Going out with a bang!

This week has been the best yet! I am helping with the fashion and creative portraiture class. I'm learning SO much about lighting, product advertising, and the difference between commercial and fashion photography. Commercial photography is fully lit with a clean background to emphasize the product being advertised. Fashion photography still focuses on the product, but it is more creative in its displays. The models are placed in artistic positions and often done up in ways you would not see in everyday life. The best part is how into it the students are! They are the models and photographers and they get to direct the shoots. I got the most fantastic photos! Here are a few from behind the scenes and some I took!

What a day!

This was such an exciting week for me! My boss agreed to let me participate in the darkroom class, while also helping the teacher! I am learning so much from this experience! It is just so fascinating to see how adding chemicals will just make the picture appear! I love it!



But today I was asked to skip class to work on an emergency project. Local women of different cultures have been submitting pictures for a exhibit called "My Family, Our Story". So I spent today creating design layouts for the different women. I was in a trance by the end, but it was nice to feel I helped out so much!

Class Blog

Here is the link for the blog I made! It has the students work along with a welcome (by me) and artists statements by the kids!

http://tlfintrotodigital6-8.blogspot.com/

Building my Portfolio!

I can't remember if I have mentioned this, but while I am helping with the camps, I am also in charge of documenting the experience. This is great because I am able to use my photography and ....BUILD MY PORTFOLIO!!! As I capture the kids, I am also to shoot around town and get some stock shots for my website! I made a website for my photography portfolio, and really enjoyed it! Now I need to start creating my portfolio for my internship! Hopefully I will be able to use the artistic techniques I am learning in creating that.





A new assignment I was just assigned was a blog. You know how much i love blogs! Remember how I told you about the teacher displaying the students work on a blog? Well, my boss loved the idea so much, he asked me to create a blog for the class I am working on now. I will upload students photography and let the parents know what we did in class. Yet another way I am building my portfolio (but this one is more for my school website). When I get the blog created I will put up the link!

I forgot!

I forgot to mention something awesome we did in the darkroom course! The teacher kept a blog with her students in New York. She thought it would be neat if we uploaded the images from the kids in Charlotte, so both sets of students could critique each others work. Each student choose 5 pictures and I scanned them into the blog. Now the students have a way to communicate with their artwork to students in New York, and a website to show off their work to their friends!

Here is the website for that- http://tlfinsight.blogspot.com/

More Camps!

This week I work double time on camps! I helped with a photoshop lesson and learned a ton! They say teaching others helps you learn more, and I definitely think that is true! I also was able to learn darkroom procedures and how to develop film! It is so neat! But the thing I am enjoying most is meeting the teacher! They are all professional artists with emphasis in photography. I love talking to them and see where they have been and how they got here. One of them, a free lance photographer, just finished working on a pin up calendar! She showed me the proofs and the process she went through with lighting and editing. She is now in the process of advertising the release party (which I was invited to! YES!). She was going to go downtown and pass out the ad flyers she created (on photoshop, I might add). I suggested she dress the girls in their pin up attire to attract more attention and curiosity. The ad itself if beautifully designed! I can't wait to go to the party and see how a real release party is played out!


Emma, the freelance, is the one in the turban. (I wasn't able to go to the release party, but she said it was packed and went well!)

The other teacher is very sweet and patient. She keeps thanking me for my help, which I feel kind of awkward because I have never done darkroom chemistry before. I am learning along with the kids and helping her with little tasks that don't involve chemistry. She just moved to Charlotte and loves the art scene. We have a lot in common and I really think I've made some great friendships and connections through these artists!


This is the darkroom teacher, Laurie.

Camp!

Last week was my only vacation I am taking all summer! It was a blast! I went to Florida and took full advantage of my time off. When I returned, I began helping with the camps. This weeks was an intro to digital photography class for high schoolers. I love working with them because I can build relationships and meet these neat kids, while also reviewing the basics. We take the kids off site, around the city to use different photography techniques to share a message. Its really cool seeing how they start seeing the city more creatively and using the different elements and principles.

The other day, I was looking through the vast amount of photography books in the classroom and I came across one that really struck me. I am studying advertising, but I never thought I would actually go into it, until I read this book. It was called Photography for Advertising. I got super excited because I found a career that mixes what i enjoy and what I am studying! The book gave tips on how to make the product seem appetizing to the customer. The technique I found most interesting was placing the product in an unrelated setting. For instance, the photographer placed a diamond ring on a tree limb. This pulls attention to the object, and zooming also makes the object the central focal point. I learned a lot from those books. I read others about photojournalism as well. I haven't been thinking as seriously about that because print journalism is a dying form of communication. Architectural photography is also interesting.

I was given the task of documenting the classes, and I'm quite enjoying it! I like being creative with shooting the kids and showing the neat places we are going. Its been a good week, and I finally solidified my schedule. So I will for sure be making my hours for credit! Yay!