#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