Final concentration portfolio: HUMANS OF POINT LOMA HIGH SCHOOL

"I hate everyone."

"You'll catch more bees with honey than you would with vinegar."

"You only have so much time here and it's not worth wasting away."

"I think that the most important thing that you should take away from your education is that you should trust yourself in your creative process."

"Cat dissection is sad."

"Stay focused, stay open-minded."

"Freshman, you guys should stay in school.. don't ditch class or anything, every day counts."

"Don't forget the munchies. Oh, and have a good breakfast!"

"I know, but, I know.. Now you are making me think!"

Huge thank you to everyone that participated and was open to being a part of this.

You guys were awesome!

#POTW 5/26-5/30

"Never try to out-stubborn a cat."

I can honestly say that this is in my top 5 all-time favorite pictures of Dexter. I really like the saturation of the colors; the pinks and the green rug have a very nice contrast to me. The whiskers were really the selling point for me because they are a focal point but not distracting. As usual, he looks white and fluffy!

#POTW 5/19-5/23

"Cats are intended to teach us that not everything in life has a purpose."

Continuing my cat picture series, I am showing another side of Dexter. This piece has such a soft and delicate feeling to it. He is just waking up and cracking open his eyes, almost like a newborn. You can see that I did play with depth of field and the staircase behind him is very blurry. I really like this picture because it is anything BUT the typical cat picture. I also like the mystery of asking "is he drifting asleep?" or "is he just cracking open his eyes after a rest?". The real answer is that he woke up to me in his face with a camera and was probably annoyed, he was just peaking to make sure he was in safety. I still love the pink of his nose and eyelids. 

#POTW 05/12-05/16

"There is no need for a piece of sculpture in a home that has a cat."

Finally, kitty action shot! I might be way too excited for this.. but my goal is still to portray Dexter in different ways. So I felt that this piece was able to show the playful and young side of Dexter. Just a little peak into the day of a cat. As always, I prefer natural lighting and was able to use it to my advantage. I just used to shorter shutter speed and continuous shot to find the perfect moment. If I could change anything, it would be the hand in the top left of the picture.

#POTW 04/21-04/25

"If animals could speak, the dog would be a blundering outspoken fellow; but the cat would have the rare grace of never saying a word too much."

My theme so far has been solely Dexter but I wanted to portray him in different ways. In this picture his fur is wet because he was just groomed and makes his face not as fluffy as usual. I wanted to portray a more casual version of him and the best way I found was of him asleep. This picture has a very raw and natural feel to it because of the calmness of the black and white, but also because of the clarity of simplicity of the pink undertones. 

#POTW 04/14-04/18

"Cats never strike a pose that isn't photogenic."

Just a change on the play with lighting. I used the natural light from the window to my advantage and just positioned myself to catch the moment. I did not plan for him to be looking away but he was distracted by the birds in the backyard. I like the way it gives the piece a mysterious feel in the way that you question what he is looking at so intensely. If I could be in this moment again, I would change my point of view to avoid all the darkness behind him. Although I do really like the contrast in his fur and the shadows. 

4-in-1 Portraiture and Lighting set-ups COMBO!

First: Ballet instructor [REMBRANDT LIGHTING]

Second: Rock Sandy from Grease [SPLIT LIGHTING]

Third: Simply Sandy from Grease [PARAMOUNT LIGHTING]

Fourth: Classic book-store girl [LOOP LIGHTING]

This is the ballet instructor. I used a yellow top because I thought it gave the piece a lighter, not so serious feeling. I really like the smirk that she has, it gives it a different feeling.. not just and average head-shot. I decided to use rembrandt lighting for this look because it gave the piece a dramatic touch in contrast to the yellow top. Her hair is up and messy to give it a hard-working woman feel.

This is Sandy from the end of the movie Grease. I really wanted to show the contrast between Sandy from the beginning of the movie because split lighting and paramount seem to be almost opposites, just like Sandy's change in the movie. I used split lighting because it gave the piece the punk-rock touch that I was looking for. I used the off-the-shoulder top because it is similar to what Sandy was wearing in the movie and the shading on her collar bones gives the picture some detail so her hair had to be up. This was by far my favorite picture and was by far the hardest to accomplish. 

This is the girly, naive Sandy from the beginning of Grease. I used paramount lighting because it was an overall girly piece about beauty. I chose the white top because it gave it a simple, much needed summer feel. Her hair is purposely curled at the bottom to depict Sandy's hairstyle from the 90s.

This is the book-store type girl, the type you would meet in a book store and talk for hours about her favorite book. It has a very average feeling to it and depicts a common-everyday girl. I used loop lighting because it was the most average.