Final Portfolio

Business Card

1. I chose the center camera to be the focal point of the business card.
2. This business card desribes that I can take photographs for people, and it lists what types of photography I am capable of doing.
3. This is supposed to be a formal business card.

31 Days of May Photo Challenge

"May Photo Challenge"          Paula Medina

The month of May was definitely one to remember. Since it's Spring, it has rained plentifully, but with rain comes the growth of beautiful plants and flowers! I was able to take pictures outside more frequently with the sun out. I can go have photoshoots outside with my friends. Aside from the awesome weather, many wonderful events occurred during May. My family went out for Mother's Day, and we treated my mom to dinner. My sister graduated from Kean University. And I finally received my prom dress and wedges, which I have been waiting for since March. The cicadas have returned after 17 long years from underground, and they're literally all over the place. My lovebirds are doing just fine. Lastly, school is almost done, but I am trying my best to work hard and not let laziness overcome me. ;-) I can finally breathe a bit and relax, and school has become less stressful, with college preparation becoming a bigger priority. And... Summer is almost here!

Alphabet Art

"Explore"         Paula Medina

For the alphabet art project, I chose the word "explore." Explore is probably my favorite word as of now. I like exploring the world in order to learn more about life and myself.

I wanted to use a variety of objects taken at different locations and angles to instill a theme of exploration. For E, I used the perpendicular straight lines on the ceiling of the computer room. I also wanted to use this picture since it was a capitalized E. For the letter X, I took a picture of a fence, with the constant crossing of wires. For P, I noticed the intricate design of the gate in front of someone's house. In class, I noticed the shape of an L under the desks. For O, my family keeps a billiard ball inside the glass closet. R was a tricky letter to find, but by looking a little closer, I noticed my mother's orchid plant grew in the shape of an R. Lastly, during our sixth photo walk, someone's water hose was surprisingly in the shape of an E.

This project was definitely very interesting and fun to do, and I definitely want to do another one. It's great to put them together and see pictures unfold into words.

Sixth Photo Walk

"So Many Colors"         Paula Medina

We needed an ice cream stop in this scorching weather!

Watermark

"Beauty in Hidden Corners"          Paula Medina

Diptych

"The Frustrated Artist"          Paula Medina

In this diptych, I wanted to show the frustrations of writers and artists. When you have a writer's/artist's block, and you can't seem to perfectly bring your ideas to life through your perspective, it's as if all those previous drafts are going in the trash (figuratively, of course). Writers and artists may have to do several drafts before coming up with the perfect final draft. It takes time, diligence, and practice.

I took a few pictures of Claudine (the Artist) throwing crumpled paper backwards, but photoshopped the clumps of paper to make it look as if there were many being thrown out. In another picture, I had her stare at all the work falling into the trash can. I photoshopped the clumps of paper in the second picture too. In order for this diptych to work, I had to arrange them vertically. I added cold, blue tones using Curves to instill an intense, serious, and dreary mood.

P.S. I also needed to photoshop the trash can. (thanks Ms. Friedman!)

"Oh, Isn't She Lovely?"          Paula Medina

In this diptych, the left picture is one of a baby with a distraught look upon her face, due to the fact that her parents (right) are babying and pampering her too much. The baby and the mother are both Sara, and Ryan is the father.

I photoshopped the chairs slightly to make it look more like a connected crib and added warm, colorful tones using Curves and Selecting Coloring to create a happy, humorous mood.

Fifth Photo Walk - Pieces of Kennedy

Object Series

"Leaves & Flower Petals that Spring into Life"          Paula Medina

For my object series, I decided to go outside and collect different leaves in the front and backyard gardens of my house. I retrieved a pair for each type of leaf, and if the leaves also came from flowering plants, I took a few petals. In my series, I took pictures of the front and back of each leaf, to emphasize their different patterns and shapes. I arranged the petals in certain symmetrical and asymmetrical ways to add color.

I placed the leaves and petals on a white construction paper, in front of a wide and tall window to utilize natural lighting. On photoshop, I increased saturation and added a light blue tint to the paper so there could be contrast.

Spring has to be my second favorite season, because of all the plants that you can grow, with flowers that have bright and popping colors. The growth of plants and the sight of greenery once again are so relieving to me after a long and cold Winter.

Photography Series Artist

"Subway Series"          Walker Evans

 

After documenting Depression Era of America, Walker Evans took photographs of subway riders over a period of 3 years, from 1938 to 1941. He took the photographs with a camera hidden in his coat. I love how his series represent members of different races, cultures, and styles. Each person holds intense and various expressions, as if they are in deep concentration. Although they are in such tightly-closed areas, these subway riders always manage to put up with each other, despite their differences. I also loved how the pictures are arranged, equally distanced and horizontally long. All the portraits were also taken at very similar angles!

Project Graduation T-Shirt Design

 

 

Surrealistic Photomontage

"Collided with Nature"

For my surrealistic photomontage, I did a self-portrait as planned. I was able to incorporate elements of nature, such as colorful butterflies. I originally planned to add flowers, but after adding the butterflies and vines, I did not want my face to look too crowded. The vines were something I came up with while I was editing, and it turned out way better than I had thought! I added vines across my forehead and down my cheek, and overlayed cracks on one side of my face.

Even after places and things have been abandoned or neglected, mother nature claims them again. The surfaces become eroded, peeling away, but something as beautiful as nature stays connected somehow and brings them back to life. I think people are this way too. When we stray away from society's norms and standards, we can do things independently and self-reliantly and find a genuine appreciation for nature.

Fourth Photo Walk - Outdoor Portraits

 

 

 

 

When taking outdoor portraits of my classmates, I took consideration of what elements would better enhance the picture, like lighting and background. Moreover, I made sure to even see the beautiful, little things about people that make them stand out. I loved this photo walk a lot! The weather was great, not too bright and not too dark. And focusing on taking pictures of each other made the experience even better.

Surrealistic Theme

For my surrealistic photomontage, I want the theme to be a portrait (or self-portrait) and incorporate a few elements of nature within the portrait. I want to add flowers and different sized butterflies on and around the person's face. Moreover, I want to figure out how to photoshop cracks onto the person's skin, making the figure look almost like a statue, eroded by nature.

Surrealistic Artist Inspiration

Vladimir Kush is a surrealist painter and sculptor who was born in Russia in 1965 near the Moscow forest park, Sokolniki. At the age of 7, he began to attend art school until evening, where he learned about famous artists of the Renassiance, Impressionists, and modern artists. He entered the Moscow Higher Art and Craft School at 17, but he was conscripted a year later. His unit commander thought it more approriate for Kush to paint propagandistic posters. After military service and graduating from the Institute of Fine Arts, he worked on portraits to support his family. In 1987, Kush began to participate in exhibitions, and in 1990, he flew to Los Angeles where 20 of his works were displayed and began his "American Odyssey." When Kush's originality in his work was finally recognized, more exhibitions were organized for him, and soon he had a new start in USA, opening his first gallery in Hawaii. Kush focuses on the medium of oil-painting, and he considers his artwork as "metaphorical realism."

Sarolta Bán is a self-taught, surrealist photographer/photo manipulator. She was born in 1982 in Budapest, Hungary. Bán was originally a jewelry designer, but discovered her passion in photo manipulation. She usually works on an image from a few hours to a couple of days and uses up to 100 different layers for one picture. She combines elements to create stories and personalities but also hopes that the meaning of her pictures are "never too limited" and "open in some way." Her images often depict dream-like situations. She has exhibits throughout Japan, Luxembourg, and Hungary, and in 2011, she was recognized as the "Best Young Talent" by Elle Magazine. 

Arist's Name: Vladimir Kush

Title: Sunrise By the Ocean

Date: Unknown

Description: The egg is split in two, and the components of the egg blend in with the surrounding environment. There are men working on the sides of the egg shells, and the sun is rising in the middle, spreading its rays throughout the sky and clouds. You can also see a man pulling his boat toward the beach.

Analysis: The painting is horizontally symmetrical, with the halves of the egg on either side and the sun right in the center. Veritcally, the composition is asymmetrical, with the sand and water on the bottom half and the sky, clouds, and sun on the upper half. There is definitely emphasis on the sun and the egg shells, for I noticed them first when looking at the painting. There is much color saturation accompanied  with warm hues.

Interpretation: I find that the meaning of this piece shows the creation of life. The components of the egg create the environment: the sun arises from the yoke, and the water and parts of the sky arise from the egg white (albumen). The egg itself helped create this beach and its individual parts. The bright, warm colors instill a sense of home and refuge. Moreover, I believe the men working by the egg shells are starting to build their home's foundation.

Judgement: Kush was successful in creating this piece. He shows the beauty of new life and the creation of the earth's elements. I feel as if though this piece has mythical/cultural reasoning behind it, and he successfully expresses this through its agricultural and ancient tone. He creatively combines elements (the egg and the beach) that surprisingly correlate with each other beautifully.




Arist's Name: Sarolta Bán

Title: Unknown

Date: June 22, 2009

Description: The child is flying on an origami crane above waves of water. Behind her are sharp rocks and ridges, where the waves crash upon, and it looks like light is shining on her from above.

Analysis: This piece is asymmetrical vertically, serving as a precursor to the photographer's rule of thirds. On the other hand, the picture is symmetrical horizontally, with the main subject on the center, and the water and rocks are on both sides. The colors are bright, cold, and dull (white, blue, brown).

Interpretation: Bán's picture gives me a sense of adventure and wanderlust. The fact that she uses an origami as the child's source of transportation reminds me of childhood, creativity, and imagination. Furthermore, the seemingly dangerous environment instills a feeling of challenge, adventure, and youth. Nevertheless, the faint rays of light that shine upon the girl ensures hope and guidance.

Judgement: Overall, Bán's composition successfully combines different parts and elements of pictures to create a story of the adventurous and imaginative disposition of a child. I think this picture shows the "child" in all of us, showing how we can get through life's journey and its challenges with a bit of creativity, courage, and hope. Her balanced use of tone, colors, and sharpness further emphasizes the theme of youthful and daring adventures.

Kush and Bán are clearly two very different artists. Kush uses the medium of paint and carefully plans out his work before beginning. Many of his paintings have a cultural and old-fashioned feel, with ancient truths and stories behind them. Kush tells stories to people by painting together completely different objects and elements that would originally seem to have no connection, but he successfully blends in various subjects to create one, balanced and well-thought composition. On the other hand, Bán uses photography as her medium. She takes pictures of different places, people, and things and combines them to come up with a story. Unlike Kush, Bán tends to start with a tiny idea that becomes more complex and widely interpretative later on. Because she is younger than Kush, she tends to be more of a modern artist as a photographer/photo manipulator. Her photographs are crisp and of modern quality. While Kush's paintings seem to have specific stories and purpose behind them, Bán's pictures have widespread and limitless meaning, where anyone can derive different interpretations on a broad spectrum. Both artists have genuine originality, and they take elements from the unreal to create purposeful and expressive artwork that sprouts from the imagination.

Photo Journal

My Favorite Pages

Third Photo Walk - Primary Colors

 





On our third photo walk, we focused on primary colors: red, blue, and yellow.

Arist Inspirations

"Green Rolling Hills"          Cera Hensley

Cera Hensley creates photos of beautiful landscape that look so realistic and majestic, but in actuality, she crafts out miniature models and uses portraits of people, then skilfully photoshops them into her photographs. Her pictures not only highlight beauty, but also much expression and mood.

"City Silhouettes"          James Jasper

James Jasper takes pictures of people, places, travel, and food, but what I found really unique when looking through his portfolio were his city silhouette portraits. In his projects, Jasper uses the technique of double exposure to capture both the city scape and the city dwellers. I find it amazing how he only changes the contrast and colours a bit, but there is no significant editing.

"Paris, a.k.a. The City of Lights"          Thomas Barbèy

Thomas Barbèy takes pictures of different places, people, and things while he continues to travel all over the world, then merges certain parts of pictures together in one single composition to convey main concepts and ideas. His surrealist photography is distinct in style, solely creating B&W and sepia pictures. His ideas are one-of-a-kind and never lack message, which I hope to display through photography.

"Chicago"          Satoki Nagata

Satoki Nagata is a street photographer in Chicago who takes deeply contrasted, B&W photographs with the lighting always behind his subject. Nagata perfectly captures the cold streets of Chicago and its people. Because he lengthens the shutter speed, his photographs give off a transparent and nostalgic look. His skillful control over elements, such as lighting, pushes me to continue learning about my camera's settings and mechanisms.

"Evacuee"          Bill Gekas

Bill Gekas from Australia takes portraits that have both a modern and vintage feel to them. His inspiration comes mainly from old classical and Renaissance paintings, and he transforms them into photographs that can be simple and incredibly detailed at the same time. His ability to control the main elements and details inspires me to focus on the entirety of a photograph, and not just individual parts.

Then and Now

"Embracing Old Friends"          Paula Medina          2013

I chose to recreate a picture of me with my old stuffed toys. I had to look through a lot of boxes and bags stored under my bed to find Sleepy Bear and Easter Bunny. Sadly, I couldn't find Mr. Ruffs, so I tried using my white stuffed toy cat. I find it pretty amazing that I was able to hold that many stuffed toys, 10 years ago.

Photo Walk - DoF

"Plants by the Water"          Paula Medina          2013

"Stillness"          Paula Medina          2013

"Rocks and Pebbles"          Paula Medina          2013

"Bird's Got Style"          Paula Medina          2013

"Water like Ink"          Paula Medina          2013

"So Close"          Paula Medina          2013

Today's photo walk was really interesting and enjoyable, taking pictures conveying "depth of field." I concentrated on a lot of the small details in Merrill Park. In some pictures, I wanted to focus on the main subject to make details look sharper and clearer. In others, I also focused on a close object to further intensify the distance and the object's surroundings. I made the fifth picture black and white in order to highlight and bolden the texture of the grass and water. I especially loved taking the picture of the hands reflecting on water. Today's lighting and blue sky was perfect enough for me to capture the reflection.

David Hockney Inspired Collage

"Portrait of My Mother"     Paula Medina         2013

I used my mother for my Portrait based on David Hockney's collage method. I took probably over 30 pictures of my mother and used about half of them to create this collage. I captured pictures of different angles, distances, and focus. I wanted to include the orchids and show her surroundings a bit. It was really fun and interesting to piece the pictures together like a puzzle. I emphasized the pictures' different contrasts, lighting, and color saturation. 

"Roosevelt Park Lake" Paula Medina 2013

I chose to take pictures of the lake in Roosevelt Park and it's little aspects to create a landscape collage. I took about 70 pictures and used half of them, focusing on the water, the sky, the straw plants, and trees. I also zoomed in on the carefree ducks. I rotated the pictures that were on the corners of the collage to emphasize not only the lake's shape, but also to show how the pictures were taken at closer distances. I especially loved using the pictures of water, which all had different contrasts, lighting, and saturation.

For both of these collages, I did not want them to look "perfect." Instead, David Hockney's work inspired me to appreciate the abstract and unique methods of creating "Joiners."

Reflection

"Reflection"          Paula Medina          2013

This picture was taken in Roosevelt Park. I love walking around the lake, and instead of taking a picture by a puddle, which was my original idea, I noticed that the reflection on the lake was much more eye-catching and natural. I wanted to show the ripples of water movement, so I tapped my foot on the surface before capturing the shot. This picture was taken at around 10 am, so the lighting was fairly well. I flipped the picture vertically so my reflection would have more emphasis.

1st Photo Walk

"Pine Cones Within a Crowd of Leaves"          Paula Medina          2013

"Same Scene, Different Focus"           Paula Medina            2013

"Sturdy Tree in the Cold"        Paula Medina         2013

Pine Cones, Leaves, and Trees

I had tons of fun on our first photo walk! It was cold, windy, and cloudy, and I can't wait until it gets warmer. But the experience overall was really nice. My favorite photos were the pictures I took of woody branches, pine cones, leaves, and tall trees.