Catalina

A few photos from a trip to Catalina Island.  It was cold and rainy when we were there, but we made the best of it.

Deconstructed

I had my Advanced and AP students do a project recently, which I titled Destruction Portrait.  The idea was inspired by some artists I had seen who added meaning to their portraits by doing something to them that would otherwise seem destructive-- like burning, tearing, or cutting them up.  In hindsight I think Destruction Portraits isn't the right name, however, because the pictures aren't actually destroyed. Ok, they're destroyed in the traditional sense, but they're much more than they were when they were whole.  I'm thinking De-Construction might be a more accurate title.  By deconstructing their subject the students were able to convey much more than the original photo ever could.  It's definitely way outside of most people's comfort zone, so many students had trouble getting started--they didn't know what to do to their picture. I figured I'd put myself right in their shoes to get a feel for the process so I could better advise them.  Here is my Deconstruction Self Portrait.  I had SO MUCH FUN creating it!  The painting part was created during class with the creative assistance and guidance of several of my students. Here you go... Mrs. V Deconstructed...  see if you can guess the meaning behind it.

Coco

This is Coco.  My mom recently started fostering dogs with a rescue group, and Coco is one of her fosters.  She's a Pit Bull/Shar-Pei mix, and is about the sweetest most loving dog you'll ever meet.  But Coco's picture on the rescue group's website was not very flattering, and made her look kind of mean--not what you want when you're trying to get adopted.  So, while visiting my mom this summer I set out to capture Coco's sweetness in a couple photos, and here they are.

Photoshoppers In Training

It's hard to believe, but my boys turned 6 a couple weeks ago.  For their last homework assignment for Kindergarten they were asked to do a report on an animal.  They wanted to include a picture on each page, but couldn't find just the right picture to match the information on a couple pages.  Not to worry, boys, I know a thing or two about Photoshop :)  I started creating a composite image from Creative Commons licensed photos and graphics I found on the Internet, when I realized that this was pretty basic Photoshopping.  I decided to see if they could handle doing the editing themselves.  Turns out they could!  We learned about layer masking, stretching and shrinking (while holding shift, of course!), Ctrl J for duplicating layers, adding text, the magic wand tool, and drawing straight lines.  It's crazy how quickly they picked it up.  I realize these aren't professional quality masks, but they're pretty awesome considering this was their first time... and did I mention they're 6?!  Once, while masking the Woolly Mammoth's background Emerson accidentally masked a circle right through his torso.  Ansel chimed in quickly "X to switch your color."  Emerson did, but after his first paint stroke with white a small bit of the mask remained, to which Ansel replied "Oh! He has a scar."  Below are the pictures with excerpts from their reports.

American Alligators weigh up to 550 lbs.

Woolly Mammoths were up to 13 feet tall.

Male Woolly Mammoths weighed as much as 6 cars.

Oil and Water Macro

Becca Pop Art

Yes, I'm rehashing yet another old picture for a new project.  I'm on quite a roll here, aren't I?  I give you.. Becca: pop art style in complementary colors. 

Dictionary Art

Trying out another new project with my Advanced group--Dictionary Art (or at least that's the title that will give the best search results for similar images.)  I was looking for a way to do some creative interpretation and storytelling.  Here's what we're going to do:

1.)Select a "page" that inspires you (sheet music, dictionary pages, book pages, newspapers, vintage advertisements, maps, etc.)

2.) Figure out what it means or could mean and how a face could tell that story or convey that emotion.

3. Shoot, overlay, done.

So simple, but open to so much interpretation.  So here are my practice versions.  Being April (my busiest month with multiple art shows, a fast-approaching AP test, and two very important little boys turning 6) I didn't have time to shoot new photos for this project.  This first image is a former student named Jason.  He took my classes for two years many years ago, yet is still one of those students that I can almost always count on seeing at the school art show.  For all I know Jason may love math, but for my image I wanted to convey a sense of being overwhelmed or stunned by it.  I overlaid two images of calculations on a desaturated chalk board and flipped one of them 180 degrees to make it extra confusing.  After being inspired by the watercolor versions of dictionary art I wanted to include some faux paint representing Jason's mind leaking out or overflowing, so that's where the pop of color came in.

 For demonstration purposes I wanted to show my advanced group a project that is "pretty" on the surface but that lacks the storytelling depth that these images could have.  So, after hunting around for another low key emotive portrait of mine I found this more recent one of Brittany, a friend of my sister.  I overlaid a page from a French dictionary and voila! (P.S. completely unintentional use of an actual French word... nice!)  Brittany's picture was quick and easy but I'm just not feeling a story in it.

Looking forward to seeing what my awesome advanced group will do with this!

Fill it with Photos

Ever since I stumbled upon this project I have been struggling with what to call it.  The orignal artist, Melinda Gibson, made hers by actually cutting up pictures to fill the shapes in other pictures, so collage would be a good name.  But we weren't going to be cutting and gluing.  We would be using Photoshop.  I tried on "Photo Filled Silhouettes" and finally settled "Photo Filled Shapes" when I realized that they could be created from any shape.  It still doesn't feel like the right title, but considering we're about to finish the project I think I should probably just let it go.

We could have literally filled any shape with any photo, and it could have led to interesting results, but since this was for my advanced class I wanted to add a bit of challenge while at the same time giving the weirdness of this project some deliberateness.  So, I'm requiring some sort of contrast or conflict between the original photo and the photos filling it.  For my sample for the project I decided to use a headshot I had taken of my cousin, Leigh.  Leigh, like me, is from Wisconsin.  She moved out to California about four years ago to pursue acting while working as a graphic designer.  She currently works for a little company you might have heard of called Beats by Dre, and while her main role is as a designer she did recently get to appear as "Pretty Girl #1" in one of their Solo Selfie commercials (shamelss cousin promotion here!)  Click HERE to check it out.  She's in the red dress :)

How does this play into my Photo Filled Shapes composition?  I decided to use Leigh's relocation in my image.  When she first moved here she lived in Venice.  While the city doesn't smell too nice, it is a fantastic place to take pictures.  I used a picture that I took of the graffiti walls in Venice to fill Leigh's skin.  These are concrete walls on the beach that artists paint and re-paint--it's very colorful and ever-changing.  I filled the background of the image with an image to represent Leigh's Wisconsin roots.  I'm not going to lie--the picture is not actually from Wisconsin.  It's from a trip we took to Sequoia National Park right here in California.  Sorry if that ruins it for you, but I'm only in Wisconsin for a brief time each year and none of my landcapes worked well in this composition.  I made the background black and white to represent the fact that it's in the past.

So there you have it.  Look up Melinda Gibson's project called The Photograph As Contemporary Art to see the inspiration for this project.

Out of Focus (On Purpose)

Testing out a project I've never done before-- taking blurry photos on purpose.  Here are my two favorites.  It was both easy and a challenge at the same time.  The fact that I felt I could photograph almost anything made it feel limitless.  My first attempt was late at night with zero light to work with, so being able to slow my shutter speed was nice.  But, conveying a mood or story with blur added the challenging part.  Looking forward to seeing what my advanced group came up with.

Aidee's Wedding

Aidee was once one of my students.  One of my most talented students.  During her senior year she was in my classes for three periods a day, so she was definitely missed when she graduated.  You can imagine my surprise then when many years later she contacted me asking about shooting her wedding.  Yes, I am starting to have students who go by Mrs.  Man, that's weird.  I was honored to be her photographer.  She had booked this adorable little church and planned the wedding for a beautiful fall afternoon.  I like to think that the photographer in her had a part in these decisions--all that wonderful natural light streaming in through the church windows made for the easiest and best lighting I've ever had the opportunity to work with during a wedding.  Here is the story of her big day...

 Oh, that's right... there was a groom involved too :)  That's Daniel on the right with his best man and brother on the left.  I didn't have Daniel in class and just met him at the rehearsal the night before the wedding, but he seems very genuine and kind.

 Why oh why do they always set the bride up in the Sunday School room?!  The getting ready photos are some of my favorites, but it's always a challenge to not include the Noah's Ark decorations and craft supplies in the background.  On this dress photo I used some clever Photoshopping to "re-paint" the walls.

 Aidee, the beautiful bride.

 The pastor at this church was very photo-friendly.  He had zero restrictions on where I could shoot.  He even showed me a secret passageway that I could use to move around behind the sanctuary.  The door on the left by the American flag went back to an office with a second doorway that led into the sanctuary.  It was a great place to stand incognito and get photos of the groom with the guests in the background.  From there I could go out a third door that led behind the sanctuary to the right side where I could get photos of the bride.  There was also a back balcony of sorts--really an upstairs Sunday school classroom that had big windows overlooking the church.  That's where I got this shot of the whole scene.  Aidee and Daniel did not plan a long wedding ceremony.  For the guests this probably sounds great, but for the photographer it meant I had to HUSTLE!  All of the key elements--walking down the aisle, the vows, the rings, lighting the candle, the kiss, and walking out happened very close together.  And when you're the photographer you have to balance getting photos that tell the story with making sure you aren't being a distraction.  I basically shot it like this.  When they walked in I was at the end of the aisle looking back.  From there I moved to one side of the sanctuary and then the other using the back passage.  After that I had to walk quickly and quietly to the back of the church and up a flight of stairs to the windows.  Got a couple shots from there and hustled back down to catch the vows and kiss.  After that I scooted to the back of the church for the walk out.  Then I caught my breath, wiped the sweat off my brow, and breathed a sigh of relief that I got it all.

 Time for the requisite family photos.

 Love those sunglasses on Daniel's dad!

 The guests at this table were also in my photo class :)

 The kid table.  Half of them were on their phones...

 ... and the other half were blowing bubbles.

I wasn't booked long enough to shoot any of the dinner or dance, but I'm certain it was beautiful.  I was so excited about these pictures that I had them fully edited and ready for pickup in a week!  That's a record for me.  After weeding out blurry and missed shots I ended up with 453 photos total.  This includes the extra photos of each posed family picture (which I only use if somebody blinks--and there was one blinker in this group.)  I credit my speed in editing to several factors including batch editing, keeping a time card to hold myself accountable, and writing out a detailed workflow before any editing began.

When Aidee and Daniel came to see the reveal of their finished photos I had created a video of the best images put to music from their ceremony.  I'm always so hopeful that the clients love the photos as much as I do.  In this case I had the added pressure of having trained this particular client myself--I taught her to have a discerning eye when it comes to photographs--but they said they liked them. :)

Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Coker!  Thank you for allowing me to be a part of your big day.