Friday, April 24, 2009

Katie @ EMS

This image is called Flower Tower. It is straight photography, but I adjusted the lighting in order to enhance the picture. This made the picture better by creating more contrast between the sky, trees, and flowers. I chose this picture as my favorite because I thought the edges around the flower looked interesting, and received the best effect from the lighting adjustment.

Katie

Julieanne@ EMS

I think this is my best photo because I really ‘captured the moment’. In the background, there is a whale tail, and this was what all of Alaska looked like. There are mountains (behind the whale), beautiful flowers, trees, stone, and rocks, all these nature products are pictured in this picture. Also the colors vary and there is a lot of prospective, from the flowers to the big rock, to the water, the mountains, and the mountains behind the mountains. When I took this picture my grandma (artist) told me this was going to be an award-winning picture. The picture includes all the colors of nature, green, blue, brown, purple, and grey. This picture also shows shadows because I took this picture around 1:30 so there would be a little shadow (a shadow is present because of the tree branch is hanging over the rock).
Julieanne

Allison @ EMS

I think this is my best manipulated image that I have completed during the cycle of this class. I like this image for various reasons. First, I liked how I took all of the pictures myself, including the plane wing. I learning a lot about enhancing the picture because the only way I was able to get the picture of the plane wing was out of a window. The window fogged up the image so I learned how to fix it. Another reason why I liked this image was because I enjoyed taking the pictures of the people. They got to pick their own poses and it represents who they truly are. Once my family and I were getting a picture taken and I had to stand on two wooden blocks. The photographer said to me, “Pictures lie.” That is another one of the things I learned with this project. I had to make simple pictures into something nonrealistic. That is why I named the picture “Realistic?” I especially enjoyed the lighting in this image. The bottom of the picture is very light and the top of the picture is darker. Manipulated photography was one of my favorite projects, too! These are just some of the reasons that I liked this image the best.
Allison

Katelyn @ EMS

I think this is the best picture I’ve created in this class. I think this because the idea behind it is very interesting and unique. The picture may look manipulated, but it is straight photography. Most people don’t believe me when I say this though. All that I did to take this picture was, I used the reflection of my feet walking in the window. The reason that my feet are really dark and the rest of the picture is light, is because the sunlight is casting a shadow through the window and my feet are the shadow in the picture. The background is just an empty courtyard with rocks and that’s what gives the picture such a good effect. This is my favorite picture because it is one of the coolest to look at from my point of view. My eye travels easily through this whole picture because there is a good amount of color contrast throughout the picture and there is a lot going on which is good.
Katelyn

Harry @ EMS

I think this is my best photograph. I think this because it has two of my best friends in it. Also it has some of Eisenhower’s mottos and best phrases such as . . . . . . . Believe, Achieve, and Succeed. Lastly it has a great message not just to us, but also for the children of the future!!!
“Eisenhower is Drug Free!!!!”

By: Harry

Christian @ EMS

In my best photo I made it look awesome. First I colored one of the pictures to make it look the way it does. I just colored all the different components of the person. Then I doubled the canvas size and then copied the picture. Lastly I rotated one of the pictures. To make it look like the person is back to back with himself.

Christian

JP @ EMS

This is my best photograph because I used some great layer styles and effects. In this picture, I made short lines on top of a photo. Then, I added a layer style. This created an interesting photo. Also, the topic is pretty interesting. The background is also eye-opening. To make the background, I used a “special effects” brush. Ultimately, I believe this is a great photo because it has many great elements.
JP

John @ EMS

This was my best picture by far. I used a picture of a basketball hoop that I took a while back but I gave it a twist. I found a basic picture of a scoreboard and painted over it to make it look like it was the end of a basketball game. I found a picture of a basketball and pasted it in. I made a trail of stars behind it to make it look like it was going towards the hoop. Then I painted the edges of the hoop red like a hoop in a real basketball game. That’s why I called it “Buzzer Beater”.
John

Instructors and LTP

Instructors:

Harold Olejarz is Art and Technology teacher at Eisenhower Middle School, Wyckoff, New Jersey, U.S.A. He began his career as a sculptor and exhibited in Soho, NYC, in the early 1980s. His work evolved into Performance Art and his living sculptures installed themselves in museums and public spaces in the US and Europe from 1985 to the early 1990s. He has been exploring digital media as both an artist and an educator since 1997. “Capturing the Moving Present,” an essay by Harold Olejarz, is included in Video Art for the Classroom, a National Art Education Association publication. Olejarz has made presentations on the use of digital media at state and national educational conferences.

Tom Chambers is Technology Applications teacher at Raul Yzaguirre School For Success [Junior Academy], Houston, Texas, U.S.A. He was Visiting Lecturer in Digital/New Media Art for the Fine Arts Department at Zhaoqing University, Zhaoqing, China, 2005-2007. He was Executive Committee Member and Juror (2003 - 2005) for the International Digital Art Awards (IDAA), and was instrumental in expanding the content of the IDAA to include New Media Art, and served as on-line New Media Director (2004 - 2005). Chambers has been a documentary photographer and visual artist for over thirty years, and he is currently working with the pixel as Minimal Art (Pixelscapes) which begins to approach a true, abstract, visual language in Digital Art.

Tanya Heard is Art/Photo teacher at T. H. Rogers School, Houston, Texas.

2007 - 2008 school year participant:

Dorian Gillespie is Art teacher at Southmore Intermediate School in Pasadena Texas. Prior to coming to Southmore, he taught at Bailey Elementary. He decided to teach and mentor students in the arts in order to give them an opportunity to learn and advise them of the many career choices an artist has. Although he did not teach art at Bailey, he was able to incorporate many art lessons into the curriculum. He has taught after school art classes for the University of Houston Clear Lake as well. Rather than become a professional artist, he decided to mentor as a teacher.

This blog was a part of the FotoFest LTP process:

2007 - 2008
2008 - 2009
2009 - 2010

Literacy Through Photography (LTP), the educational component of FotoFest International (Houston, Texas), is a writing program designed to help classroom students achieve better communication skills through the use of digital or film-based photography.

FotoFest has combined with the instructors and schools to pursue a pilot program ... blog approach ... for LTP.

Students increase visual and verbal literacy while building cognitive thinking skills, self-esteem, and awareness of each other. The LTP curriculum provides students with meaningful subject matter to help them write about their own photographs, their own lives, with confidence.

This blog, founded by Harold Olejarz and Tom R. Chambers continues to be a significant tool to help students with their written expression.