About Me
Born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, Estelle De Zan grew up in a multicultural home, speaking both Spanish and French. She will spend the next few years in Boston majoring in Journalism and minoring in sociology at Northeastern University. She is an avid traveler who loves sharing the stories of people she has met.
Portfolio Presentation
My favorite projects from the past two years are found below by order of importance.
Zenith Project
Second semester senior year the major project we work on at Freestyle is the Zenith. This is an extended project that allows us to focus on building off our interests and curiosities. I hope to follow a career in journalism, which is why I wanted to use this project as an opportunity to familiarize myself with the industry. Because of this I decided to take it upon myself to create a magazine. Along with writing several articles to feature in the final product, I wanted to create the magazine layout on InDesign.
I’ve provided a few sample pages of the the magazine, by the name of Contact, below. The first, my favorite by far, is the cover story. Analyzing the recent emergence of marching that has followed Donald Trump’s presidency, this feature also includes two photo essays, one that I created, another that I worked on with a friend.
March Culture// March For Me (cover story)
The full length article is found by following this link.
Freddie// Vanishing
These pages make up Contact‘s literature section. The first, Freddie, is a poem I wrote based off a story I read about a woman who belonged to the resistance during World War II. The second poem is a poem a friend of mine wrote about House on Mango Street.
The full length article is found by following this link.
Liberal Snowflakes
This article, one belonging to Contact‘s politics section, explores the term ‘liberal snowflakes.’ A term that has amassed popularity as of late, look into its history and how to embrace it.
The full length piece is found by following this link.
Surrealism
First semester senior year, I worked on creating a surrealist piece using Photoshop for my Design class. Using a combination of skills I had previously accumulated and tutorials I found online, the multimedia photograph below came to be.
No Ideas Too Wild or Dreams Too Big
Inspired by the fearless innocence in my favorite childhood story Where the Wild Things Are, I took the opportunity to create this piece as an ode to childlike innocence and naivety. Following a call that beckons him to adventure, the little boy represents the sense of boundless imagination we’ve all experienced in the past, a wonder that dissipates with age. The overarching message of this image serves as a reminder for me to retain my sense of wonder while facing quickly approaching adulthood.
Documentary
Every project we’ve worked on at Freestyle has been challenging in some way, shape, or form. Because you work on them for months at a time, they’re not something you can finish in one sitting. For the documentary unit, on top of writing an article and designing a layout on InDesign, I had to work with a partner to create a profile documentary in the form of a short film. Such collaboration meant that I had to let go of the fact that I couldn’t control everything. If I wanted to interview someone, I would be able to decide what questions were asked and in what order, but I wouldn’t be able to control the cameras, what positions they were in and how to move them. Thus, I learned the art of dedication all the while overcoming the simple challenge of letting go.
For this project I decided to profile Hope’s Corner, a soup kitchen in downtown Mountain View. I did so by volunteering there for a number of months, interacting with its clients, and interviewing people that either volunteered there or used their facilities.
At the Corner of Hope and Mercy
The full length piece is found by following this link.
The full length documentary is found below: