John P, .......à la........

This is an example here of my subject who is unknown to all. As you can see he looks as if he is trapped in a box with invisible walls. He may feel trapped and alone, with everyone looking in on him he feels helpless as his world passes him while the world looks in. The subjects pose also gives a glimpse that he’s just about to give up, he’s leaning onto the glass wall in exhaustion from life. The setting of the photograph takes place on a college campus which also gives in sight in to the amount of pressure students may have. The pressure on this subject may not only be from tests and homework, but may also be about the future they are trying to make of themselves. This photo attempts to bring the viewer in to the world of a college student. College is more than just homework, tests, and parties, it is a giant test for life. Depending on how well you study or in some cases cram for this test it will dictate how you succeed in life beyond the college grounds. Because of the stress on this college student it causes him to buckle under the pressure and become less of a socialite and more of a hermit trapped inside an invisible box. The photo was taken through two glass windows in the library. The photographer was standing on the stairs looking on the bridge that connects the library front desk from the other side of the library’s first floor.

Sina P, John à la Gardner

COVERED IN NATURE

Today, technology, industry, construction, automobiles, and skyscrapers surround our planet. But in the heart of reality, we as human beings are still attached to our basics as in all living creatures arise from nature and return to it. This photograph portraits a man ?John? who is humbled and lost in nature. This photograph has three layers: The first layer displays a peaceful background picture of a lake. The second layer is the portrait of ?John? who shows a powerful connection between his inner peace and the nature. And finally the third layer, which is consisted of scattered tiny tree stems. The idea of two natural layers (1 and 3) covering a peaceful man (layer 2) creates a sense of belonging. In other words the nature is surrounding the man like a mother hugging her newborn baby. To take this picture, I was inspired by strange picture by Alexander Gardner. He took a picture of a Dead Confederate in July 1863, which displays a dead man whose body was peacefully laying on the some rocks in outdoors. I tried to imitate that, but this time I chose a living subject instead. In technicality, ?Covered in Nature? displays a slight depth of field technique in which the background is a bit blurry and as the layers progress to top; more texture is on the main focus. The photograph was shot in the beautiful green nature that surrounds UC Merced in springtime. A Kodak V570 Dual Lens digital camera with the resolution of 2576 x 1932 was used to take this photo in zero contrast or black and white.

Ryan R, Vivi à la Cameron

Who is she? A question she asks herself everyday. Searching for a moment of peace in the midst of graduating college, living it up for the last few months of her adolescence, working to make a living, making a new relationship work, and trying to make peace with old ones. Where does she find the time? I have no idea. It’s slowly overwhelming her, but it’s too late. She can’t stop now. She’s a little hard-headed, but she’s strong. She’ll make it. Past that gangly figure is a strong, independent girl. Never taking shit from anyone and always there for you when you need it. Is she human? More human and alive than anyone I have ever met. Always the life of the party. Drinks like a fish and curses like a sailor, but at the same time…a sophisticated woman. She has a good head on her shoulders and friends and family that love her very much. She has nothing to worry about and she should know that. So do you think she’ll make it through? Yeah…I think so.

Vivienne R, Ryan à la Cameron

Although his head is buried beneath his arms I do not think I meant this picture to convey sadness. There is an element of loneliness and sadness to the picture itself but Ryan Rhodes is not necessarily a sad or lonely person. I found this picture to convey more a need for privacy that Ryan has in his daily life. When I was talking to him it was easy to discover that he values his privacy and often time’s people do not allow him the privacy he feels he deserves.

Throughout the process of photographing Ryan I found it a little difficult because I was already a close friend of Ryan’s to begin with, which made it hard for me to separate myself from him in an artistic manner. It was hard because I didn’t know how I wanted to convey him because it was hard for me to put away all my judgments and view him in a more objective way.

In this picture I tried to make him look solitary. I didn’t necessarily want him to look sad or alone but I feel like even though his pose may at first give the impression of sadness it is not what the picture is saying so much as he just wants to be left alone. I didn’t want his face to be shown because I felt like this would convey Ryan’s need for privacy in a more straightforward manner. By showing his face it could ruin the idea of the picture and show someone who is just sad and alone rather than convey someone who wants to be alone because he is hiding his face from the viewer.

Jessica R, Andrew à la Hill and Adamson

In his photo, Andrew tries to mimic the photo taken by Hill and Adamson called “Dr. George Buist”, as well as incorporate aspects of his life into it to portray what represents him. In the original photo there is a man sitting on a chair resting is arm on what looks like a desk, while holding a book in the other hand. Andrew wanted to integrate some aspects that represent him and what he wants to accomplish in his life, while at the same time using Hill’s pose. The reason he chose to wear a dress shirt along with a tie is because he wants to enter the world of business; and dressing professionally is key to success. He is majoring in Business Management, and plans to move to New York when he is done so he can start on his career as a financial planner/stock broker. He is also holding a pan and knife, the reason for this is because along with business, his true passion and lifelong goal is to own and operate his own restaurant and night club. He has an infatuation for cooking and is always trying new recipes and putting his own taste into them. He plans on attending a culinary arts school to learn and perfect the art of cooking. He’s not sure exactly what type of food he wants to cook, but he hopes it to be a high end and very delicious business. He’s already come up with a name for the nightclub; he hopes to call it Radiance.

Andrew S, Jessica à la Nadar

Inspiration for this photo was the Gaspard Félix Tournachon Nadar’s photo entitled “The Banker’s Hand”. Notice that the bankers hand seems wrinkled and it give’s off a sense of tiredness. When talking things over with my partner we decided to put our own spin on the portrait. In this portrait instead of having a stright hand with an open faceing palm I decided to take the picture of her while she had her hands placed making a peace symbol. I think that her hand represents youth and a modern time symbol. I think that a lot can be said about the banker through his picture, and I was hoping that this picture was able to portray that same sentiment. I want people to be able to see who my partner is through her hand just as we have seen who the banker is through his hand. She is a young college student. I think that the fact that she is making a peace sign is a good representation of our generation. Times are important for people our age, it was the first time we were able to vote in a presidential election, and I wanted to portay the new found patriotism that has hit our generation. I think that although we tried to imitate Gaspard Félix Tournachon Nadar in the sense that both hands are photographed with a black background and they are taken no lower than the wrist, we still tried to make it original in our own sense.

Jordan S, Anamika à la Cameron

This photograph represents Anamika because the contrast in the picture shows the contrast in her life. She was raised with a strong Indian background, and enjoys everything that comes along with that such as Indian movies, food and parties. She also enjoys American things such as hamburger joints, clubs, and spending time with friends. Although her upbringing was strongly influenced by Indian culture, she enjoys taking part in American culture. Anamika goes to school full time and also works part time at Foster Farms in the accounting analysis department. Her major in school is Economics with a minor in Management, showing that she would like to pursue a career in the business world. This shows that she is a strong workingwoman who can handle a heavy workload. This heavy workload will help to prepare her for her demanding career awaiting her when she finishes college. I captured this attribute in her facial expression as she is looking off into the distance with a spirited look on her face.

I represented her portrait in the style of Cameron through using light from one side and leaving the other side darker. Also, the subject is not looking at the picture, which is a common attribute in Cameron’s photographs. I chose to represent Cameron’s style also because she is one of the few woman photographers from this time period, as they were much less common at the dawn of the photographic age.

Anamika S, Jordan à la Cameron

Jordan is a musician. He is a part of a bad that plays alternative rock. He enjoys all types of music, but his favorites are indie rock and classic rock. He plays a large variety of instruments specifically percussion instruments. His main focus at the moment is drums. Aside from being a musician, Jordan is a Psychology major with a minor in Arts. I wanted to portray Jordan in a similar way that Julia Margaret Cameron portrayed her subjects; in her photographs she lets the subject stand out without any distractions from the background. I wanted the same for Jordan because I wanted the viewer to see his flannel shirt, coat, fedora hat, glasses and earrings. What Jordan is wearing in this picture is a clear representation of who he is.

As Cameron had done in her photographs, I felt it was important to use natural lighting to show the subject. By using natural light, the photograph seems more authentic than if I were to use indoor light. I am not trying to make Jordan seem any different than he is. I had him pose in this specific manner in order to show how focused he is. His focus in life is his music. I wanted his picture to turn out the same way I saw him in person. The way he dresses, the way he speaks and carries himself is creative. I did not want to have any distractions in the picture because I wanted all these characteristics to come across clearly. I wanted the viewers to understand, he is an artist.

Christine S, Wai à la Brady

In the photograph that has been taken of my partner, the things that shows his identity is his shyness towards the camera and someone who likes to do well in school. We are able to see that he is shy and someone who does not like to be photograph. When we look at this photograph we only see half of his face. Even though we are only able to see half of his face, his facial features and images are not clear to us. We are not able to tell what kind of person he is besides that he does not like to be photograph. When we look at the way he is sitting, you can tell that he is stiff and he is not comfortable having his picture taken. Not only does this photograph shows my partners shyness and someone who does not like to be photograph, but it also shows that he likes to study. From looking at the photograph with the book open on his lap it shows that he cares about his school work and that he wants to do well in school. Another thing we can see is that he is concentrating really hard on his studies. It also shows that nothing could possibly distract him from his studies. Since we are not able to see his whole facial features and expressions we can not conclude anything about him, but the fact that he is someone that is shy towards the camera and he likes to study.

Niloufar T, Shafari à la Nadar

My partner for this project was Shafari Tatum. I tried to capture some aspects of Shafari’s personality that she expressed our interview. I started out by positioning her in different poses to capture her being shy and reserved. For example, I had her looking away from the camera with her head hanging down. However, after a few pictures were taken I soon realized that there was much more to Shafari’s personality than just being shy. I decided to try a different approach and let her pose naturally on her own without telling her what to with her body language and facial expression. Even though I let pose the way she wanted I did manipulate the lighting because I was trying to imitate the style of Nadar. The final photo that I decided to use is very dramatic. Her facial expression is serious and from her eyes and body language the viewer might get the feeling that she is annoyed or ticked off about something. I’m not sure what was going on in her mind at the time this photograph was taken but I can tell you that something dramatic and serious did not just occur. I was able to capture elements of annoyance and seriousness which may be part of Shafari’s identity but it’s not all of it. After interacting with Shafari I would describe her as a nice, funny, easy going girl. Capturing someone’s identity in one photograph is very difficult because everyone has complex sets of personality. A photo can give you a little bit of insight into a person but after this project I realized that to truly know a person it’s what happens in between the shots that really matter.