ASAD 2024

2024 brought me lots of good times with my friends (old and new), family, and my favorite animals (old and new). This year also gave me time to explore through good food and travel. 2024 also started me down a path of figuring out who I want to be, and what I want out of life.

This year’s traveling was off to a slower start than usual. I didn’t go out of town until May. In May, I went to Nashville for a wedding. We stayed at Opryland, went to the museums, and I knocked out another state from my list of riding a horse in every state. My next vacation was to my home, Ohio. I came in to help my best friend Sam, prep for her baby shower. It’s so fun for me to watch my people succeed and I love standing by them as they grow. I am now a very proud auntie to a baby Enzo. While I was in Ohio, I reconnected with some other friends I hadn’t seen a long time, and I am so grateful for my time spent in Ohio this year. In September, I went to Chicago, and while in Chicago I saw a broadway play, completely fan girled in museums, and of course, hung out at the bean. The last place I went this year, was to West Virginia for Chris’s grandfathers Funeral. Under the circumstances, it was nice to spend the with his family, and meet some new faces.

I also gained an orange cat, named Coyote. Chris was out on a run, and had a little kitten follow him. Coyote had a collar on, so he brought him home. A few days later, we took him to the vet to check for a chip. The good news is he had one, the bad news was that it was connected to our local animal shelter. Coyote was supposed to be in foster care. We were asked to bring him in the shelter for a neuter appointment the next day. So, I asked about him when we dropped him off and they called me back after his surgery to tell me the foster parents surrendered him, and I went to pick him up the next day! He is a very sweet, playful, crazy boy and I am lucky to have him. I also have been feeding a few stray cats in the neighborhood, trying to get them acclimated to people, So that I can re-home or send them to our local shelter to be adopted.

I’d like to give a special shoutout to my horse family and trainers at the Equestrian Center. They help me everyday to be a better rider, and a better, stronger version of myself. My buddy Brigand is getting older and more injury prone. This summer while riding, he became lame and unfortunately hasn’t fully recovered. He has lots of good days, and a few days that hurt my heart. Im grateful to be riding with him on all of the days he is feeling well enough. However, I am now riding multiple horses more often, and learning to like different things about each of them, which is pretty cool. I still make sure Brigand gets the attention he deserves, and a big bucket of banana mash when I am done.

I hope you enjoy watching a glimpse of my year. If you want to see more, below you can watch this years video. The links to my other ASAD videos and the blogs to go along with it. Be on the look out next year for 2025!

If you cannot see the video this blog, click here.

Links to other blogs in yearly order are here!

2023
2022
2021
2020
2019

ASAD 2023

Every year I try to fill my days with friends, family, travel, laughter, and good food. 2023 brought me these, and new growth opportunities for myself, and my art.

At the beginning of the year, I was in the process of moving to a nicer apartment, closer to my work. I would like to extend a special thank you to my friends that helped get me here! It was a long and stressful two months made much easier by Mikaela and Vincie.

This year’s traveling started in the beginning of the year with a mini vacation about an hour a way with my family in a town called Alys Beach. This was not my first time coming here, but it was nice to get a little ways out of town to relax after moving. Then in May, I went to my friends’ wedding in Denver. I am on a mission to ride a horse in every state, so of course I did that, as well as going to museums, such as Meow Wolf, I also make sure I go to a zoo or aquarium on my vacations. In October, I went to Phoenix, and in December, I traveled to Raleigh for a family wedding, and then Greenville to visit my parents.

I typically use the phrase “he's a dream” when I talk about my buddy, Brigand. He pushes me to be better, work harder, and also to expect the unexpected. I am truly grateful for my trainer and friend, Janet, and the entire equestrian center. They help me everyday to be a better rider, and a better, stronger version of myself.

I hope you enjoy watching a glimpse of my year, below are links to my other ASAD videos and their perspective blogs in order, as well as this 2023’s! Be on the look out next year for 2024!

If you cannot see the video this blog, click here.

Links to other blogs in yearly order are here!

2022
2021
2020
2019

ASAD 2022

The year 2022 was filled with so many highs, and some very low, lows. 2022 brought travel, and weddings, animal snuggles. new friends, and family get togethers. Although some unexpected, I’m grateful to have seen them. 2022 also brought me lots of laughter, and new opportunities for growth in myself, and my art.

As some of you know, the year 2022 started out rough for me. New Years day, I was on a plane heading to my grandpa’s funeral. Although the circumstances were not ideal, I enjoyed seeing family that I have not seen in many years. I loved playing games and reminiscing with them about their childhoods and mine. My grandma is my only remaining grandparent, and I will forever cherish our conversations from this week. I am thankful that she sees me as someone she could talk to, and help her through her grief.

With the United States opening back up from covid, this brought on more travel. Not long after we got home from being in Ohio, my parents came to see me. I also traveled back to Ohio two other times this year. I flew in for my life long best friend’s bridal shower and bachelorette weekend, and then again for her wedding. I also traveled to New York City. I have been there five times, and I do not think I will ever stop being surprised by its beauty and culture.

Everyone that has ever met me knows that I have a love of animals, my favorite being a horse. Growing up in a suburb of Cleveland, its definitely not a typical favorite animal. My bedroom growing up was always covered in horse statues, pictures, toys, etc. After the loss of Molly, I decided it was time to become formally trained. This year, I started my journey towards horsemanship, and hopefully lead to hunter jumper. Bailey was the first horse I felt a bond with at The Equestrian Center. She was very patient with me and helped me through the beginning challenges. The center lost Bailey unexpectedly, and it broke my heart. After riding a few horses, who were all wonderful I found Brigand. I typically use the the phrase “he's a dream” when I talk about him. He pushes me to be better, work harder, and also to expect the unexpected. I am truly grateful for my trainer and friend, Janet, and the entire equestrian center. This is the first time in my life, I have had friends that are also horse people.

I always talk about the things I wish I could improve in the future of my videos. In the past, it was about video organization. I fixed this problem by creating folders per month and adding them at the end of every month, then going and creating that months section of the video. This has helped me a great deal and I definitely will continue it in the future. I was underwhelmed with some of my phones camera quality, but I upgraded my phone so I hope that will improve future videos. Something I really want to improve on will definitely be the blog writing itself. I struggle with writing out the synapsis of my year, and even my art.

I hope you enjoy 2022’s a second a day video, and I can not wait to hear what you think! The link is below, and please do not forget to look for 2023 in the future!

I have four more blog posts, saved in my drafts and I am working to get them to you soon.

If you cannot see the video this blog, click here.

Links to other blogs in yearly order are here!

2021
2020
2019

2021 ASAD Video

Wow. I cannot believe its has been a full year already. 2021 was a year full of loss and heartache. 2021 also brought some amazing memories and an abundance of laughter with some of my closest friends, animal snuggles, a little bit more travel Than last year, and of course, good food that I love to showcase throughout my videos. I always like to explain the things I did well, and the things I wish to improve in the next year.

Due to the world events, I kept my social circle small this year as well as the previous. Which was nice because I got to spend another year surrounded by only my closest circle of friends, who are also family. With them, I got to have many mini adventures such as county fairs, dinner dates, beach trips at all hours of the day, and I even got to help participate in bringing a hometown best friend in to the city to surprise one of my besties for her birthday!

Unfortunately, with the good comes the not so good. We lost some very special animals, and I lost my grandfather at the end of the year. Molly, the Hunters’ horse, was the first one this year. If you know me personally, you’d know that horses are my favorite animal, I absolutely adored Molly. The last time I saw her, before I went down I bought an entire bag on mints. Mints were her favorite treat and though it meant she’d have to let me get on her back for an hour or so a day she gladly accepted. If you were not fast enough though, shed dig through your pockets herself. The next was the Hunters' dog buster, who I think only Chris was fond of, he was known for getting into messes, the stinkier the better. Last but certainly not least, after a long year filled with family stresses and struggles, we suddenly lost my grandpa to the flu and pneumonia. I am grateful for him and the time we got o share. If my family had to choose one thing to say about him, I think it would be that he made life interesting, just not always in the best ways.I am grateful for the two voicemails on my phone from him, especially since I don’t have anything from my other passed grandparents. It’s been about a month and it still doesn’t quite feel real.

I am very excited to be traveling again, Although I am still doing way less traveling because of the pandemic, I did fly to Denver this year, and I had to make in back to Ohio at the end of the year. Denver was fun, I ate lots of good food, went to lots of museums, and of course did a little bit of hiking. My trip back to Ohio was a little bit more stressful. The plan was to fly back to my parents house in South Carolina and then drive to Ohio from there for my grandpas funeral.Then things got a little bit more stressful when I went to check in for my flight, and saw that it was cancelled four hours before I had to be at the airport. Naturally the airline booked me on another flight instead. Since it was just about midnight on New Years eve, and my flight left in the morning I had to wake up my parents to see what they thought was my best option. Long story short, I ended up buying day of plane tickets on New Years day. Luckily in the end, I made it to Ohio and the service was wonderful. It also let me see my family some of which I have not seen since I was in middle school.

Even though i’m not posting as much, I’m still working as you can see in my video, and I am so excited to show you what I have coming. There will be a wedding blog, and at least five product shots coming your way soon.People have also been asking me about showing my before and afters for some of my images because sometimes I really change a lot of things. I think this is a really fun idea because it helps show off one of my strengths, photoshop. I am just unhappy with my coding options for it with my website. I may try it a different way and let you decide if its readable, or if you like it.

There are a lot of things that I consider to be strengths and improvemnets this year. I chose to change the background track from the up beat and tropical tunes that i typically use, because of my losses this year especially near the end, it didn’t feel right. So in the end I swapped out the ukulele and switch it for a nice, still happy just more subdued piano and strings track. I think I also improved my editing and workflow this year, so hopefully I can just keep building onto it. If you want to see my workflow progress, feel free to check back and look at my previous blogs that are down at the bottom of this post. MY workflow consists of a yearly folder. Within that folder I have twelve folders with the month names. This year I added number of days as well as a color system so know when I have put all my videos per month in them through out the year. This is helpful to me because I am a little bit sporatic with my video uploading.

Ofcourse, if i’m going to talk about my strengths, I need to talk about the details i’d like to improve in the next year. I do this video project as a look back through my year like a scrap book, but also a way to stay learning and focused. I would have to say that writing about myself, and my process is one of my biggest on my list of “needs improvement"“ Im just really not good at it, but im trying to better to get out of my own head to improve it. Also, I would say I wish my video was all horizontal frames, although I have much less in this one than my previous, I still have room to improve there.


My 2021 video is here, and below are links my other videos.

***If you cannot see my video below here is a link.***

Thanks for watching, and be on the look out for 2022!

Links to other blogs in yearly order are here!
2020
2019

10.12.21: A Wedding to Remember

“TWO ARE BETTER THAN ONE, BECAUSE THEY HAVE A GOOD REWARD FOR THEIR TOIL. FOR IF THEY FALL, ONE WILL LIFT UP HIS FELLOW.”

ECCLESIASTES 49-12

I had a great time photographing this sweet family. on their special day! This was a unique experience for me because it was such a small and intimate ceremony of only about 12, including my bride and groom, The hardest part about shooting a wedding on the beach is always the sun, but I think I did the newlyweds justice.

2020 ASAD Final Video

     The hardest part of posting new content for me, whether it’s my photography or my videos is writing about them. Although a close second is showing anything I create at all. One of my college professors once told me, that if I liked my work, and saw no need for improvements, than I was not a real artist. I haven’t even posted my work or my life on social media sites lately because I do not think I have anything of importance to share. With that being said, I am sorry for the silence from the last year.

     This year has been a lot for everybody. Myself included. The pandemic has been hard in many different ways, some I cannot even imagine. For me, it brought my household down to me, as the only earning member for 3 months, halted all future traveling plans, and added to my anxiety as a whole. The last time I left my beautiful beach city was in February to go to Atlanta right before everything started to lock down.

    In addition to the world events, one of my roommates moved out, and with that, he took his cat, which after two years of living with, I was quite fond of. Although, this lead to the addition of my boyfriend’s sister, who I have called my sister for years. She later left again, due to a fight with her brother; however, while she was living here, I was able to help her through a really hard time, which brought us even closer than we were before. I have gained her back as a roommate recently in this current year. 

     Not all things this year have been hard times though. When my roommate left, I lost a little buddy, but it also gave me the opportunity to gain my cat. I got him from the shelter when he was 3 and half months old. His shelter name was Tutti Frutti, but I call him Lemon, among other names. A great thing that has happened this year amongst the pandemic and life hardships is simply being able to spend time with my family and friends. This just became trickier to make sure everyone was safe of course. I also turned 26, and witnessed my second hurricane.

     Also this year, my grandpa became ill, more mentally than physically. My family and I had to spend all year only hoping for the best possible outcomes for him and the rest of us involved. My dad also became ill this year, but is expected to make a full recovery. However, my family did lose my Great Aunt Phyllis. Who will truly be missed. The last time I talked to her on the phone she told me I was spoiled for living at the beach, and to take advantage of it.

    Now that I have given a little background for my video, let’s get to the technical skills. There were many great aspects that made my life easier while creating the final, like creating monthly bins to keep all my clips organized instead of the mess I had the first time around, where all 365 videos were all in the same folder.

      When there are good parts to a project, there are always ways to improve. Some of the things that I will change for this current year’s video are taking all the videos on one device, instead of having them spread across three. This is helpful when ordering the videos because it’s much easier to keep track of the dates. Rather than scrolling through three devices at a time trying to sort through the order. I would recommend not waiting until near the end of the year to put the videos together because it becomes very overwhelming. Lastly, I need to remind myself to make all my videos horizontal, and with better lighting all the time.

     This is incredibly long, maybe one of my longest blogs ever. With that being said, please enjoy my A Second A Day video for 2020, and be on the lookout for new images, and next year’s video. If you liked the sneak peaks I did last year, let me know and I will bring them back.

This link below, will send you to last years blog post to my ASAD 2019 video.

ASAD 2019 video here

2019 ASAD Final Video

Hey everyone, I am excited to say, the final project is here! I have Learned many things about myself, and about my techniques, and processes.

Let me start by telling you a few things I would like to improve upon for next years video. Ive already talked about organization in a previous blog, but I have to tell you, it was one of my biggest mistakes in this project was not having my monthly videos organized! My other biggest concern was simply, I wish all of my videos were shot horizontally through out the video. This would have kept the video more consistent. Now These are only a few things I wish I did better on, but I know I will get better, and I am proud of this video.

Since I have told you some of my struggles, let me talk to you about some of the things I really enjoyed about this project, and why I want to continue it. Honestly, one of my favorite aspects of this project, was to remember, and look back at some of the moments, from my everyday life no matter how big or small. The next reason I enjoyed this project was simply because it helps me with my video editing skills, since i only knew the bare minimum of premiere when I started. Video is a very popular skill to know as a photographer in this market, so I like to keep my skills well rounded and sharp. Making this video has been a lot of fun, and a lot of work. I am glad to see it all come to gather. It makes me even more excited for next year!

Without further ado, Here is the ASAD 2019 video!

Below are links the the other A Second A Day Sneak Peak videos and the blogs to go with them just incase you ever miss one, or want to rewatch/reread them.

Links to the other sneak peak videos in order:

1. Exciting Projects in the Work/ ASAD January Sneak PeaK

2. February’s ASAD Sneak Peak

3. March’s ASAD Sneak Peak

4. ASAD April Sneak Peak

5. ASAD May Sneak Peak

6. ASAD June Sneak Peak

7. ASAD July Sneak Peak

8. ASAD August Sneak Peak

9. ASAD September Sneak Peak

10. ASAD October Sneak Peak

11. ASAD November Sneak Peak

12. ASAD December Sneak Peak

ASAD November Sneak Peak

Wow! This holiday season flew by way faster than I expected. November was a month full of beach day get aways while the water was still just warm enough to enjoy, including finding my new favorite spot to read in my down very rare times. This is the first thanksgiving that I have ever spent away from my family. It was very strange, but luckily working into the late hours helped take my mind off of it.

Theres only one more sneak peak in this years video until I get to show you my progress so far! i’m very excited to show you the longest video project I have ever done. If you have fallen behind, the videos are still in order on the bottom of the blog.

Below are links the the other A Second A Day Sneak Peak videos and the blogs to go with them just incase you ever miss one, or want to rewatch/reread them.

Links to the other sneak peak videos in order:

1. Exciting Projects in the Work/ ASAD January Sneak PeaK

2. February’s ASAD Sneak Peak

3. March’s ASAD Sneak Peak

4. ASAD April Sneak Peak

5. ASAD May Sneak Peak

6. ASAD June Sneak Peak

7. ASAD July Sneak Peak

8. ASAD August Sneak Peak

9. ASAD September Sneak Peak

10. ASAD October Sneak Peak

ASAD October Sneak Peak

In my last blog, I mentioned things were going to be written a little bit differently. This one is going to be co-wrote with my boyfriend, Chris, and his experiences with the video process though the year so far. If you like the change of pace, let me know!
*The next three paragraphs were written by Chris.*

With the year winding down, this project is almost complete. I have contributed a few videos here and there, like the video of Elise bowling, but overall less than one percent of this video has been done by me. Elise has spent many hours choosing videos, editing, and much more. On a typical day it usually is pretty easy for her to choose a video because we both work full time and she tries to include everyday activities in the video as well. We also like to travel quite a bit so when we are visiting areas such as Miami, it can be much more difficult for her to narrow down what video she wants to use for that specific day.

Another thing I would like to point out is the equipment she uses. Almost all of the filming has been done just using an iPhone so naturally she wanted to find creative ways to use it. Something that has really helped with this has been the wide lens and waterproof case. She takes them every time we go near the water, and has used both of these numerous times. Since we live beside the Gulf of Mexico, it has really added some unique footage.

Finally, I would like to encourage anyone to do this sort of project. Even if you think you don’t do much day to day, it will be something that you will look back on and consider worthwhile. This project isn’t easy as it forces you to stay motivated and organized for it daily but I know she is going to be happy with it, even when it has caused her some stress in the past. I also know she enjoys this sort of video project because it gives her an opportunity to use her creativity to show you her everyday life.

Thanks for reading! as always here is the sneak peak of the month, and below it are the previous sneak peak blogs! enjoy!

Below are links the the other A Second A Day Sneak Peak videos and the blogs to go with them just incase you ever miss one, or want to rewatch/reread them.

Links to the other sneak peak videos in order:

1. Exciting Projects in the Work/ ASAD January Sneak PeaK

2. February’s ASAD Sneak Peak

3. March’s ASAD Sneak Peak

4. ASAD April Sneak Peak

5. ASAD May Sneak Peak

6. ASAD June Sneak Peak

7. ASAD July Sneak Peak

8. ASAD August Sneak Peak

9. ASAD September Sneak Peak

ASAD September Sneak Peak

September was another wild month. I spent two weeks of the month on vacation, and exploring new areas. The first vacation you will see is Miami which was an absolute blast, The food, zoo, and atmosphere was a lot of fun, but I can say with full confidence that our beaches in the gulf are way better.

For our second vacation, we went home to my parents house in Michigan. This was the first time in almost two years since I moved to Florida that we had been back to Michigan. It will also be the last time I ever go back to that house since my parents have since sold it to move more south and get away from the harsh, cold winters we have always lived around.

Enjoy the next sneak peak in the series, and next months sneak peak will be written a little bit differently so be looking out for that as well!

Below are links the the other A Second A Day Sneak Peak videos and the blogs to go with them just incase you ever miss one, or want to rewatch/reread them.

Links to the other sneak peak videos in order:

1. Exciting Projects in the Work/ ASAD January Sneak PeaK

2. February’s ASAD Sneak Peak

3. March’s ASAD Sneak Peak

4. ASAD April Sneak Peak

5. ASAD May Sneak Peak

6. ASAD June Sneak Peak

7. ASAD July Sneak Peak

8. ASAD August Sneak Peak

March's ASAD Sneak Peak

This is March’s ASAD monthly sneak peak! Just in case you missed the previous posts, I will be linking them at the bottom of each these blogs in order so you can catch up or stay up to date on the sneak peaks before the big preview at the end of the year.

Everyday i’m learning more and more about video editing and myself which is getting me very excited about the final. I might even extend this into a full time project! Thanks for watching this sneak peak, and check out the other links below!

Links to other blogs in order:

1. Exciting Projects in the Work/ ASAD January Sneak PeaK

2. February’s ASAD Sneak Peak

February's ASAD Sneak Peak

So just in case you missed my first post (link below) I am working on a new project that will last me the entire year. Its a video project called A Second A Day or ASAD for short. I have been working hard to stay updated on this project to keep it from being a daunting folder of 365 videos at the end of the year. Since I am keeping up with the editing of the videos, I am also abled to look through each month and pick out some of my favorite moments from that month and share them with you.

So far I’m learning a lot about myself and video editing from this project and I can’t wait to see how the final project turns out. I have been getting lots of great questions about this project, and my blogs. One of the most frequently asked questions was “why is there no sound in the video?” and my answer to you all is simply I have not yet picked out music for it yet, and I don’t want to give everything away in these sneak peaks. Since I am letting you see some of the seconds ahead of time, I need to have another element for your engagement in the final video at the end of the year.

Thanks for watching this sneak peak and all the ones to come!


Link to previous video: January Sneak Peak/Full Explaination

Exciting Projects in the Work / ASAD January Sneak Peak

I have quite a few new and exciting things planned for you this year!

The project I want to tell you about today is called A Second A Day. It’s a video project which is pretty self explanatory, but I am filming a second (or two) a day of my life. I decided to do this to help me get motivated to think differently on a daily basis, and not just while on set doing a photoshoot. Another reason I chose to do this project is so I can better my video editing skills. Many photographers this day and age shoot video and still photographs, as most of you know I have done a few videos here and there, but this I hope will help me really learn a lot more techniques and also to better myself in the job market.

Every few weeks (probably once a month I’ll show little sneak peaks of my project so far. These sneak peaks will be about 8-10 second videos of my favorite moments captured per month! i’m really excited to show you all and see how it turns out at the end of the year!

Don’t worry i’m still shooting and working hard to show you my next photo project, so be on the lookout for those too! without further ado, here is my some of my favorite January moments!

Memorial Day Weekend

     This Memorial Day weekend I got a chance to visit my grandparents in the middle of nowhere. Also known as Van Wert Ohio. I used this opportunity to photograph the area around me. Coming from living in downtown Pittsburgh, to the suburbs of Michigan has been a little bit of adjustment scenery wise, but with my head still used to downtown living, the country was a huge change. These are few photos that I took on my phone while taking walks along the cornfields, with my boyfriend and family, as well as a few personal usage images from my weekend.  Hope you enjoy! 
 

Print Portfolio

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.

I Graduated

     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.

PGH YOU Magazine

      Right before my final quarter in school, I got the opportunity to take a class about working in a magazine, and learning about how to collaborate with other designers and clients. This was a really big opportunity for me to meet new clients as well.  
 
      PGH YOU Magazine was entirely a student based magazine. Even our editor in chief was a student. We all voted together to choose the name, the cover, demographics, even the content. After all that stuff was finally taken care of, we were able to get into the fun stuff! Planning and executing our shots and pages. 
 

     I worked with three different graphic designers and 2 sets of clients. The graphic designer I worked the closest with was Kirra Stemler. We were assigned to full page spreads. Together we came up with the page layout and the images we should use.  One was an article called "Beauty on a Budget" the other article was called "T Line Adventures".  I also did two ads for the magazine. The first ad was for G6 Sports Nutrition, who I worked with the graphic designer Kendra Saffell. The second ad I worked on was an ad for Jerry Records, and my graphic designer was Amber Wellman. 
 
     This was probably one of my favorite classes I took while I was in college because it gave me a chance to learn the industry in a new way. Hearing about it and actually being a part of it are two completely different learning experiences. 

Below are the images in spreads enjoy!
 

Polaroids

     A few months ago I worked on a collaboration project with three of my fellow photographers and friends to come up with an advertisement. The company we chose was Instagram. We decided to do double branding and use polaroids to emphasize what Instagram tries to reference. Three of us did images and one of us put together a video. Unfortunately I only have my image, and the video which we all worked hard to create. My friend and fellow group member, David Becinski went above and beyond with the post- production.

     This was the image I made, as well as David's video below. Enjoy!  

 

Website update

     I just wanted to let you all know, to go check out my new/updated website sections!

     The new section is called "Spreads". In this new section, you will find all of my published work, and where it was published.

    The updated sections are called "Quick Portfolio", "Fashion", and "advertisement". (Fashion and Advertisement can be found under books). Inside these updated sections you will find new work, and a new sequential order of all the images.

     I have been working hard to produce a lot of cohesive work to show you, I hope you enjoy it, and Below will be a sample of some of the new work now on my website, but if you want to see more you'll have to check it out on your own! :]