My Portfolio: https://laurahelferichphotography.wordpress.com/

Cover Letter:

With old age comes quite the health conflicts, one being dementia that Janice Fughgee is faced with. Thoughts start to disappear within 20 min of a conversation with someone. Of all the ladies who stay at Mediolodge, each individual care and look past these hard life obstacles no one likes to face. 

“I am one of the 12 children in my family, 10 being boys and 2 of us girls.” Says Janice. After 91 years, she is still kicking and quite the sassy character. One of the nurses, Tyler says “She likes to give us a hard time, always calling “Nurse!” just to harass us all.”  

To add to that large family, there are three sets of twins within the family tree with Janice being one of them. Further down the road from Mediolodge Nursing Care is where you can find her twin brother. “I haven’t gotten to see him in a while, he has a family who takes care of him and never comes here to visit.” States Janice.  

Within the dining hall in the care center lays a very old and out of tune piano. One resident in particular loves showing off her skills and Janice can always be seen singing along. “Growing up my mom forced all the children to take part in singing, because she was a good singer too.”  

For this assignment I wanted to focus on individual woman’s biggest insecurities, even myself.

For this portrait I chose to focus on the aspect of weight lifting, because it is one of Alex’s favorite hobbies. I wanted to use some sort of motion, so I used weight lifting chalk to incorporate that hobby. Using a black backdrop also helped to emphasize the whiteness of the chalk itself and make the subject stand out.

I used the prop of espresso beans for Jessica’s portrait, because she is a full time barista. Coffee is something she is always around. It was a tad bit difficult to figure out a position for Jessica to be in, in order to bring out the texture of the espresso beans. I tried to use a purple gel as well to bring together Jessica’s shirt and I felt it gave off a moody vibe to it.

The average 21-year-old does not plan to have a baby in the peak of their college age years, but for Lionel Holmes that is a different story. After an unexpected pregnancy with a previous girl down the hall from his dorm room, there came little baby Carter.  

“I get Carter every Wednesday from his mom, Sam Morocco.” Usually these Wednesday evenings are spent with his three roommates and current girlfriend, Kayla Breckinridge, relaxing and playing video games, while entertaining the 6-month-old.  

Aside from getting his income from his recent job at Biggby Coffee, Holmes also participates in male stripping to rack up more money. “Last Sunday, I made $350 just from one night! Oh, and it was Jonas Brothers themed.” Says Lionel.  He prefers to keep this on the down-low, but is not ashamed in his side job.

” “I’m trying to stay humble here.. but he’s basically the next Gerber baby.” Says Lionel.

So far I have enjoyed getting to see the relationship between Lionel and his 6 month old, Carter. I have struggled with being able to get photo’s outside of his apartment, but I plan on capturing more outside life. Lionel shares custody with mother, Sam Morocco and from what I can see all three of his room-mates love spending time with Carter and usually incorporate him in their activities. Weather it be placing him in front of the tv while they kick back and play a baseball video game or take turns trying to make him smile.

I had so much fun creating these portraits! The only difficulties was getting the timing right with the first photo, throwing cards up in the air. Overall, I loved how they turned out and can’t wait to shoot more like it!

What I learned: For this assignment I had a specific idea in mind and that was finding a young aged subject who must work hard in order to take care of their baby. Lionel Holmes was the perfect fit! He is currently not attending college, works full time at Biggby Coffee and has a baby he must take care of a few days a week. I am looking forward to getting more content for this assignment.

Rebecca Steelman, 20, has always had an interest in Cosplaying as a hobby. “Ever since 7th grade when I was 12 years old, I have been creating characters and participating in events. Holy sh*t it’s been a while”, states Steelman. 

When it comes to attending Cosplay conventions, Steelman does not mess around. From head to toe she ensures that whoever character she might be is a pure reflection of her/him. “I spent $40 on that wig over there and the entire uniform costs me $100.” 

A convention Steelman has been looking forward to all year, Youmacon is taking place tomorrow, October 31, 2019 in Detroit, Michigan. She will be going as Medusa Gorgan, which in Greek mythology means “soul eater of evil people”. “This outfit is probably the most comfortable one I have ever worn. It’s like a onesie.” 

When she’s not spending endless number of hours on costume planning, Steelman works at Biggby Coffee which is a short 10-minute drive from where she lives.

“Iv’e probably been to 8 or 9 cosplay events including meetups and conventions” states Steelman.