Portraits

This was my portraits assignment in traditional photography. You might have already seen my "Select Color Portraits" assignment (under "Digital Photography" on this same website). This portraits assignment was centered around taking a roll of film rather than snapping photos on a digital camera. My artist statement is at the bottom. Below is my contact sheet, and underneath that are my two final prints.

This project was truly fun, because my portraits assignment included taking pictures of people! It was a little difficult to find models, but I ended up finding two people willing to put up with me leading them around trying to find cool photo opportunities as well as randomly snapping pictures of them. For this assignment I took another roll of film, but this time ended making a contact sheet and two final prints, which are shown above. While taking these photos I kept in mind that they didn't have to include an entire person (like in the print where only a hand is shown) and the backgrounds could provide an interesting look to the image (like in the other print where there is are flowers in the background). I did like the majority of these photos, despite the fact that it wasn't a bright day out for most of it and some of them didn't turn out well because there wasn't enough light. My contact sheet and final prints were done during two separate classes, but only because I was working on other projects (such as the leading lines prints) in between other prints/contact sheets, so the developing of the film and the making of the contact sheet and two final prints went pretty quickly. This final traditional photography project of the year marks my improvement since the beginning of the learning process: I used to struggle with getting the film onto a reel and developing it, as well as I struggled with problem-solving when considering making prints and contact sheets in the dark room. Now I can start to identify solutions and have a much easier time with the process, which makes me satisfied with the final products. I also like the two final prints as images due to their compositional techniques and detail (this can include the position of the model/subject, the detail in the other focuses of the image/the detail of the background, and simply the fact that I enjoy certain elements of the photos [like flowers]). This concludes my first real year of practicing and learning about photography, and I must say it has been an enjoyable and educational experience.