My Portrait and Self Portrait

Self Portrait

Portrait

CE 4.4

1. Apple is trying to keep their encryption codes on their phones because they claim it's more privacy to the consumer, and if that code is taken away, it could be misused by the wrong people.
2. Carnitine is the food supplement that might help autistic kids.
3. Walmart is saying that the Amazon/online shopping is causing their earnings to drop.
4. Some schools were appealing to the UIL regarding sports district alignment because they wanted to ease the travel hardship.
5. Some of the popular VR devices that are coming to the market soon are the Oculus Rift and Taiwan-based HTC.

Short Answer:

From this Q&A, I learned from the issue with the supreme court is regarding the death of Justice Antonin Scalia. There is the issue of whether or not Obama should elect a new justice or leave that decision up to the new president, so Scalia's death is causing a big controversy.Yes, I do think that there should be pressure put on the congress to deal with the deadlock problem because without a justice to approve or deny the case, or without any set decision is faulty in ways that makes the cases require new rearguments, which in my opinion, seems like a hassle that can be avoided if the congress deals with the issue. No, before this article and Q&A, I was not aware of the issue in general, but I do think that the president, Obama, should elect a new justice instead of the next president at the end of the year. I think this because I feel that Obama is the most familiar with the situation than the future president, and therefore could make a better decision and make one thats reasonable, smart, and the right decision.

Lone Star Dispatch Issue #4

Front Page - SL Parade on March 10
The Student Leadership class is planning a No Place for Hate parade on March 10th to promote anti-bullying. After working to get the parade idea approved, the class hopes to gather as many Bowie students as they can to participate in the parade and to fight discrimination towards bullying. This is a new idea that will hopefully help to gain awareness towards the situation.

Who - the student leadership class
What - is planning a parade
When - March 10th
Where - on the Bowie campus
Why - to bring awareness to bullying issues.
How - the students are working to get their plan approved by the principal and asking bowie organizations.

Quoted:
Aleka Neptune
Vicki Benson
Patricia Maney

In my opinion, the strongest quote is from Benson when she says "I love being able to put together something that hasn't been done before... I really love a challenge, and this project definitely has its challenges."

No, the lead sentence doesn't make me want to keep reading. Although the event sounds cool, the topic sentence just doesn't show that.

End was a quote.

Student Life - Walking more than the hallways
Senior Jasmine Correa competes in pageants across Texas. Since she started three years ago, Correa has won the title of Miss Teen Texas Belleza Latina girl. Correa is planning on competing for the Miss Universe title.

Who - Jasmine Correa
What - competes in pageants
When - often, whenever there are pageants
Where - Texas
Why - She likes the adrenaline that she gets from being on stage.
How - she balances school work with practice and prepares for the pageants

Quoted:
Jasmine Correa
Gianna Castillo
Juleanty Esquivel

In my opinion, the best quote is when Correa explains her favorite memory and says: "My favorite memory would have to be when we went to a community service event. We helped throw a party for a pageant friend that is currently battling cancer."

Yes, this lead is very interesting, as is the topic in general.

End was a quote

News - Freshman Katelyn Dill takes home grand champion award
This story is about the most recent science fair competitions. In these competitions, Bowie students judged the projects at elementary schools as well as participating in competitions with their own projects. The students shared their experiences and the history behind this tradition of judging other students' projects.

Who - Science fair participants
What - participated and judged the science fair
When - in the beginning of second semester
Where - Bowie and Mills
Why - the students were required to and also wanted to because of the traditions
How - they composed their own projects and traveled to the schools to judge

Quoted:
Alonna Beatty
Cardenas (no first name given)
Gause (no first name given)
Katelyn Dill

In my opinion, the best quote is from Gause: "There was pressure to continue doing it since I did it from my freshman year to my junior year. It's my last year here so that was also some pressure as well."

No, the lead was confusing when I initially read it. Also, there are so many grammatical and fluency issues with this story that I didn't enjoy reading it. Hardly any first names were mentioned, so that was confusing, and there were punctuation errors all over the place.

End was a quote.

Sports - Ray is an All-American nominee
This sports story is about a star player at Bowie, Kianna Ray getting the Ronald McDonalds All American Athlete award. Ray was one of the few girls nominated for this award, and her teammates shared how Ray made an impact on the team. This also talks about Ray's upcoming game and how much pressure that will be.

Who - Kianna Ray
What - was awarded one of the Ronald McDonald All American Athlete award
When - January 6
Where - Bowie High School
Why - Ray showed exceptional qualities that made her stand out on the court
How - spectators were going to the basketball games and nominated Ray

Quoted:
Kianna Ray
Alyssa Kuykendall
Foradory (no first name given)

In my opinion, the best quote is from Kuykendall when she says: "If I could describe Kianna in one word it would be genuine...No matter how much pressure is put on her, she remains humble and kind. She will do whatever it takes to accomplish her ambitions and goals, all the while staying true to yourself."

Yes, the lead was pretty interesting, I want to keep reading.

End was a quote

Entertainment - Silver stars continue to practice throughout the year
This entertainment story is all about the silver stars and the practice and preparation that goes into this bowie dance team. They explain their dances and competitions that have impacted them and what it takes to be a silver star. This includes volunteer work and perfecting even the smallest of details.

Who - the silver stars
What - they practiced and prepared for competitions
Where - Bowie HS and performance locations
When - throughout the entire year
Why - the dancers love the experience and performing
How - the team practiced countless hours and perfected the smallest details to be ready to compete

Quoted:
Courtney Allison
Kendall Franz
Lynsey Gagner
Morgan Andrews

In my opinion, the best quote is from Morgan Andrews: "My favorite part about it is getting to perform to an audience and really commit to the story behind our dances. It is also refreshing to see our team's hard work show through out on the floor at contest."

Yes, the lead made me want to keep reading.

End was a quote

Commentary - Questions arise as Avery is charged for murder
This commentary is about the tv series, "Making a Murder", and it goes through the baseline of facts regarding the complex case involving an accusation of murder and unfair judgement. Glenewinkel, the author of this story, explains her point of view on the situation and why she watches the show. She backs up her ideas with percentage facts and connects with the reader (myself).

Who - Steven Avery
What - was accused of murder
when - this ongoing case has been going on for over a decade
where - on the tv series "Making A Murder"
why - no one is sure why he's being accused, that's why the show is captivating
how - the police accused him of murdering someone so they arrested him - that started the case

no one is quoted

no quotes

Yes, the lead made me want to keep reading, mostly because Im starting to watch the show too, so it interests me to see her point of view.

end is a statement/question.

In-Depth - Tarzan brings STC to new heights
The Starlight Theatre Company put on the Tarzan production this year, and it was a huge success. Since the students were required to compose their own choreography, the cast spent countless hours practicing and perfecting this musical. The production also added in a new feature to make the show even more captivating: harnesses. The actors and actresses hung from harnesses.

who -
what -
whe

Magazines Part II

Early Magazine Covers - The early magazine covers tended to contain minimal descriptive words and  didn't give any insight to what the magazine contained. In fact, the magazine covers were typically modeled after book covers. Since these magazine covers didn't look hardly like the covers we have today, there were minimal pictures, possibly containing one in the middle of the page.

The Poster Cover - The poster cover is an oversized magazine cover that contains minimal text on the front page and leaves a separation between the logo and the photo/illustration. Since the photo is so large, not many words are necessary and the photo is so prominent that even the logo is dwarfed by the picture.

Pictures Married to Type - In this type of magazine cover, the photo is contains a new form of a photo that shows more of the subject by introducing new 'turned' poses and full body pictures. To frame the subject's face, cover lines were used on all sides of the person in a border-like visual. A common feature was to overlap the title/logo with the picture.

In a Forest of Words - In this type of magazine cover, the words in a way "take over" the cover. The photograph is no longer in the foreground, which causes an overlap of the text on the photo. Because of the amount of text on the cover, lots of information is shown that can distract or attract the viewer.

My Favorite Cover

Harper's Bazaar, March 2014, Lady Gaga

"Eyes closed, surrounded by a cut-out Carolina Herrera neckpiece, Lady Gaga looks like she's ready to explode. Photographed by Terry Richardson, what compels about the cover is both the graphics and the rare stillness of a superstar. Here, cut-out means a knockout."

This portrait is absolutely stunning. Lady Gaga seems posed, yet completely relaxed at the same time. The way the photo is layered adds a new dimension to the photo that really interests me as a viewer. I also love how Gaga is in a way framed by the cut-out Carolina Herrera neckpiece and it brings the attention to Gaga as the main subject. Speaking of the neckpiece, this piece is truly remarkable. The design is so intricate and detailed, yet somehow it's a subtle add to the cover as a whole. However, without this addition, the photo would seem plain and lacking the creative touch that has been produced from Bazaar magazines.

Best Covers

1. The Advocate - formal
2. Wired - formal
3. ESPN - informal
4. The New Yorker - Environmental
5. Out - formal
6. Harper's Bazaar - formal
7. ESPN - informal
8. New York - formal
9. The Atlantic - informal
10. FamilyFun - environmental/informal
11. Harper's Bazaar - informal
12. Vanity Fair - formal
13. Variety - informal
14. New York - informal
15. Men's Health - formal
16. Bloomberg Businessweek - formal
17. Golf Digest - environmental
18. Kinfolk- informal

Magazine Tips

When I design my magazine cover, I should ...
1. Make the cover easy and fast to read, meaning that I shouldn't have too much text to too much clutter.
2. Make the cover worth the reader's time; why is this important to the viewer?
3. Make the cover appealing to the viewers.
4. Design the cover to pull the reader's curiosity in; make a cover that makes the reader want to read the magazine.
5. The brand needs to be familiar to recognize from issue to issue.

Prompt Shoot #2

Cold

Electric

Purple

CE 4.3

1. The five things you should know about the Zika virus is that Zika in in Travis County, it's linked to birth defects, it's been found active in saliva and urine, pregnant women are at risk, and there's no vaccine for the Zika virus.
2. Ft. Hood is promoting renewable energy by building a massive solar wind project. They are also saying that the renewable energy increases energy security and mitigates the rising energy costs.
3. Three of the top jobs that don't require a degree are a plumber, electrician, and a construction and building inspector.
4. The Denver Broncos won 24-10.
5. The most interesting story (besides the weird miley cyrus story which caught my eye initially) would be the #nofilter story.

Short answer:
My favorite photo on these pages is the picture "Here comes the snow" because there's something about the falling snow on the kids that is just peaceful, yet frigid. Maybe it's because I don't see snow very often, so seeing this makes me really happy. I just really like the pops of color against the white snow; it's a really cool effect. The photo that has the most going on is the one titled "flight of the angel" because there are lots and lots of people at the bottom of this frame with the main subject present. Despite the amount of black on these peoples' clothes, I feel as if there's a lot of color encompassing this photo. In my opinion, the most boring picture is "counted by hand" because there's no subject present (besides her hands) and the idea of someone counting ballots is elongating and boring. Although weird, I think that the photo with the most interesting subject is the "shadow dancing" picture. I mean, a man is holding up a groundhog; that's a lot more interesting than a posed smile picture of a group of people or a pretty landscape photo.

Portraits and Self Portraits

Tips:
1.  Experiment with Lighting

Another element of randomness that you can introduce to your portraits is the way that you light them. There are almost unlimited possibilities when it comes to using light in portraits.

Side-lighting can create mood, backlighting and silhouetting your subject to hide their features can be powerful.

2.

Move Your Subject Out of their Comfort Zone

I was chatting with a photographer recently who told me about a corporate portrait shoot that he had done with a business man at his home. They’d taken a lot of head and shoulder shots, shots at his desk, shots in front of framed degrees and other ‘corporate’ type images. They had all turned out fairly standard – but there was nothing that really stood out from the crowd.

The photographer and the subject agreed that there were plenty of useable shots but they wanted to create something ‘special’ and out of the box. The photographer suggested they try some ‘jumping’ shots. The subject was a little hesitant at first but stepped out into the uncomfortable zone and dressed in his suit and tie started jumping!

The shots were amazing, surprising and quite funny. The shoot culminated with the subject jumping in his pool for one last image!

While this might all sound a little ‘silly’ the shots ended up being featured in a magazine spread about the subject. It was the series of out of the box images that convinced the magazine he was someone that they’d want to feature.

3.

Obscure Part of your Subject

A variation on the idea of zooming in on one part of the body is to obscure parts of your portrait subject’s face or body. You can do this with clothing, objects, their hands or just by framing part of them out of the image.

Doing this means that you leave a little to the imagination of the image’s viewer but also focus their attention on parts of your subject that you want them to be focused upon.

Environmental Portrait

In this environmental portrait, I really like how the sense of movement is portrayed with the lasso. This also creates a sense of depth because the circle of the lasso is closer to the camera than the boy throwing it. Overall, just the background and motion make this picture truly amazing.

Photography Self Portrait

I don't know what it is about the split frame with water and air, but I think it creates a really cool effect on the picture. The wave/water line creates movement, and the girl has something on her that shows a story. This makes me as the viewer curious to hear the story behind the picture.

Casual Portrait

I really like this picture and how the car window frames the girl's body/face. All of the other pictures were plain and average, but this one stood out in the expression of the woman and the story she has. The thing I like most is the framing though. :)

1. The characteristics of an environmental picture is using the environment around them to create a more powerful image. Including the environment in the background causes the photo to have more depth and in a way, personality of the subject.

2. When I think of a casual picture, I imagine a standard, posed picture of the person's face. An environmental picture differs from that because more elements are added to the frame that is more than just a face.

3. To get a good self portrait, use a tripod and/or timer to capture the image. Another tip is to use different compositions and incorporate a mirror into the frame so you don't have to use a timer or tripod. You can also include personality into the photos by including items and symbols.

4. For my portrait and self portrait, my plan is to have a photoshoot with a couple of my friends where we will get a bunch of balloons and maybe umbrellas and other cute and happy things. My idea is that the pictures will be really happy and colorful, because that represents my personality most of the time. Because balloons are involved and I don't want them to blow away, I'll most likely shoot inside, maybe in my bedroom because I have a huge mirror that would look really cool in the frame.