My Homework - Thanks Class of 2016!

I haven't taken any pictures with my real camera or spent much time editing the ones I do take.  One of my students brought this to my attention, so I asked my TAs to give me an assignment.  They came up with about the most complicated thing possible--surrealism.  While I did do a few surrealistic photos, I'm not super excited with how they turned out.  Actually, I'm more disappointed with how my brain refused to get surreal with the pressure of a deadline looming.  It was helpful, however, to gain some perspective into what my students (especially those doing the AP portfolio) are feeling.  Below are some photos that I took over the last week (only one that follows the assignment guidelines, sorry Alec.)  The first few are from the YMCA circus in Redlands.  I am absolutely stunned at these kids' talent!  They were so young and up there doing flips and looking all cirque du soleil!  The light was absolute junk, but I just worked with it and did long exposures and explored the movement of the performances.

 Here is my surrealism attempt.  The cup is a new photo, and inside it are two older ones--one of two dolphins from a whale watching trip in Dana Point, and the other, an HDR sunset over a lake in Wisconsin.  I don't like how it cuts off so close at the wrist.  I'd like my arms to lead into the picture more.

Finally, I've been wanting to try this thing I saw on Pinterest when searching for concentration ideas for Ana.  It involved cutting up multiple portraits and piecing them back together in a weird way.  Looked super easy, but turned out not to be.  Still, though it's not AT ALL what I was going for, it turned kind of cool.  The edit is inspired by one of my student's style--Marek, you know I'm a fan.  The subject, though you can barely see her, is Ana.  Ana, I hope you approve!

The final photo is a test shot of Alec that I took while setting up my lights.  I ended up really liking it so I kept it.  Alec, thank you for giving me the assignment, and for making me so proud this year!

Anza Borrego State Park

MLK Extra Credit

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."

Martin Luther King, Jr.

I gave my students an extra credit assignment which was to take a photo that relates to Dr. King and what he stood for.  In an attempt to show that this is not extremely difficult I created a sample picture of my own... the evening before the assignment... shot and edited on my cell phone. It literally took me five minutes. Fingers crossed that many took advantage of this project.

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.