Freddy Shnaeblae: A Senior Profile Portrait by Jonathan Olivo (2011)

My character's name is Freddy Shnaeblae. He is a nineteen year old, up coming comedian/DJ that goes to school at NYU. He incorporates his own ''beats''into his comedy act. He has worked at Rasputin Music and the Comedy Shop in order to pay for college. Freddy is a very confident man; in fact some may say he's a bit cocky. He enjoys going to parties and being the center of attention. At most parties he's either the DJ or the comedic entertainment for the night. Freddy has almost no connection with his family in Kansas, which he soon left after he realized there was more to the world than grass and tornadoes. Although Freddy left his Family in Kansas, a part of Kansas never left him. Freddy moved to NY after he got accepted to NYU. When he started at NYU last year, it was difficult for him to make friends. Many people talked about him behind his back, how he looked like a ''red neck''. Freddy eventually found out and resorted to becoming a comedian in order to deal with those who made fun of him. In his act though, Freddy never discusses his roots. He found that his love for hip hop (which wasn't very popular in Kansas) could be incorporated into his act. Freddy replays his jokes over and over again on his DJ set up and has certain music play as he tells jokes. Although Freddy is still an amateur comic, he is becoming one of the most original ones. In the photo I took, I had Frank Grabowski ( who was representing Freddy Shaneblae) wear a NY Yankies hat to show his appreciation of New York. The mic in his hands represents his comedy act and I had him pointing at the audience because he is very confident and likes to get into the audience's face. He is also wearing a farmer's like dress shirt to represent how a part of him never left Kansas. He does not need glasses for his eyesight, he just wears them because there in style. In fact, his glasses don't even have lenses. He hopes that he will look ''cool'' and less ''Kansas'' like, due to his background insecurities. I chose to have a plain, black backdrop to make it seem like he's doing stand up in the picture. I wanted it to represent a snapshot like image of Freddy in his natural stand up form. I also made the background directly behind him lighter than other parts. I did this to represent a stage light that was directly on him, since Freddy likes to be the center of attention and loves doing stand up. Freddy is also wearing a dinosaur shirt to represent his comedic and fun side. The dinosaur has no real significance other than to show Freddy's randomness and less serious side of his comedy act.