Self Portrait week 15

Me going insane doing finals assignments.

Digital Story

My first iMovie

Blog week 11

My greatest fear is....
Getting pregnant.

The whining, the screaming, the poop, the puke. I'm afraid of it ALL. I don't ever want the responsibility, I don't ever want to go through the worrying, or the fear that something is happening to my... kid. Babies look like puddles of pudding. If I ever had one, I'm pretty sure it would get neglected for World of Warcraft.  The horror of having a baby and having to stick with it for 18 years terrifies me. Especially getting pregnant now. I'd have to give up everything for a baby. Bye bye phone, computer, leisure driving, alcohol, the good stuff. I have NEVER wanted a kid my entire life, and I don't ever see it changing.
Fortunately, for this photograph, I got my entire family in on it. My mom had me at 19, which is horrifyingly young to think about (for me anyway) and she always told me never to have a kid at a young age, so I knew her reaction would be shocking and horrified, so I asked her to pose in such a way that would portray it. She's stationed in the top right. My little sister is a demon. If this ever happened, her reaction would be to laugh at me as hard as she could to make me feel even more miserable (positioned in the middle, above me). Dale, my stepfather, (if I still lived there) would immediately try to throw me out of the house and would yell if he ever found out I was pregnant, so I made him pose as if he were yelling. He's dressed in the black shirt on the left. My sweet loving grandmother would look at me and shake her head whenever i got into trouble as a little girl. I made her reenact the way she'd always scold me in this photograph. My step aunt, (Dale's sister) sitting to the left of me would be extremely happy she's a bubbly person, so I just imagined her reaction to be excited. My aunt, the relative I live with is sitting on the right side of me. She is a realist, and would see all the oncoming troubles I'd face as a young parent (shiver) so she would just drop her head to her palm if this ever happened.
ISO: 1600
Shutter: 1/125
TV Setting

Self portraint week 8

This image is one of my favorites just because of the memory it holds. Last summer I went to the NY renaissance faire, as I usually do every summer. I have been going to this event ever since I was 4 years old. I just love it. It never gets old for me. Every single year I go see the knife throwing show with Stewart and Arnold. They are father and son, and are completely hilarious. Since I see their show every single year, I always know that they'll ask a volunteer to come up and they get knives thrown at them. I have ALWAYS wanted to do this, so every year I raise my hand like an excited fifth grader and yell, "PICK ME! PICK ME!" but every time they didn't see me...until last year. I was so excited! Even though every single person in the audience cringed (including my aunt, best friend, and sister) I didn't care, as I was so excited to be doing it. I loved every part of it, and my best friend got it on video! Though I did cheat a little, and I think this was the image that my best friend took (mine came out too blurry) this image fits perfectly. In five years I want to be this famous photographer featured on National geographic with some crazy stunt or animal I've recorded. I have always wanted to work for them, and it would be a dream come true to have one of my images on the cover. I found a National Geographic magazine cover and just messed with the layers until I got the logo and the border and I added my own photo with the NATGEO font. Had fun making this!

Self Portrait week 7

My boyfriend has told me over and over that whenever I make this face, he feels so sad. He also inspired me to make a homeless orphan portrait. I had literally gone out all day taking photos for projects/fun, and I came back home to set up this shoot. I borrowed my mothers painting shirt for the holes and paint all over it, and my aunts jeans, which were ripped at the knees. I also grabbed a pair of torn apart sneakers from my closet, (I've had them for years now, and once they got ratty, used some pieces for a design project, so now there's barely anything left to them) and put them in front of me. I was aiming for a dirty, gross looking person portrait, so I sat down in front of the mirror and covered my face in coffee grinds, brown makeup smudges, and messed up my hair. I only used two lights in this photo, the ceiling, and a floor lamp, and it was taken at night. In order to compensate for the lack of light, I brought my ISO up to 1600. This was also taken at 1/160, on TV setting. What I would do differently, is that I'd smudge up my arm and knees more to make them look filthy too. I didn't want to embarrass myself too much, (So I didn't do it) but I was thinking about sitting in front of the stores in the town of Cornwall (my home town, hence why I didn't do it..) I think with a group of friends there next time, I will attempt this one. For now, all I smell is coffee.

Self Portrait week 6

I was out driving around with my friend Tony when we stumbled upon a road that seemed to lead to nowhere. Of course, being adventurous, we decided to drive down that road. We came across a small little pond with a bridge. We thought it was the coolest thing ever so we got out and looked around. I decided to do my self portrait here, and be a bit goofy with it. So Tony and I were both messing around in front of the camera, but I chose this one. I had to adjust the exposure in photoshop though as it came out way too bright. I like the winter, so I wanted another shot of me in it before it all melted again. My ISO was at 400, and shutter speed was at 1/200.

Self Portrait week 4

For this weeks portrait, I wanted to work in the snow. We got so much of it that I couldn't let it go to waste! I went out in the snow and played around. I had a cool idea to take photographs of myself throwing a snowball, but when I did it, I didn't think it was that great. So I played around a little bit more and discovered that after I threw a snowball, snow residue would come flying out afterwards, making this really cool mystical effect. I decided to shoot more photos like this and after many failed attempts, I got this amazing shot of the snow all around my face. I had this on a timer, with continuous shooting.
ISO 400
Shutter Speed: 1/2500

Self Portrait Week 3

This week I wanted to do a body shot instead of just my head like the last couple of weeks. I have a pool table in the back room of my house and it's almost never used. Just a few years ago, my aunt, sister and I all played pool with one another every week. My aunt used to be the captain of her pool team awhile back, so she taught my sister and I. We would practice hard every week and have a blast while doing it. What I love most about this shot is the dramatic lighting. I emphasized the light in photoshop on the ball. I wanted to show what I was hitting. I wanted it to look like a smokey pool hall in one of those mobster movies.
Shot in TV mode;
Shutter: 1/200
ISO: 1200

Self portrait week 2

This week, I wanted to add bright, wild, crazy. I was pacing around the house thinking of an original idea, when it finally hit me. I had been working on a color wheel project and was staring at my acrylic paints. I decided I wanted to go for a tribal look. I wanted to show my wild side, and show just how far I'd go for photography. I manipulated my face to make it look crazy. I painted it red and then added white details all over my face. I didn't want to have the same position as last weeks, so I tried tilting my face so that you can only see one eye. I wanted the photo to feel a little bit uncomfortable, so I cropped the other eye halfway in. I want the viewer to be shocked at the color of my skin. I added a feather to make sure I got the tribal look. I think I would have even danced around outside to get the feel of my attitude if it wasn't so cold. When I edited the shot in photoshop, I played around with the oil paint tool. I just got CS6, so I was excited and played around with new options. I wanted my portrait to be a little abstract, because I think this piece would be very cool to blow up and print on a canvas. I'd like to hang this in my house somewhere. I chose the color red, because in my color class, red is supposed to make the heart beat faster.

Week 1

 

I was considering doing a portrait of myself with my cat, but I decided that I wanted to go for something deeper. I had recieved a pair of studio lights for Christmas, so I put them to work! I also had some left over white foam core, so I used that as my background. I used my tripod to level my camera, and put the setting to portrait so I could see how it went. Portrait mode is supposed to smooth skin, so I decided to use that setting first. After I set up the shot how I wanted it, I went to the bathroom mirror and with my trusty eyeliner, I wrote all over my face. I wrote out words that I would describe myself with. After I was satisfied, I went back to my set up and took photos of my face close up. I have never taken a better composed self portrait!