How it went: Alex and I definitely pushed ourselves to our limits for this assignment. We spent a straight 5.5 hours getting all our photos completed. Pinterest was extremely helpful and probably my best-est of friend. Since I am not use to posing models, especially fashion photography it was hard to think of positions for my models to do. Although, overall we had a blast and I loved messing around with strobes and working in the studio.

How it has been: I have learned a lot about the Cosplay culture from Rebecca. She balances between working, getting her cosplay costumes made and attending classes. But thus far she has been fun to work with and tell a story not many hear about.

Quinn Kirby poses for a portrait on Monday October 21, 2019.

Natalie Flanders poses for her portrait in the Engineering and Technology building on Monday October 21, 2019.

How it went: I had a blast shooting these portraits! I never had the chance to get creative with the colored gels and I absolutely loved how the photos of Quinn turned out. It was a bummer that it had to be storming out, but it was neat to experiment with using a snoot while shooting Natalie’s portraits.

Rebecca Steelman has been involved in Cosplay since she was 10 years old. I am excited to see where this project takes me! So far, Rebecca has been looking forward to me taking interest in her hobby outside of working a job and attending classes. I have learned that she creates all of her outfits, to make it cheaper. As well as spending up to $40 on wigs/props for each specific character she is trying to represent.

Sportrait

It was challenging to create a unique sportrait, nothing that looks typical or overused. We were able to get access to the lacrosse field, thanks to Kara and her roommate. My goal was trying to get a shadow across half of her face, by setting the umbrella strobe to the side.

Creative Portrait

This photo I tried to capture the interests of Colleen and she wanted to focus on her love for creating stamped keys with her anvil. Her apartment was rather small, so the difficulty was fitting our equipment in the living space. Overall I had a fun time messing with the lighting positions for this creative portrait. I lit the back of her head with the strobe and used a soft box for the front of her face to evenly distribute the light.

What I learned: I greatly enjoyed trying to figure out how to make beautiful portraits with such little light sources. I had the pleasure of getting to work along side of Sarah, for the sportraits and Alex for the creative aspects. When putting together the creative portrait, we both struggled trying to figure out where and what to do for them. It was down pouring outside, so we thought maybe it would create an interesting back light effect with the strobes, but it did not turn out in our favor. The wind was too strong and blowing our equipment away, but it seemed like a good idea at the time. What we thought would take 1 hour at least, took us 4.5 hours in the end. But I learned the importance of planning ahead and hearing from Jesse in class, placing the light source above the subjects head makes a huge difference.

Sammi Howell is a junior at Central Michigan University and has played as a batter and thrower on the softball team at CMU since she was a freshman. 

Recently, Howell has had knee surgery, so she is forced to bench on the sidelines for her team. But that does not stop her from keeping a clipboard in hand to keep stats. “I have had issues with my knee ever since I can remember”, says Howell.  

With busy schedules mixed between practice and a heavy school load of 15 credits, Howell hardly ever sees her good friend and roommate, Abigail Niehaus. They have been living together since their junior year of college. “Usually we come across each other at home possibly two times a week. It’s really rare that we can see each other”, states Howell.  

Besides consistent days of practice and games, Howell is studying special education and physical education at Central Michigan University. Her preferred way of taking courses is online, considering it takes up less time per week. “We try to take as many online classes as possible, because softball takes up so much time.”  

How it went: It was a much better experience than the last time we practiced with the equipment. Having Jesse LaPlante give my group some words of knowledge was extremely helpful. I learned that placing the umbrella near the top of the subjects head creates a better spotlight. My favorite technique is creating a back light to give a rim glow to the subject.

I cannot say I fully understood how to shoot with the light kit. This photo I experimented with a snoot and got a result I thoroughly liked. My group and I struggled trying to first off find a not so distracting background and secondly, trying to figure out the camera settings to create the best look. It was a pain in the butt trying to carry all of our equipment around, which I realized why having assistance is quite handy. I am looking forward to being able to get a better understanding of how to incorporate the snoot, barn door and umbrella’s with the strobe.

My experience: My subject has been quite helpful throughout my visits to take photographs of her. The coaches allowed me to attend their weight training practice and other future practices. The difficult obstacle I was faced with was trying to follow Sammi as she ran back and forth for their fast-paced circuit of different exercises. After a while I was able to get the hang of it and know what I must do to overcome it. My goal was trying to create different framing situations with the equipment in the gym space, without getting in the other teammates way. I was happy with the fact I was able to get the coach in my photo above.

Located just a few miles down the road after entering Rosebush, lies the McConnell Family Farm. Pat McConnel has been working there for a little over twenty years now, ever since his grandfather passed the role onto him. The farm is made up of 150+ cows of which Pat and his son, Kevin tend for. Their daily duties consist of milking, feeding, and keeping the 140-acres well-tended for.  

Kevin puts in long days at the family farm, usually waking up by 6:00am and returning home as late as 11pm. “I pretty much live at the farm.” One of his jobs at the farm is to help with the birthing process of the cows. These cows are kept in a separate building called the drying room, where the cows about to give birth stay being kept dry by giant fans installed on the walls.  

Pat’s grandchildren absolutely love coming by to help, after school’s over of course. Kevin and his wife, Kayla have three children, Luke (4), Kathryn (3), and Elizabeth (1). Luke is the shyest of the kids but loves to feed the cows and ride on the tractor with his grandpa. “Elizabeth is the livelier of the bunch and isn’t afraid to get dirty”, Kayla says.