5 Photo Series

Probably for the rest of the year I'm going to be doing photo series of fives. I finally thought of a good idea that I actually care about, childhood cancer. When my brother was twelve years old he was diagnosed with two brain tumors, which we later found out were cancerous. My brother was in the hospital for months, although it felt like a year. I remember that he looked the same before and immediately after his surgery but a few weeks later when my mom took me to visit him I thought we went into the wrong room. How could the puffed up boy on steroids be my skin and bones brother? I was about to ask my mom "Where's Miguel? Are you sure we have the right room?" when he had greeted me by shouting "Hey Tina!" I never knew someone could physically change so fast, it amazed me.

Every month me and my brother go to a cancer support group meeting for teens with cancer and their siblings. I have friends who have cancer and friends who's brother or sister has cancer. I've suffered losing quite a few of them to this horrible illness. Everyday I'm thankful that my brother has survived and has been cancer free for almost 7 years.

My idea is to obtain a picture of a cancer patient before they were diagnosed with cancer and capture a photo of when they are fighting the cancer.

The images below of my brother helped inspire this idea

Miguel at age 12

Miguel and my dad at Celebration of Champions

Miguel was going through cancer treatment (if you look closely you can see that he was bald)

Me and Miguel years later at Celebration of Champions

By this point Miguel had beaten his cancer

My brother, Miguel, age 18

Glowing Lights

I took the following photos at my friend Cindy's house when I spent the night. They were created by taking glow sticks and doing various things with them while shooting at a very low shutter speed. I then went into to photoshop, copied the color, and pasted it to a black background. I also changed the brightness and contrast. I hope you enjoy them :)

Rough Draft of Artist Statement

*The following has been edited to protect myself from creepers

Christina Cervantes

b. 1995

"Some City", "Some State"

Biography

Christina Cervantes found her true passion at the age of 14 when she attended a summer intensive for photography in the summer of 2009. Since then she has studied photography at "Name Of My School" for 2 years. Her work has been featured in the Summer Intensive Show (2010), the "AOMS" (abbreviation of my school) brochure (2010), and in the Grand Theater multiple years. She has only done one solo exhibition titled "Prop H8". She hopes to be a professional photographer when she grows up.

Artist's Statement

My exhibition "Prop H8" deals with the stress and emotional distress of being part of the LGBT community. It is an attempt at opening people's eyes and minds. Most of my work takes the still young faces and bodies of teenagers, who are not straight, and puts them in edgy, shocking, and emotionally painful scenes, settings, and scenarios. Occasionally my work will feature adults, young children, straight people, and cheerful scenes.

My personal objective is to not sugar coat what's going on but instead expose some of the suffering and thoughts of the gay community. I have no interest in creating "pretty pictures". My photos show the pain of hiding who you are, hiding your love, bullying, and suicide. I show victims of hate and prejudice hoping that my viewers will understand my message.

My work is influenced by the gay community, the news, and my friends. When I hear or see an issue that pertains to being gay it inspires me and it makes me wish I was invisible so I could take a picture and it'd be raw. I like to try to make the viewer feel like they're right there in that scene.

Most of my work is in color. The purpose of that is so it will be easier for the viewer to put themselves in that scene. Something I like to do with my photos is bring you close up to what's happening or stand at a distance that someone might stand at. By doing this you focus on the subject. I want the viewer to be right there. I want them to be stuck in that specific moment in time.

My Weebly

I wasn't exactly sure where on my blog to put this so I'm putting it here :D

My portfolio

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http://muffinsphotography.weebly.com/ 

Check it out and enjoy :3

Japan's Earthquake Causes Tsunami, Fires, and Landslides

To view the entire story please click here

I don't know any prayers but if anyone viewing this does, please, pray for my grandmother's family, the Fuda family, and my dear friend Jin and his family as well as everyone else effected by this horrible disaster.

The earthquake was at 8.9! One of the worst to ever hit Japan. Later, a tsunami with waves 30 feet high hit. I don't know what else to say.... I'm not a very religious person but even I will be praying for them tonight.

Business Cards

So this is my first business card. I've blocked out my cell so scary/creepy people can't call me and I blocked out my email because I dislike spam. I only have this one to post for now but more are on the way :3

The font I used is called Sketch Rockwell. I decided to used that font for this one because my logo (which is a muffin) is kind of rough and isn't perfect. I made my logo last year in Art 1-2 when we were starting linoleum prints. I had kept a few of my first practice prints and this is one of them. All I needed to do was scan it into my computer and do some photoshop and poof I have a logo. I'm actually considering printing this card on cardboard because it's more interesting and more durable. 

Second Semester

On Wednesday Ms. Miles met with the juniors and sophomore and told us that for the second half of the year she wants us to think of 10 new ideas that we might like to try or do for a senior ex. Yesterday we went to Balboa Park and saw the Museum of Photographic Arts (MOPA). The show we saw there was called "New Realities: Jerry Uelsmann + Maggie Taylor." I got a lot of ideas and inspiration there. So here is my list of things I would like to do or try:

1. Dark room trickery as done by Jerry Uelsman
2. Black and white photography
3. The innocence of children
4. The happiest moments of our day
5. Portraits that look like they were shot in the 60's-80's (may go with #2)
6. My family
7. Cancer
8. Abandoned buildings 
9. Genetic disorders
10. From child to teenager to adult
11. Teen angst
12. Gay rights
13. Fantasy (such as Maggie Taylor)
14. Abuse

Okay so I thought of more than just 10 but I guess that's kinda good. This list isn't really in order but the top 9 I'd really like to do but as for the  rest I'm not so sure about but I'll try them.