Personal Photography Project (PCUBED!)

For *most* of the rest of the quarter, you will be working on a personal photography project around a topic of your choice.  I say *most* because a few days will be spent on other activities such as photographing Pre-K-2nd Grade Grandparents Day and reflecting on choices for your digital portfolios.

Because I want your personal photography projects to be awesomely unique and open-ended, I am not putting too many restrictions on this.  Here are my three non-negotiables:

• You shoot at least 75 pictures (you can shoot at school, home, or anywhere really) and include at least 6 pictures in your final display
• You use photo editing tools (iPhoto, Picnik, Photoshop) to enhance your images
• You put your heart into your project -> We should be able to tell that you care about this 

What can your project be about?  Anything...but it must be organized around a theme that matters or is interesting to you (not just random photos).  You can keep your images separate or combine them in one or more collages.  You can go black and white, sepia, full color, or a combination.  You can add text or not add text.  You can make your photos realistic or fantastical.  You can do all portraits, all landscapes, all still lives, all photojournalism, or a combination.

Here are some ideas for themes that I came up with:

• any of the 6 SPICES (simplicity, peace, integrity, community, equality, stewardship)
• competition
• confidence
• comfort
• beauty
• attitude
• hello
• goodbye
• music
• dance
• a sport
• creativity/imagination
• childhood
• happiness/joy
• friendship
• love
• knowledge
• challenge
• family
• fashion
• food
• perspective
• faith
• nature
• culture (yours or someone else's)
• loneliness
• fairy tales
• dreams
• adventure
• a day in the life of Upper School
• a body part (eyes? hands?) <- must be appropriate!
• furniture (chairs?  desks?)
• a color (pink?  green?)
• a sound (quiet?  loud?  laughter?)
• home
• tradition
• technology

We will display your photo essays at Elective Night on Friday, November 11th.  You will choose one image (or collage) to be printed 16x20.  You will choose another 5 or more images to be printed 4x6.  Each of you will get about one-third of a bulletin board column in the Auditorium.  We will need to choose the images by November 4th so that I have time to get them printed, on mats, and up on the Auditorium boards.

Today's task:

Brainstorm with a buddy.  Choose your theme.  Write at least one paragraph explaining your theme and why you want to work on it.  Make a list of ideas of shots for the theme.

"Pieces of Me" Collage Mini-Project

One of the coolest tricks in Photoshop is transparency.  Check out this project I spied at a Philadelphia high school last night.  Yes, I took a photo with my phone while we were walking by the bulletin board!

I love the way this piece has various layers "layered" together.  I also like the way some things are tilted or rotated.  The longer you look at it, the more things you can notice.

This gave me an idea for OUR next project.  I want you to create a "pieces of me" collage.  In the collage you must use:

• At least four images (two or more must be pictures you or a classmate has taken; the others can be from other places)
• At least three text "boxes" (can be favorite quote, your name, important words, dates, etc..)
• You must use at least one fancy text effect.  You can find many tutorials for Photoshop text effects online.  I recommend Photoshopessentials.com.

Today I will show you how to change the transparency of a layer and also how to create a beveled bubble look to text. 

Still Life!

Step 1 - Check out my Pinterest board for still life ideas:

Step 2 - Choose an object or group of objects to photograph.  You may use something of your own or something from my collection.

Step 3 - Set up your shot.  Think about background, lighting and composition.  You might want to play with the colored backdrops, you might want to set up your objects outside, you might want to use a location within the school...the choices are endless!  It is okay to shoot your objects in more than one location, but try to shoot at least 10 pictures in each location.  Be sure to shoot from different angles too!

Getting Started With Photoshop - Let's Check out the Toolbox!

Today we're going to play with some of the major tools in the Photoshop toolbox.  Use a portrait please as we will learn how to brush out your zits (yessssssssss!) There is a great blog post called Photoshop's Toolbox that you can refer to outside of class or if you need a reminder in future lessons.

Portraiture

This week we are going to concentrate on portraits and will start to learn PhotoShop.  Before you jump into your photography, I want you to take a few minutes to explore some portrait photos and get some ideas.  I used Pinterest to gather examples.  Click on the screenshot below to go to my Pinterest board with portraiture samples.  Come to the rug in four minutes with at least four ideas for portraiture.

The simplicity of nature and creatures by Kobe

8 pictures with gene and me

Simplicity Photos by Nodar

Madie Annie and Sophia L ... Simplicity all around NFS

Madie Annie and Sophia L

Simplicity in nature by Emily and Sophia

Simplicity Photo Essays

Today I want you to spent about 25 minutes exploring iPhoto.  

1. Import all of your simplicity photos to iPhoto.  
2. Create an album in iPhoto called Simplicity Photo Essay by ____ (<- put your name there!)
3. Add the selected photos to the album.  
4. Explore the editing tools.  Don't be afraid to try things.  Cropping is an especially effective tool that can dramatically change a photograph.  You can always click "revert to original" if you mess it up too much and want to start over. 
5. To save changes to a photo, press COMMAND and S at the same time.

After 25 minutes, I will instruct you to start posting your photos to this blog.  Give your photo essay a title (it would be great if you could go beyond "My Simplicity Photo Essay" and then upload your chosen photos to the blog post.  You can write captions for you photos but you don't have to.  Make sure to include your first name somewhere in the post.

Dorothea Lange, by Emily

I see a grocery store after the bombing in Pearl Harbor there is a sign in front of the door saying

I am an American. I think Lange wanted to show an aspect of racism in America. The photograph is showing the story of people having to prove there race so they don't have to go to an internment camp. The dark sign of the store helps make the banner on the store pop.

Kyle's Dorothea Lange Photo & Response

I chose this picture because it is the same person in one of her best Great Depression pictures this women has migrated from farm to farm for work. Their diet is birds they killed themselves and frozen 

veggies. 

This picture makes me think how people were desperate back in 1936. This is a migrant family living without anything with seven hungry children and thirty two year old mother taking care of them. This really makes you think how lucky you are with all the stuff you have right now, and how people were poor back in 1936. This picture was originally taken by Lange, Dorothea.

This is a photo of a young Japanese boy, part of the first contingent of 664 residents of Japanese ancestry to be evacuated from San Francisco. It was published in June of 1942. The boy is seated, full-length, on a duffel bag, facing towards the right. It is in black and white. We feel sorry that he has to leave his home. We think Lange would've wanted us to be sorry for this young boy. His life was pretty much ruined by the war. A clear detail in the story is that he is very somber. It is extremely sad that he's being relocated.

Ryan and Gene

This photo made us feel how lucky we are that we can afford transportation. These people have to walk to other places. This photo gives us a feeling of loneliness. It shows how tough life can be.

Dorothea Lange; Sam

This picture shows a family of five during the depression. Dorothea Lange really captured something in this picture by just showing the emptiness in every way. The first thing that stuck out to me, even before seeing the despair of the family, was the vast space behind them. It was like looking at a small flower in a large field. I love the way Lange set up the picture, having the girl in front just look like she'd rather life not go on anymore. The tent has so many rips and tears and not to mention they don't even have a side on one of their tents. The picture makes me think about so many things and gets me thinking about everything it has from just the open suitcase to the baby nursing on its mother. Life for some people was/is actually what life is like in some places.

I chose this picture because when i saw this woman sitting by this tent with that little girl it made my wonder why they were there. Their hair and outfits don't seem to bad, but they don't exactly look like rich people either. I wonder if they really are poor or if its just some kind of trip. Either way I think this is a really good picture and it's kind of interesting to look at.

Thank you for reading. :)

"Toward Los Angeles, Calif." Madie

This picture really speaks to me. This photo shows two men walking on a dust road all by themselves. A sign to their right says "Next time, try the train." this photo is saying that these men can't afford to take the train, so they have to walk to their destination. I think Dorothea photographed this because it shows how people had to live when they couldn't support themselves. I think that maybe these men are moving or traveling to find a new job, and maybe start a new life. i can tell by their body language, (slouching) that they are worn out, exhausted, and tired. This picture is so simple, but yet, it tells a story. This photo really speaks to me because of how powerful it is. Dorothea probably wanted people to realize the story that this photo is telling.

Thanks!

Photo by Dorothea Lange

Dorothea Lange

I see a billboard saying, "next time take the train, relax." At the same time there are two men walking along the road who can't even afford a car. I think the photographer Dorothea Lange wanted people to see how companies are still advertising things most Americans couldn't afford at the time. This photograph is telling the story of two poor men that can't afford a car. They are carrying luggage so I infer they are going somewhere they are going to stay for a while. They might be trying to find a new job. At the same time they are walking past a billboard advertising taking a train which I can also infer is to expensive for them.

Dorothea Lange, Sophia L.

This picture stands out to me because these people are walking past a sign that says "next time try the train". I think that despite this sign, they continue walking on. They look determined. If you look ahead, the road keeps going on and on. But even though they can't see the end, and they probably don't know when they are going to get there, they keep going. They have hope to get somewhere better than where they came from. In the caption, it says that they are going to Los Angeles, CA. They might look worn-out and tired, but I think they still had hope.

We see a mom and her three small children with her on a train. We infer that they are traveling somewhere far because they are on a train instead of walking or using other types of transportation. We also think that they are going somewhere or meeting someone nice or fancy because they are dressed nicely. We think Lange wanted to show people how during the great depression people were desperate and willing to go far to find a better place.

The Great Depression in a Point of View- Isabel and Meaghan

The reason why we choose this picture is because it captures a point in history that changed peoples lives forever. We know that she just sold their tent and tires in order to provide food for her family. In there situation there are trading one basic need for another.

We think Lange wanted us to know how bad the situation was during the great depression in America. When we were looking at the pictures this caught our eyes because you see two young children and there young mother trying to get shelter from a long stick and tarp.

When we looked at the picture in great detail we got very little information about the photo so we assume that this mother has a lot of children and can't provide for them. They have very little and is living on scraps.

Natural Disaster Aftermath

By Dorothea Lange

I see a forest scene where most of the trees are either on the ground or about to fall. I feel the this picture is a scene of natural disaster's aftermath. I chose this picture because it shows the power of the earth and how it can destroy anything in a matter of minutes. I think that Lange wanted us to think about all the people that would be affected by this disaster. Its telling the story of the rescuers, the victims, the victims' families, and the people who were not affected by it but still would feel sorry for them. This scene shows that nature built those trees in hundreds of years but destroyed them in seconds.

By Brandon and Woo