Graduate Portfolio

Last Thursday was my portfolio review and graduation from the Art Institute of Ft. Lauderdale. Of the eleven required images, I photographed nine of them this semester. I initially aimed to photograph all eleven, but due to actual work for clients (a good thing), I did not have the time. I put a lot of time and effort into my portfolio and really wanted it to be kick ass. Things worked out, I won best portfolio!

The portfolio requirements now given by my school are a little different then other schools. Most schools ask you to have more of a narrow creative focus. The eleven images for my final portfolio are all across the spectrum of photography. It is challenging to photograph in disciplines that you would not necessarily be interested in. I would have liked to have a little more creative freedom in terms of what I was able to photograph, but I tried my best to put my stamp on the categories. Here is my final portfolio in the order it is presented in my book along with the category/guideline.

High Key

Low Key (Group)

Couple

Small Product

Reflective (Large Product)

Transparent

Photojournalism

Editorial

Environmental (Mixed Lighting)

Retouched

Match Print Grey (Neutral Print from Inkjet)

Thanks to everyone that has supported me and for all the great feedack! Sometimes as a creative artist you need a shot in the arm. Winning best portfolio and receiving some great feedback definitely has given me a boost of motivation for the future. I think I can officially call myself a professional.

Boca Raton Water Treatment Plant

As part of my bottled water photo essay assignment for my Photojournalism class, I photographed the local water treatment plant. In many ways it was similar to me photographing a brochure for the plant. I wanted to show the extensive treatment that the city's water goes through. One interesting fact I found out was that Publix actually bottles their water in Deerfield Beach from the same source as the city. Many different companies use the public's water. This is the process from start to finish, made as interesting as possible.

Surveillance

As part of my Photojournalism class at school, one of the assignments was to create an entry for the World Photo Organisation's Student Focus Competition. The guidelines for the competition were that your image should draw on themes explored within the Tate Modern’s Exposed: Voyeurism, Surveillance and the Camera exhibition. I chose to focus my image around surveillance. My idea was to capture the moment of a girl walking in an alleyway clutching her purse as she notices she is being followed. This is definitely one of those times were I visualized what I wanted in my head and was able to create it pretty spot on to what I imagined. It feels good when you can put something together in your head and execute it to a t. While I wanted it to be lit nicely I still wanted to keep the mood of an alleyway at night. Here is my final image.

Here are some others from the night. The model is Kiersten Wallace  

Pursuit of an Essay

One of the things that has kept me busy over the last few weeks has been my Photojournalism class. The long term main project of the class is a photo essay on either a topic related to water or consumerism. I decided to kind of do a little bit of both when I chose my essay to be about the inefficiencies of consuming water through bottles. Of course there are some situations where bottled water is necessary, but the bottled water companies have capitalized. Their clever use of mountains and springs to advertise has influenced the population even though, in numerous cases, tests have shown tap water to be better then bottled water. In fact, one third of all bottled water is from the tap. The creation of the water bottles also has a negative effect. “Each year the making of all the bottled waters in the United States uses enough oil and energy to fuel a million cars.”(The Story of Bottled Water). Even more energy and oil is spent distributing the bottled water.

Check out this awesome video "The Story of Bottled Water" created by The Story of Stuff Project that kind of got me going on the subject

My thesis for my photo essay is that bottled water is not an efficient way to consume water and has a negative effect on the environment. From the creation to distribution, bottled water uses energy that could be saved by drinking tap water.

I don't want to post the essay till it is complete, but here is an image of a chain link fence that I took while at Mount Trashmore, the local landfill.

Influenced Styled by Elisa Santiago Walshe

These shots were styled by Elisa Santiago Walshe for the Fashion Styling class at school. The assignment was an influence project where you picked an ad and tried to imitate it. These were influenced by an Emporio Armani ad with really pale skin, black and white, with high contrast. The first shot is quite similar to the original ad, but the second shot is more of me just getting creative and switching up the lighting. These were all shot with a beauty dish and the use of a large white v flat.

Model: Emily Freedman

Tunics for Fashion Styling Class

I am getting back into working with the Fashion Styling class over at school. These tunics were designed by Mehreen Mushtaq. She also styled the shoot. For the lighting with the first model, I wanted more of bright clean catalog type of look to match with the vibrant colors of the tunic. For the second model, I used some more dramatic lighting for an evening look.

Model: Renata Guimaraes

Model: Anam Sheik

Retro Portrait

A retro portrait was another assignment for my Consumer Photography class. It is reminiscent of the 1940's. I was influenced by images from the era, especially photographer George Hurrell. My friend Kevin, who is signed with Caroline Gleason Management, modeled for me. The portraits were shot with gridded strobes for the main and hair light with the fill provided by a strobe bounced into a large white board.

Jiu-Jitsu Instructor: Illustrative Portrait

I shot with Patrick for my illustrative portrait assignment I had in my Consumer Photography class. The category of illustrative portrait gave me freedom to apply my editorial style to a portrait that would be flattering for Patrick. Patrick teaches Jiu-Jitsu at Prime Time Sports in Boca Raton, FL. He is really laid back but you can tell the guy can kick some ass. My biggest challenge with this shoot was how to light the background. The padded wall had texture, but was also highly reflective. For some I used an SB 800 to spotlight on the background, some have two lights crossed on the background for a more even look, and for the more dramatic shots I went with no direct light on the background.

One of the things you have to keep in mind about shooting for consumers is the fact that for the most part, the end result of your images will be a 5x7 or 8x10 print. For class, we are turning in an 8x10 matted print. Here's my choice.

Some more posed portraits

Although Jiu-Jitsu is based on grappling, Patrick was able to bring a sword that he had won in a contest.

The composition and pose for this image was what motivated me to do this shoot. 

Patrick asked me to shoot him in a more tradition Jiu-Jitsu pose. 

Docu Drama: Murder Scene

This was an assignment for my Editorial class. I worked with two classmates, Ed Ramos and Rodrigo Sanchezleon. The assignment was to recreate an event as if there was a photographer there to take a photograph as it happened. I had thoughts of 48 hours and other shows that chronicled crimes with recreations. The group bounced around ideas of a murder or suicide scene. As we planned the shoot we decided to have a witness being interviewed by an "officer" while the other "officer" examined the victim. To be honest, with scheduling conflicts,  we decided on a location last minute and kind of winged it.

Here is a portrait of Larry, who fits the officer character perfect, as we set up and tested the lighting.

The final shot