Izzy's World

After a year of expanding my photography skills, we have finally finished our last project. This project combined a lot of different topics: we worked with models, backdrops, and additional lighting; we made an ugly location beautiful; and we created our very own magazine cover

I had a lot of fun shooting and creating these pics.

This is my Ugly Location, Beautiful Portrait final. I used my friend Katie McCrary as the model. We went to Walmart and walked around the store for a little bit, but my favorite shots had to be the ones where she was in the parking lot, sitting in a rogue shopping cart. I consider Walmart an ugly/ boring location because, inside, there are a lot of backgrounds that are really busy and messy. Most of the time, photos taken in it feel like snapshots, not calculated portraits. The parking lot can also be very boring because all it has is asphalt and cars. Katie brought along a flower crown, and I think it adds to the playfulness of the photo. I edited as much as I could from the back of the store in the background. I did not want the wall to be too distracting from the model herself. I really like how this photo turned out. I also really enjoyed the challenge of making Walmart and its parking lot a fun and creative shooting location. 

This image is my backdrop with a model image. My model is my teammate, Jackson Sanchez. I love disco balls, and I really wanted to do a photoshoot playing around with how a disco ball reflects light. There were ALOT of really bad and really good images from this photoshoot. This one’s my favorite because I love his serious expression and how he’s looking directly at the camera. I also love how you can see the light from the disco ball reflect onto his shirt. 

For the backdrop itself, I used silver party streamers that you hang in doorways. I thought that having a silver, shiny background would tie in with the disco ball. For behind the streamers, I just used the black backdrop that my teacher provided for us. For lighting, I just used a simple slave flash, which made it difficult to see how the lighting would turn out, but we eventually got it just right. 

For the final part of this project, we had to create a magazine cover. Since I used the portrait of Jackson and the disco ball, I wanted the entire cover to be disco-themed. I used bright colors that I associate with disco and added title names that somehow relate to what I think of when I think of the 70s. I also chose to do a teen magazine because I felt like the titles of the articles and the age of the model would be more geared towards a teenage audience. 

Side note: “Flower Crowns and Shopping Carts” is DEFINITELY related to my Ugly/ Beautiful photo.

I had a lot of fun with this project and with this class overall. I am so proud of how I’ve grown as a photographer and the photos I have taken this school year. I can’t wait to see what other masterpieces I make in my own time.

Photography is one of the most popular forms of visual art. It is a way for the artist to capture what they are seeing in the moment forever and a way for memories to live on for millennia. When trying to capture beautiful images, most artists use their eyes; however, there are some artists who use their other senses to make images just as brilliant as seeing artists. One of the more famous blind photographers is Pete Eckert. Eckert is known for using the movement of light in long-exposure photos to illuminate his subjects. 

For our latest project, we had to blind ourselves (either with bandanas or just our eyelids) and rely on our other senses—hearing, taste, smell, touch—and memory to capture photos. 

The image on the left is one of my favorite images from this project. For the process of creating this image, I had to rely solely on my memory of the sky in the morning to take this image. I love looking at the beautiful colors the sky makes during sunrise, but sadly, daylight savings happened during this project, so I had to get a sunset picture instead. I walked over to where I usually wait for my bus in the mornings one afternoon and took multiple pictures of the street and sky. Although the sky is not as pretty as it usually is, I still like the cloudy gray and how the light is reflected off the houses. 

The image above is another one of my favorites from the project. I was walking around my yard when a big gush of wind blew past, and I could hear the leaves in my yard rustling. Our fence line is lined with bamboo, so using my memory, I walked over to the bamboo and took multiple images from multiple angles of the shoots and leaves. I chose this image because I like how you can see the leaves rustling in the wind and the contrast between the clear blue sky and green leaves.

Pete Eckert is most known for his long exposure photos with light. Thus, to learn how to create images similar to his, we learned how to use Shutter Speed, ISO, and Aperture on digital cameras.

One of our first labs was working on Shutter Speed and trying to capture fast-moving subjects. We did this by capturing water balloons being popped. My most successful image of this is the one below. At first, I had a challenging time trying to get the right settings so the image would turn out how I wanted it to, but in the end, the image turned out very cool.

For the next series of labs, we needed to create one image of moving light and another of a moving person. For these labs we focused on long exposure– very slow shutter speeds capturing fast-moving objects.

I had a lot of fun doing long exposures and getting to use the digital cameras. For the image above, I had one of my classmates, Anna Beauchamp, sit on the floor against a black wall and shake her head. After multiple tries and using different shudder speeds, I finally got an image that I liked. I like how you can somewhat make out her facial features and see her face twice—once looking up and again looking down. 

I had a lot of fun with these labs. I really enjoyed using different Shutter Speeds and learning the different settings. I can’t wait to see what other images I can create now that I know how to properly use Shutter Speed, ISO, and Aperture. 

This past week, we have been working on the #BOOKFACE project. This project includes aligning the body part on a book cover to the matching body part on a human to create a melding of life and art. 

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The above images are my finals for this project. I had a difficult time trying to align my face with the books’ faces.

The book on the left is Heartless: A Pretty Little Liars Novel by Sara Shepard. I chose this book mainly because the doll on the cover has red hair like mine. I had a lot of fun doing my makeup like the doll’s. 

The book on the right is Cross My Heart, Hope to Die: A Lying Game Novel by Sara Shepard. It was really challenging to do this photo because of how different our facial features were. I could not completely align my face with the girl on the cover. I think I did a pretty okay job of aligning, though.

In editing, all I did was crop the images and make the background a cooler color.

I had a lot of fun with this project!

This past week we had a micro-project of finding letters out in the wild and creating a word with them. This project forced us to look at things with a more creative eye and to pull out what else an item may look like; in this case, we were looking for the letters of the alphabet. 

Some letters were very easy to find, while others were not. There were numerous letters I simply could not find and had to resort to either taking a photo of something that had that letter on it or using objects to make the letter. I believe the easiest letters to find were probably “I” and “H.” All the brickwork makes “I’s” and “H’s”, so it was easy for me to find them and take photos of them around campus. However, the hardest letter for me to find was “G.” I could not find “G,” so I actually had to take a photo of a box that had the letter G on it. Another letter I could not find was “B,” which I originally thought would be easy to find, but I quickly realized that I was wrong.

This image is probably my favorite, but only because it was very hard to find the letter “J” and I accidentally stumbled upon it when I was walking back to the classroom after a lab day. I was ecstatic when I found it, just lying on the ground. I think it is so cool how the concrete on the ground formed a “J” like that; it was almost like someone carved it in there themselves.

With our letters, we were instructed to create any word we wanted with them. I chose the word “READ” solely because I love to read and I think more people should do it.

This was definitely a fun and creative project to do. I really enjoyed having to find the letters and editing them to create a word.

For the past couple of weeks, we have been working on creating landscapes using household materials. We researched artists like Dafna Talmor and Andy Goldsworthy. We had to create 4 landscapes: one made of different photos from magazines, one of a macro shot of food, and the last two we could freestyle. This project was meant to make viewers question what exactly they were looking at.

Creating nonexistent landscapes really made me stop and really look at the things surrounding me. I had to make normal, everyday objects look like something that Mother Nature would produce.

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These are three of the four images I created.

The image “Enchanted Forest” is my macro view. I chose broccoli, mainly because broccoli looks the most like a tree. I had a very hard time using the macro lens on my phone, so it took me multiple tries to get the look I was going for. I love how, when you look at this image, it feels like you are walking through a dense forest. 

The next two images, “Wooded Valley” and “Tower of Terror,” were my freestyle images. I found both of these images during lab days we took at school. “Wooded Valley” is probably my favorite image from this project. It is actually a hole in the base of a tree trunk with moss growing out of it. I love how the shadows make the hole in the tree look endless. 

“Tower of Terror” is simply a pile of rocks. I took inspiration from Andy Goldsworthy for this photo by collecting rocks and arranging them into a tower. I love the textures you can see in the rocks and the difference in colors between each separate rock.

This project was definitely challenging for me, both in the creative and technical aspects. However, I really enjoyed creating landscapes out of normal, everyday items. 

This year has definitely been a tough one. I’ve experienced tragedy after tragedy, but this year has taught me to not dwell on the negatives in my life, instead focus on the positives. Throughout the mess that was this year, I have learned how to be confident in myself and how to find joy in the smallest of things, which are truly two of the most important things one can learn in their life. 

I feel as though my love for reading and my photography style are closely correlated with the fact that my life does not look like a neatly wrapped present with a pretty bow on top; instead, it’s a box that has been ripped open, the wrapping paper torn into shreds around it. Sometimes, this messiness can be too much for me, and the only way I can feel comfort is when I escape into the story of a book. I want viewers to look at the photos I take and be transported to a new world, like an escape from reality.

Ending of 2022

In my photography class, we ended the year with three projects: self-portraits, Renaissance portrait recreations, and Photoshop skillsets.

For the self-portraits, we focused on self-expression and different ways to express it (which you can read about in my post “Self expression”). We had to create a basic selfie, a fantastical selfie, a selfie containing text, and a conceptual selfie. This project was a challenge for me because I would much rather be behind the camera than in front of it; however, I still had a lot of fun setting up and editing my final photos. According to my peers, my best photo was my fantasy one. This photo was probably my favorite to shoot, just because I got to dress up and create a false picnic in my yard. Out of all the photos I took during this shoot, I chose this one as my final, mainly because of the interaction between me and my dog. I also like the lens I used because it creates a hazy look, which makes it feel like the viewer is peering through some kind of magical portal. 

For the Renaissance project, we had to use household, everyday objects to recreate a portrait from the Renaissance era. On the left is the portrait I chose to recreate, and on the right is my recreation. I had a lot of fun with this project, not only because I didn’t have to be in front of the camera, but also because I enjoyed the creative aspect of the project. I used plastic bags as feathers on her hat, I created a paper chain to use as the chain strung across her chest; and my model, Charlie, had the great idea of using tinfoil as rings. Editing my photo was definitely a challenge, but it was all worth it in the end.

For the last month of the semester, we had to work on and develop new Photoshop skills. We worked on editing out unneeded people and creating neon signs, but my favorite was probably adding painted flowers to photos. I love bringing two different art compositions together to create one beautiful piece. This project also helped us learn how to combine the features of two or more photos together.

Starting Off 2023

2023 is going to be a great year; I can feel it. I cannot wait to see where this year takes me.

I hope that I finally discover this year that I should not procrastinate. I am terrible about putting things off until the last second and then getting super stressed about the fact that I have so little time to complete them, even though it is my fault. I also want to be less shy and put myself out there more. Once I feel comfortable around people, I open up more, but I am still too shy to go up and start conversations with new people myself. I need to work on that. 

I want to improve my landscape photography skills as part of my photography goals. During Christmas break, I took lots of landscape photos while on vacation, but I feel as if some of them are kind of boring. I want to learn how to make those types of images more interesting.

A short-term goal of mine is to get back into reading. I have not been able to get in a reading mood the past couple of months, but I hope I will find a good book that gets me out of my slump soon. I also hope that the new bookshelves in my room will motivate me to read more. 

For a long-term goal, I want to get better at speaking German. My mother is from Germany, and her entire family still lives there, so I want to make more of an effort to learn more so I can have full conversations with them in German the next time I visit them. 

So ya, I have had lots of ups and downs this year, but hopefully this coming year is better. So cheers to a new year.

“If you aim to be something you are not, you will always fail.”

-Matt Haig, “The Midnight Library”

My favorite book is “The Midnight Library” by Matt Haig. At the beginning of the book, the main character is very upset with her life and the choices she made. She was stuck living in the past and focused on the things she should have done differently. This caused her to start living her life the way people expected her to. She had a job that she hated. She lived in a town that she was miserable in. But even though she had what everyone wanted her to have, she was still living a life that was not hers in any way, shape, or form. However, she gets an opportunity to fully express herself and make decisions that apply to her personal needs. Right before she makes the decision that changes the trajectory of her life, Matt Haig writes this beautiful quote that really gives the character the push she needs to start expressing her true self. Here it is: “If you aim to be something you are not, you will always fail. Aim to be you. Aim to look and act and think like you. Aim to be the truest version of you. Embrace that you-ness. Endorse it. Love it. Work hard at it. And don’t give a second thought when people mock or ridicule it.” 

Now, you might be wondering, what exactly is self-expression? Well, according to Kim & Ko, it is “expressing one’s thoughts and feelings, and these expressions can be accomplished through words, choices or actions.” Self-expression is what shows people who we are as an individual. 

In my opinion, in order to express yourself, you also need to love yourself and have confidence, two things I greatly lack. It has not been until recently that I really started to gain confidence in myself and love myself the way I am. It’s difficult, expressing yourself, but no matter what, it’s important. If you want to wear a pair of bright-pink cowboy boots, wear them. No matter if your parents say they are too loud or impractical. If they make you happy, wear them proudly. With your head held high and your shoulders back, that is what self-expression is for. To proudly and confidently do and wear and say the things you want. 

One way I express myself is definitely through music. I play classical piano, so I definitely listen to A LOT of classical music. Other than classical, I listen to a lot of different music; I do not really have a favorite genre. People say I have weird taste, but it makes me happy, so I listen to it. (For example, I love Frank Sinatra and everyone, including my parents, think I am weird because of it). Another way I express myself is through the clothes I wear. However, I have only recently really started to wear clothes that make me happy. I always wanted to fit in, and those thoughts always dictated what I wore, but I now know that I need to express who I am, not what people want me to be. So ya, I do not really stick to most trends, but grandpa sweaters and pleated pants make me feel confident in myself, which is all that matters.

As I said earlier, I only recently started to gain confidence in myself, which has really helped me in every aspect of my life. I am becoming a better swimmer; participating more in school; and joining clubs I would never have thought of joining last year. This is why I think confidence is key. And with confidence comes the ability to fully express yourself.

What this post is trying to say is that you need confidence to express yourself, which is something that is needed to live a fulfilling and happy life (also that Matt Haig is brilliant).

This past week, my school had Fall Break. My family and I had great plans. We were going to take our first family vacation since 2020 and drive to Oklahoma to visit some of my dad’s old friends (he went to high school in Oklahoma). I was ecstatic. I love road trips, and I could not wait to see my dad’s friends again.

However, I single-handedly ruined my family’s vacation. Saturday morning I had a swim meet, and when I woke that blessed morning, I had a sore throat and a splitting headache. My parents did the right thing and took me to urgent care instead of the meet, only for us to find out that I had the flu. I feel really bad that I canceled our trip. We were all looking forward to it, but the flu had to come around and hit me at the most unexpected and unwelcome time. I mean, it could not have waited one more week!

So ya, I spent this past break sitting on the couch watching rom-coms and starting “Gilmore Girls” and blowing my nose every 20 seconds. I know, sounds like lots of fun.

WARNING: This Next Topic is Controversial!!

This conversation is going to take a sharp, but necessary, turn.

Columbus Day. Every kid has grown up celebrating the accomplishments of Christopher Columbus, the man who discovered the Americas.

No matter how much we glorify him, we can not deny the fact that he did some… questionable things. My “favorite” fact about him is the fact that he seriously thought manatees were mermaids and even wrote about how they were not as pretty as people depicted them to be. Now that’s just embarrassing. 

On a more serious note, I believe that Christopher Columbus and the things he did should not be celebrated. According to the article “Why Columbus Day Courts Controversy,” on his first day in the New World, Columbus “ordered six of the natives to be seized, writing in his journal that he believed they would be good servants.” Once he started taking them as servants, he could not stop. He took thousands of Taino natives from their homes and sent them to Europe. Columbus also enacted labor policies, which forced the natives to mine for Columbus without reward. 

These cruel acts are what we are celebrating on Columbus Day. Yes, he was a great explorer and did things others could not even fathom doing, but he also caused immense pain to the people whose families had lived there for generations.

I believe that on Columbus Day we should honor the Indigenous people by renaming it Indigenous People’s Day. This way, we celebrate what the natives did to help our society get to where it is today. We can also use this day to recognize the other terrible things America did to Indigenous people (i.e., the Trail of Tears, which is another conversation on its own).

So ya, I just wanted to put my two cents in and discuss with you guys what I believe in.

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This image represents overlapping shapes. According to my peers, this was my most successful image. I created this image by getting some puzzle pieces and putting them on a plain white piece of paper. I then held up a corner of the paper and angled my camera close to the pieces. I feel like this picture also makes you feel small and in some crazy wonderland.

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According to my peers, these three images were the least successful. For the brick wall, which is contrast through texture, they said that there is not a lot of contrast in the picture. So next time, I need to focus on something that has two clearly opposite textures. They said that for the middle picture, which was line, it was hard to differentiate the lines from the rest of the picture. They also said that the spots were distracting. This means that I need to find something clear to represent line and have fewer distractors in my photo. For the picture with the swing, which represents distinguished shapes, they said that it was hard to find the shapes in the image. I tried to use the rectangle the swing makes, but I executed it poorly, and the shapes were not defined well. This means that I need to find more recognizable shapes. They also mentioned that in some of my photos the background was distracting, so as I said earlier, I need to work on having fewer distractions in my photos.

However, my peers also said that they liked the overall style of my photos and how much effort I put into them. People also commented a lot on the dog in the photo above, which represents space. (For those of you wondering, his name is Achilles and he’s my dad’s favorite child.)

This is my vision board! There is definitely a lot going on, haha.

I dream of going to the University of Cambridge to get my doctorate in English. (The only reason I want to get a doctorate is so my brother will have to call me “Dr. Izzy”) As previously stated, I want to become an editor at Penguin Publishing House in London and specifically work for the Berkley Group. I obviously love to read and play the piano.

In my opinion, there is nothing sexier than a British accent. So my plan is to fall in love, or make a very rich someone fall in love with me, while I’m at Cambridge. My dream is to dance in the rain. There is nothing more romantic than dancing in the rain with the person you love. I also want my special someone to be a literature enthusiast like me.

Another goal of mine is to travel to every country in Europe before I turn 40. And not just stop by and take a picture and leave. No, I want to go to that country and stay for weeks at a time. (This is why I need to marry rich, haha)

If I ever decide that I do not want to be an editor anymore, or when I retire, I want to open a bookstore that also has cats that are up for adoption. I have actually put a lot of planning into it and am 100% ready to open one, but I’m only a sophomore and don’t have any money to pay for it, so… I also want to move to the English countryside and live in a cottage surrounded by animals whenever I retire.

The poems just represent my hopeless romantic self, haha.

My favorite styles of photography are portraits and still-life.