As a senior, I'm graduating and going to do other things out of high school. I won't be in this high school photography program, but I am interesting in serving on a publications staff or pursuing a job in this field. That being said, I need a portfolio. I think the best way to go about this is to use my best images from different areas rather than all sports or photojournalism. I've learned multiple skills exemplified by these images such as how to take portraits, play with time exposure, waiting on just the right picture and being patient. I've had to use Photoshop to create some images, but I've also learned that the best photographers don't rely on it for a crutch. ISO: 800 APERTURE: 4.0 SHUTTER SPEED: 1/250 ISO: 160 APERTURE: 13.0 SHUTTER SPEED: 2.0 ISO: 1600 APERTURE: 2.8 SHUTTER SPEED: 1/30 ISO: 1600 APERTURE: 4.0 SHUTTER SPEED: 1/125 ISO: 800 APERTURE: 5.6 SHUTTER SPEED: 1/1600 ISO: 1600 APERTURE

ISO: 400 APERTURE: 8.0 SHUTTER SPEED: 1/200 This photo went full bleed as the double truck in the December issue. It was taken kind of in a hurry because of deadline. I basically had to do a creeper project set up like I learned last year. I had Ashley squat and hide her face for the purpose of her not being associated with the story, and act scared. I had Smith stand and act as a shadow. I used a 600 on the camera just as a trigger for the 600 on a light stand. I beamed the light at eye level and had it to my left behind Smith. Originally we metered for the shadow first. Once we got that setup, we set up for Ashley, so she would be exposed correctly. Once we tried to do that, the shadow was very light and faint, so we brought the ISO up to 400 from about 200. Then it came out like this. Our newspaper adviser wanted this to be a nice wide shot, so I used a 10-24mm.

I took portraits of my friend for a Christmas present for his parents. I normally wouldn't blog about this assignment, but I have a critique.  ISO: 400 APERTURE: 4.0 SHUTTER SPEED: 1/80 Color correcting this was sooooo hard, and I don't even think I did it right. I like the image, it was just really hard to process and edit. I used the preset white balance settings, but they didn't help much so I changed the warmth to give it some more color because he looked washed out. He almost looked a little pink, but I tried to fix that to the best of my ability. I was happy with how it turned out, and hope it's a good gift.

ISO: 400 APERTURE: 11.0 SHUTTER SPEED: 1/250 This is the original cover photo I took for this newspaper issue. Tyler Snell was our hand model, but he wasn't much taller than the girl subject. So, in order to make the image look right, we had to hide Tyler behind the girl subject. In order to make his hands look dirty and gross, he rubbed them in some dirt and put different shades of brown and black eye shadow on them. To edit it, I ran the contrast up and clarity. There's a filter on it that the newspaper kids decided looked good. We still haven't decide on a font. This is the almost final product.

In class I had to create a time lapse picture of Conor Diggs for online newspaper. I didn't know how I was going to do that, so Smith and I decided to make a gif file. Oh, cool! That'll be fun and a new experience! No. It wasn't. Gifs are the worst file type to ever create. First off, I screwed up from the beginning, because I took every picture with a different camera. (Credit for at least using the same lens in every picture.)  First, I took all the images individually and renamed them in the order they needed to appear chronologically. I got on YouTube and tried to find a video about how to create an animated gif in Adobe Photoshop CS6. After I cheated and used the 'levels' to touch up exposures and merged the edits, I selected window>timeline and inserted new frames from layers. I had to make sure they were all proportional, but because I edited them on different computers, they were different file sizes. I used command+T and held shift to not distort

ISO: 160 APERTURE: 13.0 SHUTTER SPEED: 2.0 I went to the fir three times, paying all three times to only take pictures for a couple hours. It was worth it though. I wanted to play around with time exposure because the fair is full of opportunities in regards to time lapse. I wanted to use off camera flash to stop action. I had my lovely assistant Ashley Tyson holding a 600 flash on a monopod pointed towards the people sitting in the swings. I put a flash on my camera and used it just as a trigger making it the master. I used the studio concept and painting with light idea of killing ambient light, so I set my ISO very low. I played with my aperture until it looked right because I wanted to drag my shutter for the moving swings effect.

ISO: 800 APERTURE: 2.8 SHUTTER SPEED: 1/250 I had to take a picture of a girl in my instructor's class for a feature over her hobby; drag racing. It was suppose to be an environmental portrait. Smith knew how he wanted the image to look, so we discussed the off camera lighting set up while I was packing gear to take on my assignment.  This is the scratch preview of the setup.  So, basically, we would have her truck and her car nose to nose with her standing in the center. Off camera to the left, there would be a 600 flash set on a light stand hitting her back for a rim light, zoomed to 200. Off camera to the right, there would be another 600 flash, but instead of being directly to her right, it would be facing more behind her. That way her face wasn't lit super brightly. This would be zoomed to 80. These would be put in slave mode and ETTL. The flash on my camera would be bounced and used strictly as a trigger until I realized I should use the kick card to

I was the first student from Texas High to ever enter into the advanced portfolio category in ATPI. These are the images I entered and won first place with. These were shot in a compiled time of two afternoons in different locations.  ISO: 500 APERTURE: 4.5 SHUTTER SPEED: 1/13 This is my least favorite image in the portfolio. I had taken an image the exact other side of this and it was perfect. Exactly what I wanted. The only problem was the background was a fireplace. I wanted it to at least look like a studio of sorts rather than a basic living room, so I came to this side and took this image. I ended up just settling with this. Lighting it was super hard until Kelsi Brinkmeyer who helped with my portfolio, had the genius idea to move the blinds and use natural lighting from the setting sun. Like I don't know why we were so stupid and didn't think of that before. I used a 10-24mm, and the problem I ran into was that because she was leaning towards the camera, her u

Since I am one of Smith's first students to ever actually want to take this profession in a teaching aspect instead of an actual freelance photographer, he allows me to help orchestrate his first year classes. How fitting, seeing as I'm our senior staff photo editor. Last class, during his B4 photojournalism class, Smith was absent at home taking care of his daughter. I had to basically teach the class like I knew he would. He left instructions to make a new photo challenge for the class's next project. I had everyone brainstorm ten ideas on a piece of paper then turn them in. We read them aloud and discussed them as a class until we all agreed on thirty ideas. We talked them out and wrote them on the board. After that, I sent them with cameras and their phones to go start on their project. I think this helps me like a real world environment. It would be an everyday situation I would be in. I really enjoyed it because the class all came together to discuss. It made me more

ISO: 200 APERTURE: 8.0 SHUTTER SPEED: 1/200 This was a picture that I had to take for a feature in print over kids who devote their time to World of Warcraft. We tried getting kids out several times that the story featured, but their teacher wouldn't let them out. The story was on deadline and needed to be sent to print so I snapped this picture of a kid I knew could get out of class real quick and played the computer game, but the staff writer didn't want to use it. She finally got the kids out, and I got the same picture. This was taken in our classroom. I had two girls hold a white background sheet behind the subject and put a fake monitor, keyboard and mouse on the end of a desk. I put a 600 flash in front of the screen in slave mode. To make the image look blue like a dark computer in a room would, I turned the white balance to tungsten. Tungsten adds more blue to the image to balance it and correct it to white, but this way we manipulated it to look blue. This

ISO: 1000 APERTURE: 4.0 SHUTTER SPEED: 1/80 The freshman were really timid and scared to come out of their shells which was bad for pictures. They just look bored out of their minds. I took a flash and split everyone up with a different group at the camp. The flash didn't really help much except in the cafeteria. This is just a simple shot I got in the cafeteria when the kids were listening to upperclassmen explain dances and dress up days. 

ISO: 1600 APERTURE: 4.0 SHUTTER SPEED: 1/125 I like this photo because it looks different than most of our pep rally pictures. I like the depth of field and how sharp the cheerleader is. It looks like a snapshot in the middle of a story and I can really see the emotion. I don't know if it's exactly color corrected. It looks a little orange, but this was the best I could do. I wish the crowd had been more enthusiastic. 

ISO: 1000 APERTURE: 4.5 SHUTTER SPEED: 1/200 I told my staff to take a camera and shoot while they went to pick up their schedules. I did the same because that's what good leaders do. :) I like the expression and that it isn't just people picking up their schedule. The only problem I ran into is that everyone knew me, so they didn't want their picture taken. Especially band kids since they were gross from marching that day. This is what I ended up with. 

ISO: 250 APERTURE: 4.0 SHUTTER SPEED: 1/2000 ISO: 250 APERTURE: 4.0 SHUTTER SPEED: 1/2000 I loved shooting this because the colors were beautiful and it was a perfect day. The sky looks pretty and all the colors are super bright. It was hard to get close enough to shoot because everyone stood in a giant huddle without getting paint thrown on me. Everyone had a lot of fun though. The difference between this and the yearbook cupcake fight is that everyone stood in an awkward huddle. I just had to stand on the outskirts and work it that way. During the yearbook fight, everyone runs around and it's easier to grab opportunities. 

ISO: 800 APERTURE: 2.0 SHUTTER SPEED: 1/400 Go Pro These are from the first week of swim practice this summer. I took a Go Pro and also shot with a 7D like normal. The first picture I like because they are doing something else than like in normal swim pictures. They have the boards and there's leading lines. The only thing I don't like about it is that the tip of the board is super sharp, but her face isn't.  The Go Pro was hard. I ended up with a lot of crap while trying to be creative. It was really dark, so it was hard to get good still images. When I sunk it to the bottom of the pool, it was too shallow in the lanes so it didn't focus, and it cut off arms and legs. I think we need to sink it in the diving pool and put lights on the side. 

ISO: 1600 APERTURE: 4.0 SHUTTER SPEED: 1/320 This was one of the first volleyball games of the year. We were using the 600's instead of pocket wizards. This was bad and we eventually through the season switched to using pocket wizards again, but not this game. The batteries would start to die in our flash heads because people shooting the freshman and JV games would hammer the flash. The photos ended up really dark, but this is what I came out with. Since we couldn't use such a super high shutter speed, the ball still has motion blur. In some pictures I liked it. 

ISO: 200 APERTURE: 1.8 SHUTTER SPEED: 1/4000 This is the first picture I took for our school spirit newspaper cover photo. The assignment called for just a picture with a megaphone and pom moms but an HDR. I decided that it would have more school spirit to put our tower in a bunch of dead space in a top corner just to add more flare. It wasn't exactly an HDR, but this is what happened instead. I liked this photo even though it wasn't the best, but they asked me to redo it. I grudgingly did because no photographer likes to think their photo wasn't good enough, but we work for the publications.  ISO: 320 APERTURE: 5.6 SHUTTER SPEED: 1/2500 This is the photo that they requested. This I thought was super lame. It's just grass, and not even interesting grass. I was told to put this on the practice field and take the sigma 100-400mm lens and get at the top of the bleachers. That way the grass blurs, but it didn't really work. They both look like cr

I have been super stressed this week because it's the newspaper deadline. I had to make sure all my photographers got pictures pushed to the journalism servers so staff writers and designers could use the images. While trying to corral everyone, track down images and work with the newspaper staff, I also had to take care of my own images, blogs and do the photo story for this issue. I did this in one class period to slap something on the page just so I could get started somewhere. This is what came from this period. It still needs to be tweaked, but it's in the works. This is what I worked on all day. 

ISO: 1250 APERTURE: 4.0 SHUTTER SPEED: 1/50 I had to wake up super early to be at swim practice at the beginning of the school year to take a picture of our new coach. This is what I got. The worst part was not only that she really didn't want her picture taken, but there was horrible lighting due to the windows around the entire pool with the sun rise light. This is what was picked to go online with the article. 

ISO: 250 APERTURE: 11.0 SHUTTER SPEED: 1/320 This assignment was taken in the beginning of the year for an online story about how kids are pressured to go to college even if it isn't the right choice for them. I took two different pictures, one with the subject in focus, and one with the college in focus. This is what was used. I wish, looking back now, I would have brought up the shadows and clarity. Especially the shadows toward the right side of the photo, but I was in a super rush to get this up and online. 

ISO: 1600 APERTURE: 4.0 SHUTTER SPEED: 1/160 Pep rallies aren't my favorite things to shoot. Our gym isn't lit very well, so it's hard to keep a high shutter speed with also capturing sharp images without motion blur. The flashes help to stop the action. This is after I started in camera white balancing for the gym I wish the cheerleader at the top in the stunt was facing forward. I do like the subject's expression. 

ISO: 1600 APERTURE: 4.0 SHUTTER SPEED: 1/640 I like this picture because it incorporates a lot of different elements. I like the colors, even though orange is gross. He is framed by other players, but is still in the middle. He is the only one doing something different. I especially like that I captured the Texas flag in the left side, and the tiger tunnel is in the background. I'm glad it was still light enough to have a nice pretty sky.

ISO: 1600 APERTURE: 2.8 SHUTTER SPEED: 1/250 I entered this in the ATPI Twitter/Instagram photo contest. This was from our rivalry game in the fourth quarter when we realized we were going to lose. This player was rolling around on the ground and crying throwing a wall eyed fit. He was very upset. This game was a good game for photojournalism rather than sports for the fact our boys were crying most of it. 

ISO: 200 APERTURE: 16.0 SHUTTER SPEED: 1/200 I realized how much I enjoy taking dance pictures. Ashley asked me to take a picture of her for her english project she did over herself dancing. I was like, sure this could be a good chance to get a good picture. I had to do some last minute editing with Smith. This was the final product. We set an alien bee in the yard behind her at 1/2 power. I put a fill flash at 1/8 catty corner her right. Since she couldn't stay on pointe very long I would have to quickly move and position myself with the light behind her so that it gave her a rim light instead of just being a star like blob behind her. After this assignment, I decided to create a dance portfolio for contest which I am currently working on. 

ISO: 160 APERTURE: 10.0 SHUTTER SPEED: 1/200 ISO: 400 APERTURE: 4.0 SHUTTER SPEED: 1/800 ISO: 800 APERTURE: 4.0 SHUTTER SPEED: 1/1250 ISO: 160 APERTURE: 11.0 SHUTTER SPEED: 1/200 This is my friend from Dallas, Sydney Anderson. She asked me to take her senior pictures, so I did. I enjoyed these a lot because I didn't have to worry about making her senior pictures looking super different from everyone else's because she doesn't live around here. Her mother and two Dallas friends came as well and helped with pictures. I found this a lot easier because I was comfortable with the subject. I knew the locations she wanted to take pictures at like family houses and places like that. I had no problem walking up to her and moving her hair out of her face or telling her to pull her dressed own or other awkward things that might be harder with a subject I didn't know as well. I like the top picture because it has a lot of colors in it. It isn&#