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Edited By: Charlize Naczas
This February, instead of writing the traditional articles, the Yearbook class chose different MOPA photography club challenges and wrote about their piece.
Landscape Challenge Applications:
Photo and Article By: Carla Acosta
Landscape photography captures the beauty of nature, from mountains, and forests to oceans and cityscapes. Photographers use lighting, composition, and perspective to create stunning images to tell a story. With even a little practice, anyone can take breathtaking landscape photos using a camera, tablet, or a phone. The first landscape photo was taken in 1827 by Joseph Nicephore, it is called “View from the Window at Le Gras”. This photo challenge was to focus on what was interesting then start to capture photos of what you observed. I took this landscape picture with my phone. I took my photo because it fits into the perspective of the landscape, ocean and a little bit of nature. I chose this photo because I feel like it is a calming photo of a beautiful sunset. Another reason was that because it also has a sentimental value behind it, when I took this photo I was spending time with my family while eating and looking at this beautiful landscape. In conclusion, this landscape had a meaning and a reason for why it was taken.
Photo and Article By: Rodney Bennett
The landscape challenge is where you use simple and basic techniques to great effect in your photo. For example the mostly used techniques are lines,color,texture, and space. The 4 of these techniques combined could make a landscape very vibrant in color or look like a very old cave or a dystopian city. You can create this imagery using the 4 basic techniques because using lines and color to create a tone/mood of the photo which could be either dark or light. Lines forwarding this mood/tone by separating some light and dark colors drawing our attention. Texture can also tell us how old the landscape in the photo is, directing space to help us the viewers know what time and where the photo is taking place. My photo does this by using space to showcase my own point of view while taking the photo showing that I am in the air on an airplane. The lines and colors used in my photo are to separate the land from the ocean which you could also clearly tell apart with the different colors. With the texture of the morning sky and land showing how early in the morning it is and where I am. In conclusion Landscape photos require 4 basic techniques which help the photo pop out and tell the viewer what your landscape looks like and what time the photo could possibly be taken.
Photo and Article By: Charlize Naczas
For the MOPA photo challenge, I chose to shoot a landscape image. My photograph combines two traditional landscape styles: urban and natural. It features the greenery of nature alongside man-made lampposts and concrete structures. While most landscape photos are taken horizontally, I opted for a vertical shot to capture the reflection of the lampposts on the street and in the morning sky.
In one of the videos related to the landscape photo challenge, various elements of art were discussed, including line, color, texture, shape, and space. The horizon line, the seams in the concrete, and the vertical lampposts are all prominent lines in the photo, and the colors of the trees and grass are vividly illuminated, while the texture of the paved road is enhanced by the rain from the previous night. Although I did not include any closer objects in the photo, the distance between some elements creates a sense of space.
Finally, I would like to highlight the use of the rule of thirds. In my composition, the terrain occupies two-thirds of the photo vertically, while the sky fills the top third. I chose this photo because I liked the golden light of the streetlamps and how it reflected off the wet ground.
Photo and Article By: Noah Cruz
With this photo challenge, I had decided to take a photo that showed the ravishing world of landscape photography. Landscape photography brings the viewer into the scene just by capturing the beauty of nature and outdoors. Allowing the viewer to experience the alluring element of nature just through a picture.
The photo I took illustrates the magnificence of nature without any human interference. At the moment of the photo, I had been entranced by the perfect rays of the sun landing softly on the trees, complimenting their vibrant leaves. The scene was painted by nature, with the subtle shadows of the trees adding the feeling of ease as they lay elegantly across the sidewalk. I believed that at this moment the scene was perfectly displayed by nature, waiting for the photographer to capture its beauty. I would be the said photographer, taking this photo to be submitted to this article. Overall, I had chosen the challenge of capturing landscape as a way to indulge myself in nature, capturing its true beauty. This moment truly spoke to me, encapsulated in its awe, it was an obligation to cement the scene within a photo. Landscape photography has always intrigued me, the way photographers are able to capture the elements of nature so perfectly has always been inspiring to me. When choosing a photography challenge it was clear that I had an increasing desire to illustrate such a dazzling scene of the outdoors as professional photographers have. Therefore, I had decided that I shall take on this challenge and found a new level of understanding for landscape photography.
Photo and Article By: Anthony Devine
The image captures a beautiful sunset over a calm body of water. The sky is painted with shades of orange, yellow, and blue as the sun lowers toward the horizon. In the foreground, dark silhouettes of spiky plants go against the bright sky. The plants have twisted branches and fuzzy flowers, adding an interesting texture to the scene. The sun appears glowing, casting a warm glow over the landscape. There are soft, clouds in the sky, blending smoothly with the colors of the sunset. The background consists of the ocean, reflecting the golden light of the sun. The horizon line is slightly blurred, making the scene feel very peaceful. This photo captures the beauty of nature as day slowly turns into night.
Photo and Article By: Gabriel Pablo
This photo is a landscape photo of the sunset that occurred during the evening. When I took this photo, I was walking along the sidewalk, to turn to this beautiful sight. It felt nice as the wind blew past in a calm gaze, and the sounds of the trees rustled and brought a state of peacefulness to me. I also heard the sounds of vehicles moving from afar, but it only added a calmer mood to the view. I admired this sunset, and it made me feel nice and calm as I walked through the sidewalk. I chose this photo because I thought it would be nice to remember this moment that I enjoyed, and also because I felt like taking a photo of the sunset before it descended. I didn’t think that I was going to take a photo of the sunset, but I didn’t know what to do, so when I was roaming around a few places, I just came across this view. I went outside to take a picture of a landscape and it was getting late so I thought about going further to the sunset to try and find a good picture for landscape, but instead I just took a picture of the sunset as it was going down, and it looked nice.
Photo and Article By: Jordan Walls
This challenge called landscape is where it captures nature and the outdoors in a way that brings your viewer into the scene. There are also 2 main types of landscape photography which are the traditional and the urban landscapes. The traditional version of landscape photography captures mostly nature for example it captures oceans, mountains, and forest. While the urban landscape captures man made structures like in cities. Landscape photography also influences people to see new views and explore new places we haven’t seen. Landscape photography also only needs a camera and you to step out into town and travel to new destinations. When doing landscape photos you should walk around and enjoy the nature around you then you should find what is most interesting to you then you should take the photo from a longshot which so you can fully view the scene and location also make sure that the horizon line is straight while looking for interesting patterns and textures you should also use the elements of the scene to add depth to the scene by placing something in the foreground, middleground, and background. Landscape photography allows us to appreciate nature and the earth they also allow us to share the places and experiences with family, friends, and loved ones. The photo I took was from my trip in Honolulu Hawaii when we were on a tour exploring movie sights in Honolulu. This mountain was also protected by tribes and nobody was allowed on the mountains. The reason why I took this photo was because I thought the view was very nice and that I could maybe use it as a photo challenge later on while keeping it as a memory.
Macro Photography Challenge Applications:
Photo and Article By: I'zel Acosta
Macro photography is a style photography that makes small objects appear larger in life. Macro photography is a great way to see small details we usually miss. I chose to photograph this 2015 Lincoln penny because I love history and wanted to capture something small but meaningful. Coins have a story behind them from the people on them to the year they are made. Using macro photography I could see tiny texture scratches and details on this penny.. the way the light shines on it makes Lincoln’s face and words stand out even more. It’s amazing to see how much detail is packed into something very small. This Penny has likely been passed through many hands each of its own story.. Looking at it up close makes me appreciate its history and design even more. Macro photography helps turn everyday objects into something special. It is a fun way to see the world and I’m very close-up perspective.
Still-Life Challenge Applications:
Photo and Article By: Jerry Correa
The photo challenge I picked is Still Life. Still Life is a style of photography that depicts inanimate objects, such as plants, food, tools, etc. Some key characteristics photographers focus on while taking Still Life photos are lighting, texture, and color. My photo contains some plants and nature such as rocks, twigs, flowers, and dried pinecones. I took this picture in my backyard and found these plants while walking around my neighborhood. I decided to take it in my backyard because the lighting was just right that day and there were plants I took from there. I decided to choose the Still Life photo challenge because it gives me the ability to experiment with lighting, texture, and it helps me improve how to arrange objects when taking a photo. I also chose this challenge because my mom had a vase full of flowers and I decided I could use a rose as one of my subjects in the photo. Some challenges I had to face were finding the right place to put my objects, since my backyard is an open place, and also finding the right lighting since the sun created a lot of shadows. I also picked this challenge because I like taking photographs of nature.
Photo and Article By: Olivia Santy
For my photo challenge, I chose still life and the items I chose are a jar of my mom's buttons, a piece of jade, an octopus, a jar of heart rocks, a jade bird, a cross necklace, and a ring. The reason I chose each of these items is because they have a story behind them, they represent experiences of my life or give me memories of events. I look at memories as a timeline of my life, for example, a memory I have with these items is the ring, it was this year, 1 week before Valentine's Day, Angelyna and I went to the Hello Kitty Cafe for her birthday and walked around the stores. We stumbled across a store (don’t remember the name so don’t ask) and we went inside where I bought her and me matching rings and bracelets. Another memory I have with an item in the picture is the piece of jade, I found this jade in my bag of rocks which reminded me a lot about how when I was younger I would save my allowance to buy rocks from rock kits or those stores that sell stuff like crystals, jewelry, and essential oils. I used to go to stores like that with my grandma every summer and they are still my favorite to go to. I chose a still life because it also reminded me of the first photo I took in Journalism last year, for our caption challenge. I took a picture of a rose in a red vase on a window seel in Mrs. Barnes’s room and it gave off the vibe of a dark rainy day and the red of the rose glowed brighter in the dark. The challenges I faced while taking this photo were that I used my dad's old camera so all the settings were weird. I also struggled with the lighting because it was night and I didn’t have time to take it early that day since we were assigned a lot of homework.
A Colorful World Applications:
Photo and Article By: Slayden Sharp
I chose the colorful world photo challenge because I thought it looked fun to use an everyday object as a camera filter. There is another reason I chose it though, when I was younger I used to think about what life would be like if my eyesight was just a bunch of shapes making the image instead of it being clear vision. For the photo, I used a whiskey glass and a fruit basket. The whiskey glass had a really cool design on it so I thought it would be a good filter. I chose to take a picture of the fruit basket because it had a lot of different colors in it. The fruits in the fruit basket were a few apples, bananas, oranges and a lime. This gave it a cool mix of bright vibrant colors. While I was holding the glass to the camera, I had trouble trying to hide my fingers to make them not super visible. I was able to zoom in so there is just a small glimpse of my skin color. I also had a little bit of trouble when it came to what challenge I wanted to do. Overall, it was pretty fun to take this photo.
Portrait Photo Applications:
Photo and Article By: Patrick Shaughnessy
James “Tom” Drinville. He was known by many people. Known by his family and friends along with a big part of the community he lived in. You could ask many people and they would know him. He was born on 7/7/37 in Missoula Montana, the second of four children. He was a natural born athlete. Playing many sports including track football and basketball. He later became a member of the police department. In his free time he spent all outdoors. If he wasn't hiking or hunting he was swimming in a lake or riding his horse.He married the love of his life Priscilla Podoll. He had four children Brian, Christeine, Bradley, and Teresa. Tom loved three things consistently throughout his life: God,Perscilla, and a strong cup of black coffee. On February 10, 2025 Tom passed away surrounded by his loved ones after battling a disease. He will always be remembered for his Love of the Lord along with his country and hard work lifestyle.
Bird's Eye View Applications:
Photo and Article By: Erin Stanbrough
The photography challenge I chose was bird eye view. Bird's eye view is a view in photography that shows what things or people look like from above, just like how a bird might see the world. This angle can make the picture look interesting by showing things in a way we don’t normally see. It's great for showing off big places like cities or landscapes, making everything look smaller depending on how high you take your photo. I chose a photo of my dog from a bird's-eye view because it captures a unique perspective of her that we don’t usually see. From above, I can see her whole body and how he fits into the room and space around him. The bird's eye view also shows interesting details, like the way that taller people or birds might see her and the surroundings from their perspective. It makes the photo stand out and feel different from other regular pictures of just angled at his height. I chose the bird's eye view challenge because I wanted to try something different have fun with my photography skills and try out my favorite angle to take pictures from. This perspective lets you see things from above, which makes everyday objects look new and interesting and quite smaller than they actually are. It helps me capture more of the scene, showing how everything fits together in a way that's hard to see from the ground level or straight-angled level. I thought it would be a good way to practice my skills and learn how to take better pictures to capture more for yearbook/journalism photos so we could add unique photos for students to see in their yearbook which could inspire them to pursue photography in the future. Overall, I was excited to experiment with my favorite angle and see what creative results I could come up with.
Photo and Article By: Lucas Tran
The challenge I chose was bird-eye view. It is when you take a photo above the subject and make the viewer think they are a bird in the air. I took this photo while on a trail and I think I took it because my friend was asking where I was so I took this photo. This photo was also taken in 2024 because I was planning on doing landscape but when I tried to take a photo for it, I couldn’t find a good photo around here. I also didn’t want to go further into the forest to take a photo. Then I looked at the challenges again and remembered that I have taken a bird-eye photo before, and found this photo.
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