Artist Statement

In my portfolio, there are a variety of projects and Photoshops that we have worked on throughout the school year. Some of the major projects we worked on were our surrealism, our personal metaphor, and our graduation and senior night invitations. Also, there are some photos that we took while experimenting with the different settings of a camera such as ISO or Shutter Speed. There were also photos we had to take as a group such as the group collaboration, or balance. I feel that I did a good job with keeping my portfolio neat and organized. I posted mostly all of the work we did, except for maybe one or two things.
My favorite thing that I did in this class was adding effects to our pictures. The effects I liked most were the dreamy and cross-process effect. I liked these because it enhances our pictures; it makes them more interesting to look at. You are able to change the mood of the picture and this was good because since most of our pictures are taken here at school it’s hard to create a different mood for every picture. Over the course of this semester I learned a lot of new things that were helpful. For example, I learned about ISO, shutter speed, and aperture. These are all used to create light while making the picture more interesting, and not taking the original color away. I also learned about asymmetrical and symmetrical balance which also helps improve pictures. One last thing I learned was how to work with Photoshop. I came into this class not knowing anything, and although I didn’t learn everything about this program I am leaving knowing a lot more than I originally did and this helps me to learn more about it in the future.
What I feel I was most successful with was learning what a good and a bad picture look like. Before this class, I saw pictures and didn’t think much of them. Now though I know that there is more to a picture than what you see. There are the ideas behind it, the setting, the mood, and the tricks used to create the final product. I’ve realized that taking a picture isn’t just about pushing the snapshot button, if you want a picture that actually catches the eye there is a whole process involved. The thing I struggled with the most was being creative. The classes I’ve taken have always been your basic classes that don’t require much creativity so coming into this class was a new experience for me. At the beginning I was clueless on how to be creative, but as the year progressed it became a little easier.
I think in the future what I would want to improve is not limiting myself. I would have liked to put more enthusiasm into my projects, and have worked on them even if it was difficult. However, I did see improvement through the year. I improved in my Photoshop skills and ideas. I learned a lot in this class, and I’m glad that I took it. It helped me learned the beauty behind photography.

Personal Metaphor " Like the hands of a clock, following an everlasting routine"

(Like the hands of a clock, following an everlasting routine)

I chose this metaphor because right now I feel like everything I'm doing is the same. Everyday I wake up, go to school, go home and it starts all over again. It's all I did this year, everything was a routine, and nothing really changed as the year progressed. I think this metaphor really gets this point across because the hands of a clock always follow the same routine, and it never changes. The time may change, but the hands are still going around at the same pace, in the same direction. I know it will eventually change, but I like the quote too.

I am actually satisfied with this project. There are a couple things I could have changed, but overall it looks alright. I used a tutorial to create the clock and the clouds, and the paintbrush tool to create the grass. I think I did a good job with the composition, and the colors. It all seems to go. What I could have done better though was making myself more easily noticeable. When I look at the picture the last thing I see is myself, so I could make myself easier to spy. The most difficult part was figuring out how to make it seem like the clock was among the grass, and not make it seem like it was under it or on top of it. I like my final product though, I like the mood it creates.