creative minds in times of pandemic.

Intro do Photography Final Project

The final project this semester was a challenge! Everyone had to recreate a photo made by another photographer. The goal is having the experience of creating a photoshoot from scratch, and experiencing all phases: pre-production, photoshoot, and post-production. I’m so, so excited with the results!!!

In order of appearance:

Cody Cargle recreated Mario Cravo Neto

Evelyn Mendes recreated Marta Bevacqua

Ana Elorza recreated Alessio Albi

Benjamin Craven recreated Oliviero Toscani

Justin Willard recreated Steve McCurry

Giovanni Villanueva recreated Hendrik Kerstens

Mary Stewart recreated Sebastião Salgado

Jorge Guerra recreated Tim Walker

Roger Evans recreated Nirav Patel

Kaliyah Mosley recreated Noell S. Oszvald

Studio Lighting

Studio Class is always so exciting!! Look what you can do if you learn how to observe the light! Most of the time is not about the equipment you use, is about noticing the light. 

Here we played with gels, using Flashpoint strobes. And everyone applied lighting techniques like Rembrandt, Split lighting, and Rim lighting. 

Credits:

Justin Willard

Evelyn Mendes 

Benjamin Craven

Natural Lighting

Photography is LIGHT!! 

Natural lighting can be challenging, because sometimes it’s not easy to control it. There are a few things to consider when using natural light: 

1- Light source position

2- Time of the day

3- Weather conditions

These guys used lighting in a very smart way to create these beautiful portraits! They had to deal with some challenges, and become aware of how the sunlight touches the subject/model revealing its highlights and shadows.

Credits:

Kaliyah Mosley

Christian Boulanger

Mary Stewart

Roger Evans

Samir Akari

Benjamin Craven

Kelly Case

A few photos of our 2020 Natural Lighting class! 

Product Photography 

Photos are a representation of reality. They are made of visual signs that can be emotional and rational. The meaning of these signs can be interpreted in a lot of different ways, and the production of meaning when creating photos is REAL.

Images can challenge, confuse, distract, and interfere with the usual ways we see the world, and that’s why the photographer's perspective is very important when creating photos of products. They have a big responsibility to translate the brand’s voice in images, so the brand can properly deliver their message to the target audience, decision makers aka the buyer. 

Now..

How can a photograph affect consumers to the point that they are convinced to buy a product?! 

The process to create a campaign for a brand is full of details that photographers need to think about before the photoshoot. The use of objects, people, colors, effects, and others, are intentional in the photography creation process. 

Since the meaning of a photo can be interpreted in many different ways (a photo is worth a thousand words, right?), thinking about each of these details is very, very, very important!

Things to consider when taking photos of products:

Colors

Angles

Light (natural or studio?)

Location (outdoors or indoors?)

Model (use someone that your target audience can relate to)

With these things in mind, the students chose their brands (or created them), and took photos that could work together to deliver the brand’s message to the consumer. These were the guidelines:

1st photo: Person + Product (show the relationship between person and product)

2nd photo: Body part + Product (show how people can relate to your product - show the action!)

3rd photo: Product with elements that are part of the identity of the brand.

Check out what they created!!

Photo credits in order:

DIY - At Home Photography Lighting Project

Photography is light. Learning how to read light is one of the most important things when learning photography. 

For this project I asked my students to take portraits with artificial lighting. The problem was... we’re ISOLATED!!! So we didn’t have any access to campus to use our studio lights. 

But you know, getting back to the basics is the best way to learn how to read light. It’s very possible to create BEAUTIFUL images with something that's not fancy and pricey! 

Two key things for good lighting in portraits: learning how to perceive how the shadows fall on the model’s face, and paying attention to the catch light (specular highlight in a subject's eye in an image). Here are some of the best shots from this project! 

Photo credits in order:

1- Katie combined her mom’s old wedding dress and a mask, and created these beautiful self portraits. They’re strong for the way she used the mask and the dress as visual signs. These signs add meaning and depth to her images. They’re also delicate because of the beautiful way she posed and the soft light.

2- Devon used 2 flashlights to create these dramatic lighting effect and focused on details of his models. He also played with white balance creating both warm and cool images. The contrast gives this mysterious vibe to his photos!

3- Julissa also did self portraits and used a table lamp creating a cool strong contrast! With one light it’s easier to observe how the shadows fall on the models face.

4- Luvv created these vintage looking images with only 2 house lamps. The background and colors reflected on her model’s face create this vintage look.

Quarantine Tryptich project - Part 2

As COVID-19 outbreak started to unfold, schools were obligated to close their doors, and students and educators around the globe were left with a very challenging situation: discovering and adapting to a whole new online education system.

The outcome for my Photography course at Chattahoochee Technical College in Marietta, GA, ended up with the creation of the Quarantine Tryptich project. I believe that the process of adapting to this virtual reality actually created a rare and unique opportunity for my students to exercise their creativity and think outside of the box! We have to try to find beauty in the chaos.

I asked them to get creative where they were and tell their quarantine stories in 3 photos that could show what was happening to them - with a lot of limitations and all sort of feelings running through their veins.

I wanted to see a real representation of their collective experiences and create a space of connection during this time of isolation. The results are very raw and real images, that are floating around this massive wired network of sensors and electronic devices we now call life. I just hope these images can make people feel connected and remember they are not alone - we are all in this together!

Photo credits in order:

Quarantine Tryptich project - Part 1

As COVID-19 outbreak started to unfold, schools were obligated to close their doors, and students and educators around the globe were left with a very challenging situation: discovering and adapting to a whole new online education system.

The outcome for my Photography course at Chattahoochee Technical College in Marietta, GA, ended up with the creation of the Quarantine Tryptich project. I believe that the process of adapting to this virtual reality actually created a rare and unique opportunity for my students to exercise their creativity and think outside of the box! We have to try to find beauty in the chaos.

I asked them to get creative where they were and tell their quarantine stories in 3 photos that could show what was happening to them - with a lot of limitations and all sort of feelings running through their veins.

I wanted to see a real representation of their collective experiences and create a space of connection during this time of isolation. The results are very raw and real images, that are floating around this massive wired network of sensors and electronic devices we now call life. I just hope these images can make people feel connected and remember they are not alone - we are all in this together!

Photo credits in order: