Week 3 Photo Challenge: You Incredible!

This weekly photo was called "You Incredible!" What we had to do was take a photograph of ourselves in a in an incredible place or situation. This is why in the photograph you will see me standing on a rock looking out at the Nevada Red Rock Canyon. Some of my family and I took a small trip there this past week, it was awesome! I consider Red Rock Canyon an incredible place, which I have now only been to a couple times, for many reasons. The first reason is because if you know me, which you can read about in the "About me" section of my page, I am a huge outdoors person. I absolutely love nature and the beauty of the art created in time by the earth itself. The second reason that I believe a place like Red Rock Canyon is so incredible is because, it is out in the desert, and away from the city. This makes it a nice and relaxing area to visit when you just need that little bit of fresh air. One of the last reasons is because I like walking, hiking and activities. All of this can be done in Red Rock Canyon. Because I went with my family, the last reason would be because you can either get in touch with yourself or enjoy it with the family or friends. Living with busy lives, it is nice to get out and socialize, with those people who mean the most to you, every once in a while. I cannot wait to go back again sometime!

Paparazzi image

This is a shot I took representing a fake paparazzi image. I dressed up my model to look like a famous celebrity that had passed out in the hallway of a hotel due to her crazy hard party the night before and her lovely wine she is snuggling with. She is meant to look like she is passed out cold, and drunk. I got inspiration from a clip out of a foreign movie my instructor shared with the class last week. The scene was a famous male whom passed out drunk in his car; the paparazzi were swarming around him taking shots from every angle possible. How I set it up was I had my model lay on the ground in a hallway in my home. Next, I placed the props carefully on her; the props consisted of a small fleece though, a wine bottle, a messy blonde wig, and stylish sunglasses. She had the easy job of lying there as I took multiple shots from odd angles just like the paparazzi did in the film. I hope that you enjoy it!

Constructed Self- Portrait

This is a famous self- portrait of Ansel Adams, He took this photo in a Victorian Mirror in Atherton, California. For this assignment, I had to take a famous self- portrait and with using a program such as Photoshop, I had to place my self-portrait and something I like in it. Can you see the possible additions? I added in a Coca- Cola bottle that I had actually purchased and drank the night before. I love Coca- Cola, it is one of my favorite drinks. Although I love Dr. Pepper as well, I grew up with a “coca-holic” mother –Is what we call her— and despite the health factor, she always allowed us to drink right along with her (Coca- Cola of course). Also, I love Ansel Adams’ work; that is why I placed myself right next to him smiling.  Even though I am personally a digital photographer, I love working with black and white. It makes it more challenging to get the photo just right and with all of the rare values you can play with makes it unique. I have never seen one photo that Ansel had taken that I do not like and say WOW! It amazes me, even in a generic self- portrait such as this one, I am still blown away by all of the values of white and black. To get the photo to be the way it is, I brought the original photograph, a recent photo of me and my photograph of the Coca- Cola bottle and used masks in Photoshop to single out the bottle and myself. Then I used an adjustment layer to turn the bottle and I into black and white and bring up the contrast and brightness to create more values. I had fun with doing this because it was as if I were stepping into his photograph and way right there with him.

Week 1 EOC: Stallions not Unicorns

A reasonable job (stallion) for me right out of College would be a nature and/or landscape photographer. I am a quiet, outdoors person who has a passion for Mother Nature. Therefore, this job would be great for the kind of lifestyle I would want to live. I would be outside in places all around the world that I have traveled to. This goal is possible because I am working on my bachelor’s degree in Digital Photography and have great support to help me get started. I do not have a lot of experience with professional nature photography but I have plenty experience with the camera and the outside world. Therefore, I could start by freelancing for different magazines or any other businesses. From there, I would build a reputation and eventually have my own galleries.

An unreasonable job (unicorn) for me right out of college would be something such as a world famous fine arts photographer. The reason is because I have simply not had the experience that a current famous fine art photographer has had. Also, it may take me several years to gain a strong business to sell my work in a way that I could make a living off of. I have not traveled the world yet; and more importantly, I do not have a big professional portfolio that I can prove to the world my capabilities. As I mentioned in my last paragraph, I need a lot of freelancing and little jobs here and there to build my reputation. Eventually, I hope to create my own galleries around at least the United States and sell my photos to high and low end businesses, art fanatics or anyone else who simply loves photography. Right now though, I may have to stick with freelancing, but as long as I am out taking photos, I will be happy no matter what.