Portrait Project: Erin

I have always wanted to take a portrait of strangers  ever since my #DS106 class in the Spring of 2011. 

I myself was asked by Tom Woodward to have my portrait taken 2 years ago. I had just met him for the first time, and after a really nice conversation he asked if he could take my photo. I am terrible at smiling for photos [I always give a fake smile], but this was for #DS106 and for art so I decided what the hell! Game on.

But I never have attempted to ask strangers if I could take their photo. This, in large part, is due to the fact I only had a point and shoot for the past couple of years. It would be weird to rock up to a stranger and ask to take their photo with just a point and shoot camera. However,  if I had a DSLR/ more professional looking camera that would be a different story entirely!

This January I finally decided it was well past the time to get myself a good camera. With the help of a photographer friend, I bought a Canon Eos 650D.

My new baby

Although I have had this camera for two months, I’ve hardly had the time to play around with it. I decided I needed someone to model for me as I adjusted the settings. I managed to convince my friend Erin to be my model and we had a photo shoot along the river. Out of all the photos I took that day this is my favorite:

 

Red hair, not blonde

I love Erin’s face in this shot. She seems so carefree and happy. I also love the contrast of her beautiful red hair with the blue sky and the water.

In Korea, people are unused to seeing red hair. People tell her all the time: “You have blonde hair!”

This makes me laugh because if you compare my current blonde shade to Erin’s hair you have to wonder if the Koreans are colorblind! Or maybe it is just they  can’t think of the right word to say…..

My photo shoot with Erin marked my first step into Portrait Photography. I need to keep playing with my camera to find the perfect setting, but I think I am almost ready to take it to the next level and start asking strangers if I can take their photo.

However, I am worried how this will work with the language barrier. I need to learn some handy phrases in Korean that basically say the following :”I am doing an art project! Can I take your photo?” and then show them the link to my blog.

Actually, there is one person I already have in mind for this project. He is the security guard at my school and I see him every morning and every afternoon.

He never talks to me other than saying “Hi! how are you?!” but his big smile and enthusiasm at seeing me makes my day! I want to share his big smile with the rest of the world!

 

Day 78: A Stranger’s Backstory

Day 78’s assignment was: “Make up a name and write a backstory for a stranger you see today. Bonus: Create something based on what you’ve made up and give it to them.”

Sometimes I meet the most interesting people at my retail job. Such as Suzana from Croatia. This is her story.* Continue reading

You are my fave ;)

When I found out I had to do a write up of the favorite things I’ve seen from #ds106 the past six weeks, I was stumped.

I’ve seen so many really awesome photos, gifs, videos, blog posts, posters, etc. from most everyone in class so to pick my top few is really hard.  Especially since I’ve seen a lot of really good blog posts about what people liked which has shown me more things to like. 😀

So below is just a scant list of people who have created things that has impressed me/ made me jealous and/or laugh and smile (if you aren’t are on here and I haven’t commented on your stuff before, give me a shoutout because I want to see your awesome work!)

Megan Mc! This girl is on fya with getting assignments done for #ds106.  She’s actually my “pseudo-rival” for the class in terms of getting stuff done. The nerd valentine’s she’s done makes me laugh, especially this one:

You are the one

and I really love this Big Caption by her:

Muhaha

Erin has also been blogging a lot and creating some really good memorable stuff, like her story about the traumatizing effects of a swarm of mosquitoes. I also think it’s awesome she started a story for others to add on too, great group collaboration!

I really love Andrew’s introduction story about his favorite color (follow the masses!) and also think that he created a really cool DS106 Trailer song.

Colleen created one of the best Big Captions ever when she used this photo:

Kiiiilll youuuu

Be scared

Jordan made me laugh with her fruit mobile glog and her Big Captions too, like this one:

Get out!!

Leave.

I really like Tom Woodward’s Stranger Portrait series because it takes a lot of guts to ask a stranger if you can take a photo of them:

Tim Owen’s old school book cover for Harry Potter is pretty legit too:

Finally, to end my post I would like to say how awesome it was for  Noise Professor  to create this picture; Makes me laugh out loud every time I see it!

Peace my child