My Personal Project

So Bill Kelly assigned the Personal Project at the beginning of the semester. The assignment is to create a mini portfolio following a common theme. BK and I are still having trouble pin-pointing my theme, but what is for sure is they are portraits :) I am trying to keep a common color scheme and theme in the images, and I think so far so good :) Here's some of the work...

 When I was thinking up ideas for shoots I came across this hat and umbrella that belong to a friend of mine. I thought they would be fun to use as props, and Amanda popped into my head first. Her dark features and beautiful face were perfect for this idea. I'm so happy with how the shots turned out!! Britt hung out and did the makeup...thank goodness for her! She did a great job! :)

 

Janice was part of my first shoot, along with the beauty dish! I think the hat was a good idea, some mystery is added from her peeking out from under it.                   

                             Thanks to the lovely Brooke for being my blue princess :)

         

Ishea wears yellow so well. Thanks for hanging out, pretty lady!

 

I knew I had to photograph Amiee with her point shoes....I just love the movement in the dress in the right photo!!

Mr. Bunny

Here are a few shots from the fun evening I spent with Kelly, Monica, and Mr. Bunny! I don't have much experience with rabbits, but this guy was pretty awesome :) so were the wonderful ladies who modeled with him :)

A Happy Couple

Mitch Reider and Amanda Narvell are awesome for taking the time to model for my couples portrait. They're great friends of mine and they make a fabulous couple!

Thanks for being awesome, guys! 

Jewelry Cover

For Advanced Commercial Studio, Todd assigned us our Jewelry cover. I have to say I'm happy with my work, and the necklace! It's my favorite color and I think it's fun :)


Here's another attempt at wowing Todd...

The Shoe

Robert Golding has his students take part in an assignment every year where the students are given a pink and white Nike shoe and told to photograph it. There are no rules, just that the shoe is in the picture. It was fun seeing the examples of all the different ideas people had come up with in the past. I don't think I remember seeing one like this one...

So im pretty happy with how I've done it. 

A Visit to Mimi's Studio

This past Friday my class took a field trip to Mimi Janosy's studio in Manayunk to practice our next assignment - Pet Photography. Someone brought in their dog, Noel and I fell in love!!! Such a lovable, soft, fluffy puppy!! Can I have one now?

I just wanted to share this beauty to share a smile :)

Advanced Commercial Studio

So far this semester I have turned in two assignments for Advanced Commercial Studio. There was the White Card assignment which was a lot of fun, and then there was the Food assignment. I think I have decided that photographing food is not one of my strong points if I have to be the photographer and food stylist at the same time. I kind of suck at food! So I made life a little bit easier on myself this time around and bought a cheesecake. Yum!

This assignment was to show that certain liquids do not photograph very well on top of a black background. Sometimes the liquid gets lost in the black behind it. Using this technique, the colors of the liquid look much richer and brighter. 

This is the Food cover. Yummy! 

Tungsten/Daylight

A tricky assignment. First, I had to photograph a situation that was balanced and correct for Daylight, but included Tungsten (which should show up orange). Then I had to do the same thing but with corrected Tungsten, which would cause the daylight to show up blue. This was tricky but I think I got it :)

Coffee Beans

Here is some work I did for our "Product" assignment for Bill Kelly. I chose to do something I love oh, so much: Coffee! I bought a bag of whole bean Caffe Verona from Starbucks so I could enjoy the coffee when I was done shooting it. What a yummy aroma to have surrounding me as I shot :) 

Catalog Shot 

On Location 

With a Model

Beautiful Sadness

For my first student choice in my portrait class I chose "Experimental Portrait." I chose it because I had a vision of a woman reflecting after having a breakdown. Maybe it was a way to channel the negative energy  built up over this gray and gloomy winter, or maybe it was just an off the wall idea. Either way, my model Corol was a wonderful sport and the final image is beautiful. Thanks again, Corol.

Panoramas

Vlad gave us an assignment a few weeks back to shoot a panorama. I was a little nervous at first because I had actually never done a panorama. My first one was shot in Curtis Park right by my house. The other two were shot in Philly not long after, since I can't get shooting them off my brain! I plan on practicing with this a lot more :) I even want to try doing an HDR panorama or two!!!


P.S. Click on the images to enlarge them for the full effect...they're looking pretty small :)

This is Curtis Park in Elkins Park, Pa 

Since I'm still so new to Philly I am not 100% sure but I think I was told this is the IRS building 

A view of the river and Boathouse Row from the walkway by the Art Museum. I want to go back and shoot from the road across from Boathouse Row to get a much better shot! (or rent a boat, maybe?)

Facial Analysis

Thanks to Casey Clayton for wearing the pearls and being a great model! I just LOVE her eyes :)

*This was the Facial Analysis assignment for Mimi*

Skin

This shot I took at the studio for Exposure Nation, and I ended up using it for an assignment called "Skin". This ended up being A material in Vlad's eyes (a major accomplishment!) and a copy of the large print I did landed me the best grade ever! Thanks, Redz, for being an awesome model and tatting yourself for the sake of my photography!

Karen G - Insight

The first assignment for Advanced Professional Photography this semester was to create album art, a CD cover. I decided to borrow my friend's guitar and hand it over to Karen, my gorgeous classmate :)  The end shot was nothing at all like I had planned when I first thought of shooting with her, it came out even better!

Cross Process

One of the first assignments this semester was learning how to cross process in Photoshop. I love how it can really enhance an image and make it more interesting. 

Pro Photo II - Architecture

My teacher, Vlad loves - I mean LOVES to give us a good challenge. Architecture is one he gets to give to all of us students in our first AND second year at Antonelli. I have to say that I was able to enjoy the second round of Architecture so much more since the 4x5 camera was out of the picture (haha). This time I actually got very excited about the places I could go to do this assignment. I also just loved the idea of roaming around Philly getting shots of different styles of buildings. Here are some of my favorites. Enjoy!

Veterans Day Celebration at Applebees

Jenkintown, Pa
November 11, 2010


    Let me start by stating the obvious that my time at Applebees is never quite the highlight of my week. The running around until 2am, the being nice to people who are being rude to me, the messiness of bussing tables all contribute to the knot I get in my stomach every time I walk into that restaurant (my apologies for starting off on a negative note, but its the truth). This day was special, though. This day was about something way more than going to work. My boss talked about it for weeks, like a 5 year old preparing their Christmas list for Santa.
    At first, I didn't understand what all the excitement was about. I was thinking that he was overplaying the whole idea and making Veterans Day out to be just as important as Christmas. What an asshole way of thinking. This day IS special. This day DOES mean a very lot. On my way to work I thought about it even more. I thought about Poppy, who served in WWII and fought for the freedom we have in this country. I thought about his younger brother, Joe, who did the same thing but didn't return home. I thought about my uncles and cousins who are now or have been in the service, and the sacrifices I know they made to serve America. I thought about all the friends I am lucky to have who have returned home or who are still overseas. I thought about how proud I am of each one of them. These brave souls have put their lives on the line to protect this country, and I love them all for it. I don't feel that I have the courage needed to do something so great, which makes me idolize them even more.
    I showed up to work and circled the parking lot TWICE before finally finding a place to park. I knew the turnout would be great, but I didn't expect the volume of people that showed. There was a line out the door, an hour wait - all day! The place was packed - every table full! As I walked around with my camera looking for some interesting moments, I started to notice total strangers talking to each other, with a mutual respect in their eyes. I would walk by hearing converstaions between men and women swapping stories and reminiscing. That's when it really hit me, this was HUGE. I thought of everyone I knew, and all the people I was meeting that day, and had to keep my eyes from welling up (and not just because I cry over everything!). I was reminded of how important our country is, and how important out veterans are for protecting us.
Turns out, I don't think I've ever had so much fun at Applebees.


To all the brave men and women who have risked or given their lives to protect the land of the free and the home of the brave, THANK YOU. I LOVE YOU.

 This man just looks so peaceful among all the madness

 Full House

 An intense moment

 Marines and their badass jackets

I was lucky enough to talk with this gentleman for a little while, he had me laughing!! Great sense of humor :) Loved him!!

Father and daughter waiting for their turn...ever so patiently.

THANK YOU

She was incredible. She brought this photo of herself just in case she needed to prove she was in the service. Beautiful then, beautiful now...and very funny! Oh, by the way, we believed her AND appreciate her.

The line that never seemed to get shorter

These two just met, and sat down together to rest, and ended up talking all night. 

This was the trumpet player that came in and played Taps for us. 

Everyone standing for the music

This man walked up, with tears in his eyes, to tip the trumpet player.