portfolio
Lately I have been trying to expand my product and commercial side of my website since I have less images inside that book on my website.
What better way to start a new project than by using my favorite color as a base?! In this series of fruit and products, I really experimented with duo color backgrounds, which is something new to me.
I genuinely had fun doing these, and I hope you enjoy them. Let me know what you think!
I have been trying to add more images to my product side of my portfolio lately, These images of the watch were really fun to do. When I was in school, I made a watch image that I like a lot and put a lot of effort into, but this one trumps it, therefore this one stays, and the other must go.
These images were really fun to make, because I do not work with male models as much, so it becomes more challenging for me in the sense of posing, and things that look natural.
Let me know what you think!
Back in October, I had my first chance to do a fashion shoot in Michigan. This very inspirational woman has become a friend of mine these last few years and it was an honor to work with her while she has so many other projects going on as well. We are currently in the process of rebranding her, so there will be many planned shoots to come that im very excited about! Even though some of you might have already seen them on my updated website, they have yet to be blogged.
I would also like to send out a special thank you to my boyfriend, Chris for learning how to be an assistant to the photographer by moving around the lights and equipment, and even learning how to use and set up all the equpitment to be the best help he could.
So without further ado, here are some images from our first shoot. I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed making them!
As many of you know, I moved to Michigan after I graduated from The Art Institute of Pittsburgh to be closer to my family to save up some money to travel, and move to a big city. (I always thought I would move to LA first, but lately I've been liking the idea of NYC.)
Anyway, I kept this pretty quiet last year, the ones closest to me knew about it but that's about it. Last year I got pretty sick a lot of chain reaction things that left me ill and un-able to function in a productive manner for about a year. In fact the entire reason I am making this post is because I saw one of those Facebook memories from last year when I was a walking EKG and one of the only images that I publicly shared from that year in which you could actually see the heart monitor attached to me. Those constant set of issues set me back on my plans for moving on with my life quite a bit. I'd like to say a special thank you to my boyfriend, family and friends who stood by me and helped me by keeping all my nerves away. They all helped me by listening to my complaints and spent their entire year putting my health and well-being before their own.
I am FINALLY starting to photograph again which is an amazing feeling. I have also gone through and re-edited my entire portfolio and website just to give me that fresh "new start" feeling. Over the next few months I plan on getting my blog schedule especially back on an every other week basis. I'd also like to extend another thank you to my boyfriend, as well as all my friends and family that helped me get back on my feet. They really help push me back to work even when I'm scared of failure and full of self-doubt. This thank you also includes my great uncle Fred who passed this week, because without you I would not have seen my cousins this weekend who have given me that extra boost of confidence to continue on with my dreams. So, thank you for everything you all have done for me.
I would also like to extend a large thank you to the people that regularly follow this blog and didn't give up on me even though I took such a long time off from blogging. I was touched to see how many people missed reading what I shared. Your loyalty means so much to me!
Also, because this is a photography blog, and I did mention one image in particular, I will share some of the moments from last year that either I or my boyfriend captured of me (on the good days) while I was ill. The first image with the little kitten from last Thanksgiving at my grandparents is the one that was previously mentioned.
As some of you may have known, this past Friday was National Photography Day. In honor of this, I have decided to go in depth on an image that I never really talked about from my previous blog titled "Fashion Accessories". With the help of my best friend, who went to see the Horst P. Horst exhibit in the Salvador Dali Museum in St. Petersburg Florida on her vacation, I have decided to give you a short bio of his life and fame as a photographer. Ill then show you how he inspired this image of mine. (Citations Below!)
Horst P. Horst was born in 1906 in Germany. At a young age, he discovered his love for art and in 1920 started studying at Hamburg, only to move to Paris in 1930 to study under the architect Le Corbusier. While in Paris, Horst met many people in the art industry including Baron George Hoyningen-Huene who was the Chief of Photography for French Vogue. In 1931, Horst became his photographic assistant as well as his lover and favorite model. In December of that year, he published his first of many images in French Vogue. In 1932, Horst had his first big exhibition in La Plume D'or in Paris. After this exhibit, he became famous almost overnight thanks to a review in The New Yorker.
In 1937, Horst moved to New York where he met Coco Channel and photographed for her for thirty years. While his career was going strong in the United States, it seems his love life was also in 1938. Horst met a British diplomat named Valentine Lawford, who lived with Horst until Lawford's death in 1991. They even adopted and raised a son together named Richard J. Horst.
In 1941 he applied for United States citizenship and joined the Army in 1943. In the Army, Horst had many of his images in the Army’s magazine called “Belvoir Castle.” In 1945, he became friends with and photographed President Harry S. Truman which lead him to photograph every first lady until the 1960s. Also in the 1960s, the new Vogue Editor Diana Vreeland convinced Horst to make a series of images illustrating the lifestyle of international high society members. Eventually he moved down to Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, and on November 18, 1999 at the age of 93 he died in his home.
Horst P. Horst’s images are still very prominent to the fashion industry today. Horst is best known for his fashion and portraits, but is also recognized for his still life’s and architecture images. His work often shows his interest in surrealism as well as glamour and beauty
Like these images here of Horst P. Horst.
This image of mine that I used in a series of different fashion accessories that I was inspired by Horst P. Horst to create. My style is very glamorous and elegant, Just like Horst P. Horst, and as he uses black and white film, I used monochromatic colors. Horst always has very strong visual lines, and I think the hat and my model Hannah's body language gives me those strong lines.
Have a good day everyone and happy Belated National Photography Day!
"Horst P Horst | Classic Photography." Horst P Horst | Classic Photography. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Aug. 2016.
"Horst P. Horst." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 20 Aug. 2016.
"Horst P Horst News, Photos and Videos - Vogue." Horst P Horst News Photos and Videos Vogue. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Aug. 2016.
Many of you know, I graduated from The Art Institute of Pittsburgh at the end of March. In order to graduate, we had a few requirements. One of those was a print portfolio to show the faculty, future employers, friends, and family at the portfolio show (see my last blog to learn about the process and requirements titled “I Graduated”). My portfolio contains my best work created up until graduation and an artist statement. I worked very hard to try to find cases and designs that I felt best suited my style and aesthetic. Each of these decisions such as what color to make my case, design aesthetics, plastic sleeves or no plastic sleeves, what type of paper would look best, choosing the images that I think best fit my personal brand and style, the layout of the images on the pages, the image pairings and orders, and many other technical issues that happen behind the scenes. Although the prep work is behind the scenes, some people might not realize exactly how much time and thought goes into it.
After a lot of research, I chose to go with KLO Portfolios and use plastic sleeves to protect my print from fingerprints or other potential accidents. My portfolio is 11x14 because I couldn’t imagine people looking through an 11x17 portrait sized book. Unfortunately that meant not all of my images could be as full bleed as I wanted them to be since I cropped the book smaller, but I still went for full bleed and gave the other images dark borders behind. To push my portfolio even further, I added two pictures on every page, but in three different instances, I used one image on a page as a page break, and transition. The average number of pages you should have in a portfolio book is 15-20 that display your best technical and creative skills in a constant manner that reflects you’re branding and aesthetic. Before all the images, I have a cover page with my logo and contact information, then an artist statement. The artist statement describes my work and how I became the photographer I am.(all in the same dark blue color as my logo “B”) My portfolio book itself, is white, and has my logo in the middle.
I have been getting quite a few requests to see my printed portfolio from people that could not make it to my graduation. I thought this would be a good way to show it, in order. Although I realize seeing a digital image and seeing a print are very different in all aspects, I tried my best to show you the flow, sequencing, and the images themselves. So here it is everyone from beginning to end. I hope you enjoy it.
The moment I have been waiting for the last (almost) 4 years has came and gone. Let me start from the beginning. I started college at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh in August of 2012. In that time I worked my butt off to get as much information, work, and experience that I could get. I was even the President of the Circular Photo Club in my school. Then all of a sudden, I was graduating. March 25, 2016. I want to say this came out of nowhere, but Id be lying. It came up too quickly is more of an appropriate phrasing. I graduated with my Bachelors of Science in Photography.
The week of March 20-26th was one of the busiest weeks of my life. Many people know that my boyfriend lived in West Virginia. So I would go see him every weekend. In the beginning of the week I was in West Virginia helping him pack since he moved up to Michigan with me. When my portfolio show came around, the next day, it was one of the most stressful days of my life, and the very next day at 6:30 am,. my boyfriend and family were packing up my apartment, and I moved to Michigan. That was just a little bit of a life update for you all on where I am. Now I’ll tell you more about graduation!
At the Art Institute, we have these quarterly portfolio shows where all the graduates present their best work. These get show to our professors, employers, friends, family, and the general public. In order to graduate, not only must you participate in the show, you need to put together a print portfolio, web portfolio, resume, show you have social media platforms, promotional pieces, and a display. For your displays, you can do just about anything you want as long as it fits your brand. I have seen some amazing and creative displays. Being the perfectionist I am, I spent many hours and days stressing over every detail.
I started with drawing out ideas for my display. I had a lot of help on my display. I could not have done it without them actually. the four wonderful people that helped me were Mel, who got was able to help show us what we needed to make this happen, and also was able to borrow a truck and bring all the materials to the school. The other three fantastic people that helped me out were Paige Piotti, Jackie Pickens, and Jackie’s dad who came in super early and put my board together. Shelves, legs and all. They were also both graduating that day which makes them even more amazing. The most nerve wracking part of it did not know until the morning of portfolio show if my display would actually stand because the ceilings were too low to bring it in finished and had to be put together on site. I decided to keep my design simple. The board was painted dark blue, to match the dark blue in my logo, and I had my logo with pictures on all sides to draw you in to my table.
My promotional pieces were a lot of fun. I made two variations of chopstick labels, both blue raspberry flavor to match the color of my logo. One was a clear tube; the other had a white tube. I also had stickers on my table of my images, and my logo. I also had goodie bags. Blue drawstring bags each filled with 4 blueberry hard candies, a candy bracelet, my business card, and one of each tube of chopstick. They were a hit. I made 50 and had 1 left at the end.
On my display I had two PGH You magazines that are student published magazines that I had work in, as well as my iPad with my website up I also had my business cards, and resumes.. My business cards and resumes are all he same fonts and colors as my logo. I also had a contest drawing where people put their name and number on a slip of paper, and you could win a print of your choice. (Winner revealed soon!)
Finally, the biggest part of the entire display, my print portfolio. I chose to work with KLO Portfolios based out of Vancouver. I just love how it came out and would recommend using them for your portfolio case. I went with white acrylic case with my logo both in the middle. The “b” was surface printed, and the “e” and “photography” were both engraved and color filled around with the same colors as my logo as well. Inside. Along with my cover and artist statement are full bleed fashion and advertising images.
With all the running around of the day, I completely forgot to take a lot of pictures. I only got a few of me and my display by myself unfortunately. But here is the final display, which so much work went into, and so many people helped me make this happen. I would like to thank everyone that came to support me and everyone who pushed me through as well as making this possible.
Although I did not take any other pictures myself, there was a student photographer going around. These are some of my favorites as well as my fellow friends and photography graduates. I want to give them special thanks for all of your advice and options. I’ve spent a lot of time with great friends and great artists. Which helped make this an awesome presentation? This blog post is dedicated to everyone that turned this into a reality! Thank you so so much for all your hard work and stress relieving tactics!
in the above images are some great friends and fellow photographers/graduates. you can see some of their websites below:
Jeanette Shustack: http://www.shustackphotography.com/
Amanda Vinecourt: http://www.amandavinecourt.com/
Mackenzie Cowan: https://www.facebook.com/Mackenzie-Lynn-Photography-640012992722983/?pnref=lhc
Tyshane: n/a
Just For fun, here are a few behind the scenes images from my social media platforms about graduation.
