Just Keep Swimming Swimming Swimming...

Here is one of my digital layering photos. I choose to make this my colored one because I loved the way the hues mixed in the center. The photos I used were both taken professionally, one from when I used to take swimming lessons at Children of the Sea, and the other at a swim meet in Eugene about 3 years ago; there is about a ten year age difference between the pictures. I like that when I blended the photos together it turned appeared like I was blowing bubbles out of my nose in both pics, even though I was only doing so in the bottom photo.

Self Portrait Eye Shadow

This is probably my favorite photo taken of me because of the detailed shadow my face created. If you look close enough you can even see the outline of my eyelashes. To achieve this shadow and still obtain enough light so that the photo would turn out I shined a flashlight up towards my face and turned on a light towards the end of the hallway for background lighting. My mom took this picture, she did a very nice job focusing and perfecting the correct shutter and aperture.

Self Portraits Contact Sheet

Here is the self portrait contact sheet that has been so anticipated! A few of the pictures turned out dark or a little blurry, but overall they turned out a success. I'm very pleased and proud of them considering my mom took all but 3.

MOOOO

I took this photo on Halloween night while we waited for trick or treaters. I have a cow costume I've worn for the past couple of years while passing out candy at my house and this year I pulled it out yet again because my doggy and I were going to match. Twins! So, I decided to put the hat on my mom's head and have her look at it as if she was questioning what was on her. Out of all the photos I think this one is the best, I like the way the contrast came out and the clarity of the photo. I also like how natural and just plain goofy it is, as it is similar to how we act around each other at home: silly.

Sneaky, Sneaky

This photo was my attempt at creativeness, I told her to act as if she was a kid getting caught with their hand in the cookie jar. I mean, who doesn't love chocolate chip cookie dough? I think she did a pretty nice job acting, as her eyes mock that of a child's. Although the picture turned out a little blurring and slightly a bit light I still like the photo for the meaning behind it. It, too, shows the kid in her and her fun loving personality.

OLE'!

Finally! We have developed our third roll of film from our portrait project. I chose my mom as my subject for all 24 of my photos. At first she was reluctant, as she did not want me to take that many pictures of her, but as project went on and we took more and more shots she, too, became creative and started coming up with her own unique and funny poses. This photo was her idea and I think it turned out as one of the best and most creative pictures on the roll of film. It brings out her fun and silly personality. I like how half of her face is darker than the other, it gives the photo more of the mean bull look. Ole'!

Not Rockin' the Mid-Calf Socks Direct Light

I took this picture of my own feet in a dark hallway where a flashlight was shone onto them. I put them against the wall and managed to take the picture without hurting my uncoordinated self, I felt like quite the contortionist, even though it was a simple task of holding your balance. Once again with the light project I had to use a super slow shutter speed and a wide aperture so that the picture would turn out, as there was little source of light. I like that the shadow of the bottom foot is so accurate, as you can follow the curves of the ankle, arch, and calf. I also like the fact that the sock's details and stripes are not overwhelming and do take away from the shadow but rather add a little bit of character to the photo.

Portrait Contact Sheet

These are my contact sheets for the portrait project. The first one I did turned out fairly light, it was exposed for seven seconds, but you could still make out the pictures. I then did the last three rows of the first contact sheet again, but this time doubling the exposure time to 14 seconds; however, this one turned  out a little too dark. Again you can still make out the pictures but it is hard to see all of their details. I think 10 seconds would have been the perfect, or at least better, exposure time. 

Light Project Contact Sheet

Here is the blog entry we have all be anxiously awaiting, my light project contact sheet. Not the most exciting picture, but in all seriousness, contact sheets are extremely helpful in that they allow you to see your negative strips in similar ways to how they would print on photo paper. They are also nice in that they allow you to see all of your pictures at once, making choosing which picture to print easier.

Lamp Post Light Silhouette

This picture was taken during the direct and silhouetted light project. One morning I got up a few minutes earlier and went out onto our neighborhood street and aimed the camera directly at the lamp post light. By shooting straight at the light I got the a silhouetted look, as you can only see the tree's outline, no real specific details. I like that you can see the branches and the little leaves attached to them, without that aspect I don't think this picture would be as appealing.

Beach Balls and Big Eyes Cross Process

As you can see, this photo was taken awhile ago, 2003 to be exact. We were on a family vacation at my great aunt's house in sunny Santa Cruz, CA.  My dad was blowing up a beach ball for me to play with in their pool when he shot me a goofball expression. My favorite thing about this photo is how perfectly it captured his fun, free-spirited, and goofy personality. First you see my dad's huge eyes but then you notice the huge, out of style, in 2003 at least, 80's glasses. I must say he rocked them though.

This was my first attempt at cross processing the above picture. I tried to make it look like the picture was taken in the seventies or earlier, so I focused on the blue curve and only slightly manipulated the green and red curves. I like this one because of the dark shading on the left side of his body and the acidic look to the background, it gives the picture a unique and fun appeal.

My second attempt at cross processing turned out as shown, I particularly like this one because the extreme discoloration of the background. This is my favorite because of the aged look it possesses and the way the bright light highlights his face. This photo is even more acidic looking than my first attempt and I think the more acidic it appear the more vintage the picture will look, I think each had a perfect balance of it. Also, on this photo I manipulated the green curve more severely than the others to get the white, colorless background.

My Dad's Smile Cross Process

 This is the original picture, taken Christmas two years ago. The photo is of my dad showing off his infectious smile, the funny thing is, the present is a pair of his favorite Costco $14 shoes. I would always joke him about them, as he would never buy any other shoe; he said they were comfortable, versatile, and cheap.

 Here is my first attempt at cross processing with the above photo. I focused on curving the blue and only slightly curved the red and green colors.

This is the second of my cross processing attempts where I focused more on manipulating the blue and green curves rather than the red. I still curved the red color but on a small amount.

Gatorade Bottle Direct Light

Running out of creative ideas to create direct light, I had my mom shine the car's high beams onto our garage door where my Gatorade bottle sat propped up on a crate in front of the door. Again I had to use a wide aperture and  slow shutter speed in order to get the photo to turn out. This is another one of favorite direct light pictures because  of the bottle wrapper's detail contrasted with the simpleness of its shadow. I also like how the shadow is behind and off to the side of the bottle, subtly hidden, not the first thing your eye sees but is quickly drawn to.

Teapot Direct Light Project

I took this photo of a teapot at my house with all of the lights off in the kitchen while my mom shined a light onto the front of the teapot. I had to make the aperture very large and the shutter speed very slow in order for the photo to not turn out completely dark and black. This is one of my favorite direct light photos I took because of the teapot's very distinct shape and shadow outline.

Swing Set Tilt Shift

I took this picture at the Tualatin Community Park near my house. I climbed to the top of the red rope Eiffel Tower structure to take the picture from a higher elevation. When I digitally manipulated the photo, using lens blur, I focused on the red rope and made the swing set background blurry to enhance the details of the thick rope. Swing on my friends.

Oregon Duck's Marching Band Tilt Shift

I took this picture at the Duck game against Cal Berkeley using a Kodak digital camera. It was taken from a box in the stadium of the marching band before the game. I think the picture turned out so well because of how high up I was able to take the photo. Even though my Cal Bears lost it was still worth it for this picture.

Runners Tilt Shift Project

This picture was taken by my mom at one of my cross country meets with her Kodak digital camera. She took the picture from the bleachers looking down at the TuHs football field. I then digitally filtered it using a lens blur to get the tilt shift result.

Sleeping Gnome

My favorite part of this photo is its imperfection. I like that the colors didn't come out perfectly, that the shades stayed an even gray. I think it make the picture   unique and interesting. The photo was taken in my front lawn with the gnome positioned in the grass with nothing else around it. In my opinion, the simplicity of the picture is what makes it appealing.

Backyard Fountain

This picture was taken of the fountain in my backyard on a sunny Saturday afternoon. It was taken with a fast shutter speed in order to get the detail of the water falling. My favorite part of the photo is the cascading water. In it you can make out the details: the icicle looking droplets as they poor over, and the little splashes as they hit the large pool of water at the bottom and jump back out. I also like the shadow the falling water casts onto the stone of the fountain.

My Dog, First Roll of Film Project

This lovely lady is my dog Sumi. She is a shih-poo. This picture was taken while she was getting a bath outside. That is why she looks like a giant rat and very unhappy. Her eyes have a sense of madness, like she knows you are capturing her when she is not at her best.

Pinhole Bike Picture

This image was taken outside of the TuHs building  by the main entrance on the South parking lot side. The exposure time was 12 seconds. This image captures a couple of lovely bicycles stuck in the bike rack for another long day at school while they wait for their owners' rescue.

Pinhole Self Portrait

This image was taken from a pinhole camera inside the photo 1 classroom. The exposure time was 2 minutes and 36 seconds.

Making it work

hopefully this blog now works! :)