On the road of Hallmark!

Phase 3 Mandatory is DONE!!!!

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!! to everyone who helped me create these amazing photos.  From everyone who i random contacted and asked If i could invade their lives with my camera and all that helped assist me.  I love you all. <3

I know you all have been waiting and hoping this day would come, well its here!!!  It was a LONG journey. well, in all honesty it wasn't that long. I think it was maybe a month. But, from my angle it was crazy.  Attending Hallmark Institute of Photography is probably the hardest and most rewarding thing I've ever been apart of.  This past month we have had to work on our Phase 3 mandatory portfolio which is 16 photo assignments.  We were given "guidelines" that we had to follow and then from there we could do whatever we wanted within them. So.. Here ya go....  My pictures and perhaps a little insight to how they were created!

First up, my love Andrew stepped in to be a model for me.  We have to do a Public Relations "PR" shot. they are AWFUL!!  Its just boring, no personality and well, the same exact specific lighting every time. It needs to be done, but its not the most exciting of photographs.  So anywho, Andrew who was OH so excited to wear a suit and tie for me.. (yeah right) was a trooper and here ya go!

To make up for the boring super unexciting PR shot, we are also assigned and "alternative" picture.  Using the same model, you want to create a photograph that would represent them as a person or style. Originally, my idea was to get a picture of andrew in just a plain white t-shirt, boxer shorts and white socks.  Cause thats my idea of the opposite of PR. He wasn't having that. haha So.. we went with this instead.

Next up.  We had to do a Family portrait in the families home.  I contacted a friend of mine from high school and she was more than excited to help me out with my project.  She has the most beautiful family so it wasn't much of a challenge to make this picture look good. They were awesome. 

Thanks to Emma, Wes, Julie and Peyton. <3

One shot that we seem to have every phase is the environmental portrait.  This phase it was an occupational portrait.  I thought it would be really cool to get a bartender because there is a lot to work with. Background, props, people. all that jazz. Then we have Chip! So, i asked him if I could come down to the bar one night and photograph him and he was awesome. Totally willing to let me bug him at work.  I got to meet some interesting folks during this shoot, but it was all good.  

We had a few photos that we absolutely HAD to take in studio (which can make things interesting) its hard to get people to Turners Falls Massachusetts.  But, we made it work.  "High Key" has to be done in studio because its a picture that has to have a completely white background and lighter clothing.  I was contacted with a girl who goes to school in the area and wanted to come up for photos.  I made my pink sparkly fabric work and threw her in a white background.. and well the rest is history.

My Lovely Friends Joe and Luke came to school one night because Abi my friend at school was desperate for a model for her PR and alternative shot. I just happen to have some of the BEST FRIENDS EVER and they came up and helped us out. So, while there were there, i snapped a few pictures myself and was able to use Joe for my Low Key Male in studio shot.  Low key is just really dark lighting with dark clothing.  Although he is "broad lit" (nose points away from the key light)  and each one of my professors has pointed that out to me, i really like the shot and I'm using it dang it!  However, even though they were fast to point out that it was broad lit and.. "we want to stay away from that as much as possible, even though it can work in cases" They loved the picture? haha thats right! 

The hardest picture to get was a child in studio.  Its hard to go up to random people and say, "oh hi, your children are beautiful, could you just come to my school and let me photograph them" haha yeah, um weirdo.  So a friend of my familes, Mollie, brought her children up to school for an afternoon and both Abi and Myself Took pictures of Dominic and Gabby. For my portfolio I submitted one of the pictures of Gabby even though it was hard to pick which picture to use because they were all so cute!!  

If you read my blog regularly.. (which i hope you do, otherwise you are totally missing out!!) Sorry.. so you would know that we took a trip to Mystic for a fashion photo shoot. My lovely friend Stephie was my model for my Editorial Fashion Shot which i LOVE!!!  It came out so awesome, better than I ever thought.  My teacher who was the fashion photographer for all the major magazines out of NYC said it was perfection and very editorial.  Which personally I took as a compliment because, well.. he would know. Check it out.. you tell me! I made it nice and big because its awesome and ya need to see the whole thing. 

I also took photos of Stephie's Friend Mariah. They were too cute and had tons of outfits with them. Once the sun started to set, thats when the fun really started. Although everyone was frozen solid, I used it to my advantage and got a beautiful Outdoor Portrait of Mariah.  

The hardest assignment out of studio that we had was that we had to find an executive and photograph them.  Luckily (because i seem to be finding a lot of luck lately) I have a friend that i graduated high school with that is starting his own financial investing business and needed shots for a website. So Abi and I took an adventure to Hartford CT.  We may have almost died a couple times because I took a wrong turn and we ended up going into a scary section of Hartford (sorry mom, cover your eyes) But we made it out ok! Anywho, We got to the building and met up with my friend Josh and well, it was an excellent shoot! We may have redecorated an office a bit but as photographers, we do what we have to!  The shots all came out really great, but the one I used for my portfolio is....

Once we got through all the portraits, we move on to the Commercial work.  (my favorite... not so much) I dont hate it, but i struggle with it which frustrates me!  But my images came out well i think! we had to do some product shots. We had to shoot 2 products on completely white backgrounds, then cut them out in photoshop and create our own backgrounds and add shadows and all that fun stuff.  Not my favorite assignment but here they are. 

Next up, Glassware and Metal.  Not as easy to take pictures of as one would think.  Completely different lighting techniques and set ups for both.

My Still life, which doesn't really need a lot of talk. Please, dont lick your screens.. Its not scratch and sniff and you can't taste it through the screen.. SORRY!!!

And last and CERTAINLY not least, My "advertisement" I am in no way affiliated with OLD NAVY. This is completely Student work. i did use their "logo" but thats all. I bought the flip flops and shot them in the studio. Then in photoshop added a little mud and well... You know you want them!

So there you have it! Thats my 1st half of Phase 3 Portfolio. The second half is going to be completely up to me! no assignments to follow.. (i think) I could be wrong. But yeah, its gonna be great, that i CAN promise! 

Enjoy!!

*LOVE*