight is not a choice. You are born with it. Just how people are born straight people are born gay. The other thing that people think might happen is 2. the reason homosexual people adopt is because they are pedophiles and want a child to be a sex slave or something. Both of those beliefs are ridiculous! Just because you're not straight does not mean that you are a pedophile. I believe that gay people should have the right to adopt. It's best for the child to have a family than grow up all alone with no family. Gay people are the exact people who should adopt. They can't have their own children so what's so wrong with adoption?

Okay so now that I'm done ranting on to talking about the picture. I used the black background because 1. it's my favorite background, 2. I feel it looks nicer, and 3. it's much cleaner and you can't see footprints as well as you can on the white background. I had them sit on the red couch/stool thing because many of the family portraits I've seen the people are sitting down. My idea did change a bit but it did mostly stay the same. The only thing that changed was that instead of using tungsten lights Ms. Miles said that I should use strobe because of how small the children are and that children tend to fidget around a lot and can't keep still. By using the strobe I was able to stop the motion. I had never shot professional type family portraits so I wasn't really sure how to direct them. I first had Snapper and Kyle sitting on the couch thing while Snapper held Demirae and Kyle held Denmark. After a few of them like that I let them move around and position themselves and I'm happy I did that or else I wouldn't have gotten the shot above.

The feeling of this picture is actually happy! It'll probably be the happiest picture I have in my series. I can't find any dark side to this picture! It's just too adorable! The only "dark" part that people might find is that the parents are gay. But I can't find anything dark and depressing about it which is great! With the other shoots after I shot the pictures and when I was editing them I would get kind of depressed and just wish that things were different but with this picture I was so happy! I was like "Oh my god I love this family. It's so cute. Life is great. *Nods* Everything's going to be okay." It actually gave me more hope which I really needed. Unfortunately these happy pictures will not continue. My next photo shoot is about suicide...... But I hope you enjoyed the pictures!

Bye :D

Links:

Gay Adoption Ban in Florida Challenged

Banning Gay Adoption Hurts Children

#4 Matthew Shepard's Story

"Matthew Shepard's Story"

This image was also taken October 20, 2010. I titled this picture "Matthew Shepard's Story" because this actually happened in real life. His story is one of the worst stories I have ever heard and is the worst hate crime I know of. Matthew was 21 years old when he was murdered. Two men, Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson, drove Matthew to a strange location, beat him, tortured him, tied him to a fence, and left him to die. He was discovered by a cyclist, Aaron Kreifels, 18 hours later. He had first mistook him as a scarecrow. But by the time he discovered Matthew he was already in a coma. His injuries were horrible. People said that he was beaten so bad that his face was covered in blood except for the places where Matthew's tears had washed away the blood. To learn more about Matthew Shepard click here.

For this photo I used the rule of thirds to place Tam in the bottom right corner. I wrapped Tam's wrists in yarn and very loosely tied them to the fence. I made it clear to her that if she needed them loosened or needed to be untied at anytime to let me know. I had her slump down and asked her to look as limp as possible, to look as if she was dead. I had to edit this picture alot because I had accidently left my camera set to tongsten lighting instead of normal day light. The picture turned out blue so I fixed the color by going to color balance in photoshop. I also edited in some lighting with photoshops lighting effects. I have it lightest where Tam is because that is the part I want people to be focused on. News stories about Matthew Shepard had said that his face was covered in blood but I couldn't bear to put anymore bruised and bloody make up on her. At the end of this photo shoot I felt absolutely horrible. To see her like that was almost too much for me because I am so protective of her. I can't tell you how many nightmares I've had where she's about to be beaten and I try to protect her.

This image, like the past 3, has a pretty dark feeling to it. This is actually the only idea that I had that hadn't changed. I'm hoping that when people see this they'll feel horrible but I would just like to clarify that the purpose of these pictures is not to depress people (well kinda). I'm not sadistic and I don't enjoy hurting people in anyway but I want people to think. I mean REALLY think. Think about these people. Think about how they're being hurt. Think about how they've been hurt. Matthew Shepard was murdered because he was gay! For no other reason besides that he was gay! As if being gay is a reason to be hated and in this case even killed! I don't know how people will react to this photo being paired with the the story of Matthew Shepard but I'm kind of hoping that it.....I don't want to say "rip them to shreds" but that's kind of what I want. But I don't want them to just be depressed I want them to try to do something about it. Do anything! Even if it's as small as stop saying "gay" or "faggot" or any other hateful word that is targeted at homosexuals or telling someone else to stop using those words. When I read Matthew's story it destroyed me. I was crying so hard because being bullied and hated for being gay is one thing but being murdered?! It breifly made me lose hope in humanity. But I realized that losing hope and being depressed about something is a horrible thing to do. The thing you need to do is get up and do something about it! And that's what I did. I got up, mourned the murder of Matthew, got angry, and created this shot. I'm only 15 and if taking pictures and doing my art is the only thing I can do I'm going to do it. I can tell you right now that my pictures are more than likely not going to brighten up much at all. I have 3 ideas swirling around in my head right now and the brightest one (which I think I'll be shooting soon) is a family portrait of two gay men and their adopted childeren. Please if my pictures make you feel something, angry, depressed, thankful, anything! Get up and do something about it! Nothing will change immediatly but if we all work together eventually things will change. That's all I want. That's all anyone wants I think: change.

Please check out these links:

Matthew Shepard's Story

Remembering Matthew Shepard and Reflections on October

Judy Shepard's Statement About Her Son's Death 10 Years Later

Rest in Peace

Matthew Shepard

December 1, 1976 - October 12, 1998

#3 Anti-gay Bullying

"Anti-gay Bulling"
9 out of every 10 queer kids are bullied, beaten, and bashed!

The above photo was taken on October 20, 2010. It was also the day where many people wore purple in memory of the recent suicides caused by anti-gay bullying. To learn more about that click here and here. My models are Justin Killingsworth (playing the bully) and Tam Nyguen (playing the victim). I would first like to state that Justin is pro gay rights and that no children were actually punched, bullied, or hurt during this photo shoot. All the bruises were created with make up. The bloody nose was made with fake blood purchased at a halloween store.

There were a few challenges I had to work through with this shoot. The first was trying to get both of my models at the same time. But the two biggest ones were the awkwardness in the air during the shoot. I felt awful asking Justin to pretend to beat Tam up because he would never hurt anyone because they're gay. Another challenge was trying to get Tam to look like she's actually in pain. The last one was a personal challenge: trying to remember that the bruises and blood were only fake and trying to finish the shoot before lunch ended.

In this picture I have Tam sitting on the ground and Justin walking away as if he's finished the beating and is going home. I had Tam wear my rainbow cuff and my other bracelet that says "LOVE" (which you can't see in this picture). The reason why I had her wear those bracelets is because it shows that it's not just any bullying but it's anti-gay bullying. In this picture she was actually holding her hair back because it kept getting in the way of the make up but it works because it looks like she's just holding her face because she's in pain. The location I shot at is in the ally way near classroom 116. I decided to use Tam as the victim because she is sweet, adorable, and so innocent. Another reason is because when bullies find out someone is gay or they think someone's gay they don't care who that person is, they don't care if that person is defenseless or can't fight back they will go after them.

The feeling of this photo is dark, once again. I don't think any photographer could possibly make this image positive in any way. This photo is purposely dark. I want people to look at this picture and see her face and feel horrible. I want them to wish that they could have protected her. I want them to feel her pain. And I want them to want to do something about it! School is suppose to be a safe place for all children! No matter what age, sex, race, or orientation! Every child is supposed to have a safe learning environment.

Links:

http://listown.com/group/wear-purple-october-20-2010-15194

http://gayrights.change.org/blog/view/on_wednesday_wear_purple_and_say_no_to_hate

http://gayrights.change.org/blog/view/anti-gay_bullying_suicides_whos_really_to_blame

Below is a picture of the make up that I did on Tam

Bye

#2 Hidden Love

"Hidden Love"

Above is the second photo for my portfolio. My models are my best friends Diana and Amber. This image was inspired by two of my friends (not the ones in the photo) who are going out. Both of the girls are bi sexual and make an adorable couple. But they have to hide the fact that they are going out and how much they love each other because when one of the girl's sister saw them kissing she told their mom and she got in huge trouble. It was worse than just getting in trouble. The girls mother temporarily stopped talking to her daughter and kept say "Where did I go wrong with you...?" When she told what happened it broke my heart because I love them and they deserve to be happy but for her mother to say that....I can't imagine how much that must have hurt her. They are still together and they were willing to model for this picture until they found out I had to put it up on here. They don't want to have to break up because of their families.

This image was actually not my first idea. My original idea was to shoot them in the studio with tungsten lights and black out their faces in photoshop to represent how they can't let people know that they're going out. But Ms. Miles said that I should shoot outside and use natural symbolism like the crack. The crack (which I had to photoshop a second one in) represents the strain having to hide their love puts on their relationship. They're holding hands but notice that they are back to back and are kind of hiding their hands on the side, that represnts them being together but having to keep it a secret. Their faces which are shadowed was not created by the magic of photoshop but by the tungsten light and represents once again their secret.

This image once again has a very dark feeling to it which I had hoped it would. I wish for people to look at this picture and really think about how hard it must be to care about and love someone so much and not being able to go on dates with them or hold hands with them at school or not being able to kiss them without being worried about who sees.

So that is my second image for my portfolio. I hope you enjoyed it.

Thanks again to my dear friends Diana and Amber

Bye :)

Vee Speers

Untitled #32, The Birthday Party Series

Vee Speers was born 1962 in Newcastle, Australia. She studied photography and fine art at Queensland College of Art. Her portraits have been exhibited and published world wide and are part of private collections as well as museum collections.

I actually couldn't find much information about her so yeah....that's all I have :/

#1 In The Closet

The above photograph was kinda inspired by a poem (thing) I wrote on July 23, 2010

*the following has been censored

Darkness... That's all I see. That's all anybody can see in this **** place! I sit down here, on the floor, with the clothes that have fallen off their hangers. I listen to the people outside of this place and long to be with them. To be free. To not have to hide anymore. What that must be like.....to be free... I don't remember what it was like. I've been in this place since November. Ever since I figured it out. At first I denied it. But I learned to accept it and for awhile I was on the outside, happy. But then I heard them.....I heard their hateful jeers. I saw the rights of people like me ripped away in the name of god. I've been forced into this ******* place!! By my fellow man! And why? Because I'm different! Because I was born this way!! Their angry words, hate and judgment flew at me like darts and the only place I could hide was in here. I can't be hurt in here... hidden from the world. But it does hurt me! Why have you forced me into this ****** place?! Why would you do this to your fellow man?! Am I such a threat to you?! Does my happiness and who I love really affect your ******* life?! It doesn't! You just hate me! You hate us! So thank you! Thank you for making us hide in fear! Cowering in our own closets! No more! I will stand up! I will break out of this place! And when I do I WILL get my rights!! For I am tired of cowering!! I stand up now and you can not put me back down!!

I really hope I don't get in trouble for posting that poem.... Anyway on to talking about the photo!

So as you can see this is the same picture as my test shot with a few differences. First, I took the words out using the clone stamp tool. But since it's not a perfect fix it made the color on the door look a little weird so I decided to soften the picture and then I used lighting affects.

In the picture it shows me coming out of a door which represents the "closet" that people hide in to avoid being judged. I hope that people will see this picture and try to understand how much pain their hate really causes people. It's really no wonder why all these homosexual people are committing suicide. Peoples hate drives them to that point!! This is a huge problem and it has to stop!!

After I finished editing this picture I realized that it has a really dark feeling to it and I think this is going to really effect my series. I also realized that the 5 or 6 ideas I have for upcoming photos are really dark. I'm sure these upcoming images are really going to make people think and maybe even depress some people a bit.

I hope you enjoyed the picture and poem

Bye

P.S. Ms. Miles has suggested that I also start posting real news articles that go with my pictures or has something to do with it. I think that is a great idea so I will be posting links if not the article itself with my pictures. Since the theme for this picture is being in the closet I have found an article about a homophobic scientist's son coming out of the closet. Enjoy :)

http://gayrights.change.org/blog/view/son_of_anti-gay_professor_comes_out_of_the_closet

Test Shot

"In The Closet"

Above is my test shot for my "senior exhibition." Because of lack of models I used myself. I also shot this at home with no lighting at all.

My idea for my "senior exhibition" is gay rights. I'm hoping that people understand what this photo is saying without me having to explain but I'll explain anyway. The words on the door say "ABOMINATION," "GAY," and "HATE." In the picture it shows me coming out of a door which represents the "closet" that people hide in to avoid being judged. The words represent some of the hateful things people say that make people who aren't straight feel like they have to stay in the closet.

This is so personal for me because I'm bi and I'm still in the closet from many people. My hope is that people will see this and understand what people like me have to go through and how much their hate really hurts. For example yesterday I saw an article on gay rights and someone had commented on it saying "Being gay must suck. You guys should just kill yourselves so us normal people could have one less problem." I read that and started crying so hard. To think that someone would tell an entire group of people to kill themselves just breaks my heart.

I hope you enjoyed the picture.

Please stop this hate.

Bye

Portfolio Proposal

Summary of Request:

Proposed by: Christina Maria Cervantes

Project Title: Proposition H8

Class: Period 1 Photography 3

Instructor: Ms. Miles

Project Due Date: 1/31/2011

Project Description

Type of Work: Portraiture

Concept

I will be taking pictures that will have something to do with gay rights. These pictures will include people as they will be portraits. The work will show people who are bi, lesbian, gay or transsexual. The photos will show how these people are effected by prop 8 or society in general. I will try to make the pictures seem natural and not so posed.

Vision

I'm hoping that people will see my pictures and realize that these people are not abominations and that they will see how much hurt discrimination and hate causes people of the gay community.

Inspiration

My inspiration is the gay community, my friends, and my feelings. Many of my friends are not straight and neither am I. I am bisexual and even though I am only 15 years old I have been deeply effected by prop 8 and society and have felt much pain from it.

Equipment to be Used

Canon Rebel XSI, strobe lights, and tungsten lights

Presentation

Not sure....

A New School Year

Picture taken by Amber Mczeal (I love you Amber <3)

Hey everyone! :D Long time no see. It's a new school year. Sophomore year 2010-2011! I'm so excited to see what's going to happen! Hopefully it'll be a good year with the least amount of drama possible. This year I got photography for my first period. Starting my day off right with photography! :D

But for some reason they put me in Senior studio. The class is HUGE! There are 5 of us who aren't seniors. There's about 30 seniors, 4 juniors and then there's me... the 1 and only sophomore. But that's okay! :D It'll be a new learning experience and I'm hoping to learn from the upper class men's successes and mistakes.

Instead of Ms. Miles giving the 5 of us different assignments from the seniors, she has decided to give us the same assignments as the seniors. This means that I will be doing a "Senior Exhibition" but it doesn't count. It's just practice. When you choose to do photography for your senior exhibition you have to pick a theme and take 15 pictures that has something to do with that theme. You must have these by the end of the first semester.

I have talked to my brother about senior exhibitions and he said that the best thing to do is to pick something you really care about. So I sat and thought for awhile "What's important to me that I can show through photography and can be a series of 15 pictures....?"

Something I care very dearly about is gay rights. Seeing as I am, in fact, bisexual. But even before I knew that I was I still believed that everyone should have the same rights and be treated equally. You have no idea how much it truly hurts my heart and soul to know that people like me are being hated and discriminated against. When I hear about a parent(s) who do not accept their child for who they are it makes me want to break down in tears!

I am very tired of not being heard because of who I am so I am hoping that my work will do my talking for me.

I hope you enjoy the upcoming photos and really try to think about what I'm trying to say or how you interpret it.

I'll talk to you guys later

Bye ^_^

Summer Intensive

All the photos below are the original, unedited shots and were taken at SCPA's Summer Arts Intensive

Model: Christian Capuchino

Model: Goni Dubnov

Model: Kimberly Garner

Models: Kimberly Garner and Christian Capuchino

Oil Spill Landscapes

The images below were taken off of the website http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/20/live-gulf-oil-spill-video-feed_n_583682.html#s95593

This image shows a memorial to the things that were lost because of the oil spill. I chose to write about this picture because it is a very strong and meaningful image and I just love it. This picture was taken in someone's yard in Grand Isle, La. The top left corner is in shadows and the light source seems to be coming form that top left corner. There is some depth of field. I feel that this image is not only a nice landscape photo but also conveys a strong message.

This image shows a beach and in front the shore are the words "PARADISE LOST" written in what looks like garbage. This image was taken in Grand Isle, Louisiana. What's good about this image is that the horizon line is straight. I like what they did with it too. We've seen many pictures of the ocean and many times they all look the same but because of the message on the beach it makes it something we've never seen before.

This image, of smoke from an oil fire near the coast of Louisiana, was taken in the air. Because of the smoke in this picture I can't tell if the horizon line is straight or not. Again this is something many of us haven't seen before so it is interesting and shocking at the same time.

I think all of these images are very strong and convey messages just as strong.

That's all for now...

I wish this wasn't happening. I wish these photos didn't exist... I wish the oil spill didn't exist...

Goodbye for now :(

Ethnicity Photos

The assignment was to take a picture of ethnicity. Unfortunately I got sick, one again, and was unable to shoot. When I got back to school I discovered that the deadline was in two days! I went to art class and told my friends Marianna and Cindy my predicament. They were very helpful and suggested we go to Chicano Park and take pictures on Wednesday.

"La Virgin de Guadalupe"

The photo above was taken outside using natural light at an alter to the Virgin Mary. My model, Marianna, is wearing a mexican dress and is praying the rosary. When I got to school the next day I chose two pictures and began editing them in photoshop.

For this image I simply went to "filter", "render", "lighting affects." I chose to use a lighting affect to make it look like the Virgin was glowing and to make Marianna darker but still visible.

I think this photo works because religion and art is a huge part of mexican culture and I think this picture shows it.

"Niña Bonita"

In this photo I have Cindy, dressed in a folklorico dancing dress, sitting on the edge of a fountain. Again I used natural lighting. This fountain was quite cool because on one side the people looked alive but on the other side, the side Cindy is on, the people are skeletons!

For this one I used the clone stamp to get rid of the words "CALL TIA!!!" on her arm and to get rid of the hairpins and hair-tie next to her. After I fixed that I, again, went to lighting affects and chose "flashlight." I made it so that the light was mainly on Cindy but you could also see the fountain.

I think this photo also works because it, again, shows art and it shows what mexican girls may wear.

That's all for now :)

I hope you enjoyed them :3

Bye :D

Make A Wish :3

The point of this assignment was to find interesting places to shoot at SCPA. This picture was shot outside with all natural lighting from the sun, behind the prop cage. My model, Ruby, is blowing a dandelion puff. In front of her (or in the background) is a type of reflective plastic. I'm honestly not sure what it is but it acted like a mirror.

I chose to shoot there because I knew there were interesting things around cage. The dandelion puff was then found and I thought it would look nice.

While exploring SCPA we found many interesting places and it will really help in the future.

Well that's all for now

Bye! :D

Portrait Picture

For this assignment I used my friend Diana as the model. I've known Diana since 6th grade and she's one of my best friends.

This picture was taken outside during lunch. It was a cloudy day and later on it started raining. I used my Fuji digital point and shoot camera.

This assignment was very difficult for me. Diana felt awkward with me being right next to her face and telling her "Don't look at the camera!! Be your self :)".

I took about 64 pictures and narrowed it 1. The only problem with this photo was the feet coming out of her nose. But that was easily fixed in photoshop.

Well that's all for now :)

Bye :D

P.S. LOVE YOU DIANA :3

Group Photo Shoot for SCPA

The assignment was to get in a group and do a photo shoot for SCPA. The shoot had to include some or all of the arts we have at SCPA and the use of strobe lights. I was in a group with Darrian, Ruby, Stephany, Lexi and Latrice. Our models were Lisa (playing the cello), Claressa (dancer) and Katherine (artist). We used 3 people because we know that the eye likes odd numbers.

We decided to shoot outside, in the Senior Circle. We used strobe and natural light from the sun. We set up the strobe light to the left of Lisa. Katherine had the wonderful idea of spreading leaves on the ground. After we got everything set up and our models situated we started shooting. Unfortunately we didn't really keep track of who took what so we're not really sure who took the photo above.

This photo shoot was very difficult and challenging. We had a lot of issues. There was confusion and indecision on what the models should be doing. Once we started shooting the PE people started walking to the water fountain and getting in our shot. We had to herd them around the photo shoot and ask them to run if they got into the shot. But in the end we all agreed that all that trouble we went through was worth the finished product.

I decided to print this photo because I liked how everyone looks in it. One of the things I love about this shot, that I noticed after printing it, is the light coming through the tree. I think this photo is a good representation of SCPA because it shows the arts, we have part of the SCPA campus in the background and we have SCPA students as the models.

That's all for now

I hope you enjoyed our photo

Bye :3

Portraits vs Snapshots

The assignment was to read Soaking Success by Jessica Gordon. The article was about photographer Manjari Sharma and her portraits. Sharma took the photographs in the shower using natural light from a window. Sharma said, "The dynamic changed; with the running water, subjects started to share with me some pretty intimate moments of their lives."

I think the difference between portraits and snapshots is the intimacy of the photo. In snapshots everyone is posed. Using fake smiles or silly faces the models show you what they want you to see. With portraits it is much more intimate and you are trying to capture their essence, the real person. You don't want them to be posed you want them to be their selves. That's what I think the difference is between portraits and snapshots.

I Was Really There

Hello people. This assignment was to take a picture of ourselves and paste it onto another picture and use two different photo effects from www.photoshopessentials.com.

First, I searched up "royalty free pictures" and found the website www.freedigitalphotos.net. I clicked on the album Nature then on Fungi.

Then I took a picture of myself on the computer with Photo Booth and used the magic lasso tool to cut myself out and paste myself into the other picture. After I copied the stick in the bottom right corner and put that over my legs to make it look like I was standing amongst the sticks.

I went on www.photoshopessentials.com and browsed through photo effects and found Painterly Glow Effect With Smart Filters in Photoshop CS3 and Add A Sparkle Trail To A Photo. First, I added the painterly glow. Basically all I did was use motion blur. After I flattened all the layers I moved on to the next effect Add a Sparkle Trail. I made a new brush using a star brush, an airbrush and a fuzzball brush. I changed some settings for the brush. I painted it onto the picture and changed the color to a really light white/pink then I flattened the layers. The last thing I had to do was add the words. I used the lightest green from the trees behind me and wrote "In Wonderland where the wild thing are." I chose to write that because the mushroom reminded me of Alice in Wonderland and because my people say that when I wear my Totoro (a character from the movie My Neighbor Totoro) hat that I look like Max from Where The Wild Things Are.

This assignment was kind of frusterating but fun at the same time. I really like the outcome of it.

That's all

Bye :3