Eisenhower Students - Group Portrait

This is a portrait of the students in my 7th-grade digital imaging class. I took the photo in the new addition to our school. The students are holding the cameras we use in class. Our cycle ends in two weeks on December 21, 2007, just before our winter break. In January, when school re-opens, I will have a new group of students. Over the next two weeks the students in this class will be posting portraits and responding to the images posted.
Mr. Olejarz

Self-portrait by Daniel [RYSS]

"There is a light on my shirt, and it makes the letters and picture ... me inside the mirror ... stand out. There is a little bit of light on the Virgin de Guadalupe, which shows that I'm a Mexican. By looking at the picture (me), you can tell that I'm on my school's robotics team. I use a reflection so you are able to see more in the picture. You are able to see what's behind me, and it adds a little more interest."

Daniel
8th Grade
Raul Yzaguirre School For Success [RYSS]
Houston, TX

Self-portrait by Daniel [RYSS]

"I took this picture because it has a mirror, and you are able to see the back of me. So, you can see the front and back of me at the same time. I'm really concentrating on the camera. It has a lot of light because of the flash. I like the picture of the flowers in the mirror. It adds a little bit of nature. I use a reflection so you are able to see more in the picture. You are able to see what's behind me, and it adds a little more interest."

Daniel
8th Grade
Raul Yzaguirre School For Success [RYSS]
Houston, TX

Self-portrait by Christian [RYSS]

"I took this picture of myself in front of my brother's flag and gun. This picture interests me because it is a picture of me and a little bit of me. In the back is the Mexican flag which symbolizes my Mexican culture and who I am ... all me! You also see an old school gun which also symbolizes me because I like old school things like guns, music and cars. And finally, you see me throwing up or making a sign with my hands and fingers which represents El Serro De La Silla, a mountain in Mexico that I love."

Christian
8th Grade
Raul Yzaguirre School For Success [RYSS]
Houston, TX

Self-portrait by Christian [RYSS]

"In this picture, you see a part of me and things about me. This shows my feeling of the control I have with video games. I like video games. And my feet in the picture show how silly I am. On my arm, you see a pink bracelet that my girlfriend gave to me. This bracelet means the world to me just because she gave it to me."

Christian
8th Grade
Raul Yzaguirre School For Success [RYSS]
Houston, TX

Self-portrait by Christian [RYSS]

"This picture shows my hand in the mirror throwing up or making a sign of my hometown, Houston. And the real and reflected me symbolize that I have two sides."

Christian
8th Grade
Raul Yzaguirre School For Success [RYSS]
Houston, TX

Self-portrait by Edgar [RYSS]

"This is my brother's truck, and you can see my shadow on the hood. I hang out with my brother and his friends all of the time. We're very close."

Edgar
8th Grade
Raul Yzaguirre School For Success [RYSS]
Houston, TX

Self-portrait by Edgar [RYSS]

"I was sitting down when I took this picture from the side. You can only see half of my face. I'm on the front porch of my house, and my mother is inside decorating the Christmas tree. I like the reflection of the tree and sky in the window behind me. I'm wearing a "Scarface" T-shirt."

Edgar
8th Grade
Raul Yzaguirre School For Success [RYSS]
Houston, TX

Self-portrait by Elizabeth [RYSS]

"This picture I took represents who I am. In the picture, I'm at my house. As you can see in the background, there is a frame with a 3-D Virgin Mary. The Virgin Mary represents my beliefs and culture. On the right top of the picture, there is a carved frame of Jesus sitting at the table and eating with his disciples. Finally about me. I had come from school and the picture shows how I felt once I got home. I was happy, but kind of mad because I wanted to stay at school with my friends. All I want to do is be free with no worries."

Elizabeth
8th Grade
Raul Yzaguirre School For Success [RYSS]
Houston, TX

Self-portrait by Ana [RYSS]

"When I look at this picture, I see trees, a truck, ice, a glove, the street and other details in the background and surroundings. I see life, nature and technology. The most important thing in the picture is the glove with ice on it ... me. I get a happy feeling from this picture because there's ice everywhere. It reminds me of a mystery case when there's a clue or something, and they wipe something off, and it stays on their gloves. It looks cold, but there's also a warm feeling because of the glove."

Ana
7th Grade
Raul Yzaguirre School For Success [RYSS]
Houston, TX

Self-portrait by Salvador [RYSS]

"This is me in my living room. I feel happy because I like taking pictures of myself. I think a good title for this picture is, "My Life". I want to show my feelings through my pictures."

Salvador
8th Grade
Raul Yzaguirre School For Success [RYSS]
Houston, TX

Self-portrait by Salvador [RYSS]

"This is me jumping. I like jumping and taking pictures at the same time. I'm happy because I want to show you one of my hobbies ... jumping. I like to jump, and I like the "D-generation" logo on my shirt. You can see family photos behind me."

Salvador
8th Grade
Raul Yzaguirre School For Success [RYSS]
Houston, TX

Self-portrait by Kevin [RYSS]

"I took this picture because I wanted to show that the Astros are my favorite baseball team. I thought it would be interesting trying to figure out why I was looking down. I took this picture from the front, and I really like the way it came out. I like the light because of the different colors and the shadow from my cap. You can also see the texture of the cap. The picture has a blueish color."

Kevin
8th Grade
Raul Yzaguirre School For Success [RYSS]
Houston, TX

Self-portrait by Kevin [RYSS]

"I took this picture from the bottom. You can see part of my room. I like this picture because of the shadow from my cap. The shadow makes the picture look different by adding different colors. I also like the angle because you can see the underside of my cap and part of my outfit."

Kevin
8th Grade
Raul Yzaguirre School For Success [RYSS]
Houston, TX

Self-portrait by Cathy [RYSS]

"I see a car, me, my car, trees and electrical lines. The sun is setting. My purpose in this picture is to show the motion out on the freeway and me inside my car."

Cathy
7th Grade
Raul Yzaguirre School For Success [RYSS]
Houston, TX

Self-portrait by Cathy [RYSS]

"I see shoes and concrete. When I look down, I see expensive stuff. I'm showing off my shoes with the diamonds. Diamonds are shiny, and I love them. I feel happy and sad."

Cathy
7th Grade
Raul Yzaguirre School For Success [RYSS]
Houston, TX

Self-portrait by Cathy [RYSS]

"I see me, my car, seat and light. There's a sadness that has come over me. I feel blue until I arrive at school."

Cathy
7th Grade
Raul Yzaguirre School For Success [RYSS]
Houston, TX

Self-portraiture

The first project for the collaboration between the three USA schools will be self-portraiture using prescribed LTP guidelines ... a four step process for reading and responding to photographs. Students will be encouraged to "read" the photo using the kind of vivid, descriptive words they would find in a written story.

Students have been sensitized to self-portraits by viewing numerous examples and beginning to make comments. They will be handed cameras for a two-day period to experiment with this process. They will then write ... via LTP guidelines ... about their images. Students from all three schools will exchange comments about each other's images.

A fine article, Exploration of Self by Jeanne Ivy can be read at:

http://userpages.umbc.edu/~ivy/selfportrait/

Tom R. Chambers
Teacher, Technology Applications
Advisor, Photo Projects/Digital Art, After School Programming
Junior School
Raul Yzaguirre School For Success