Our conceptual project guided us in exploring different types of skills such as poetry, music, and story-writing to discover our personal artistic expression. Throughout the entirety of the project, I was learning various tips and tricks in order to enhance the quality of my work. We were given our very own DSLR camera at the beginning of the year that we were permitted to use for anything. We were also given a Tascam Audio Recorder in Digital Media that we used to record the poems we would write in English. We were given access to softwares such as Adobe Premier Pro, Avd Pro Tools, Adobe After Affects, and Adobe Photoshop. These programs were very elpful in Deign and Digital media. In Digital Media, we learned how to combined a visual with our poem in Photoshop. Throughout this unit, I worked with so many different tools that allowed me to create whatever I wanted. I valued so many aspects of the Conceptual unit. In English, we we given time to recieve feedback from our classmates aout our poems and how we can improve what we already have. I loved to hear the different perspectives of my poem and how they differed from the way I intended it to be or not. That way, I could decide if I liked it better my way or their way, and make adjestments accordingly. It took me time to pick up some skills in Digital Media but I had a lot of fun learning from my friends and it was a great feeling to know that everyone around can, and is willing to help you. The Conceptual unit was almost an introductory unit, and in Design I was able to get a feel for what we would be doing the rest of the year and the programs I would continue to master as the year went on. Overall, this unit was extrordinarily fun for me and it excites me to know that we will be workingly similarly for the rest of my high school experience.

Poetry in Freestyle

I’ve always been excited about poetry, so this unit was especially fun for me. We were given the tasks to write a Haiku, an Ekphrastic poem, and a Free Verse poem. I used my Ekphrastic poem throughout our Conceptual unit because it was the poem I was the most proud of. In Digital Media, we took our poems and started by recording it and recording our artist’s statement. Recording our artist’s statement along with the poem helped me find a deeper connection with the my piece because I was able to present the poem the way I had written it. We were able to use Pro Tools to create a mix of our poem which added the flare of sound to a piece of literature. Finally, using Adobe Photoshop to create a cover for the poem created a serene and clear headspace for the reader to enter as they went over my poem.

Photo Haiku

Our Photo Haiku was the first project introduced to us in our English class. It was our first experience using the Tascam Recorders and our very first time using Premier Pro. All of us worked very hard on this project in Digital Media and none of us knew how simple it really was. After the completion of this project, we had a better idea on the softwares we used and personally I felt ready to do more.

The photo Hiaku was the very first real project we worked on in English, and I had almost eight different Haiku drafts by the end of it. My creativity was allowed to fly through the roof and the project was clay that I could mold into anything I wanted it to be. The video production was something I had never done before, where as writing poetry was something I had a history in. The video production was a great way to add visuals to my poem and I could give feeling to my work.

Elements and Principles of Art

In Digital Media, we spent a couple of days working on an assignment where we had to explore the elements and principles of art. These concepts are some of the most important things to know when working at Freestyle and this assignment prepped us for future projects.

Design Projects

In Design, we worked a lot with our cameras and we dug into Adobe Photoshop. We were assigned to take hundreds of photographs that tested our knowledge of photography in Manual mode. For homework, we would go out and take pictures that correlated with our assignment. Then, we would come into class and immediately make a contact to turn in for a grade. We would then edit them to enhance the quality and choose our favorites to finalize our project.

Conceptual Photo

Artist’s Statement

        I am exploring the feeling of desire through the experience of an accident.

The objects in my photograph consist of an opened box of bandaids laying on top of a torn up bucket list that has been ripped out of its notepad. I took this photo in the morning because lighting after sunrise gives off a very warm and bright tone. The warm lighting hit the objects while still allowing the background to maintain its darkness. Making the background pitch black was initially unintended but it helped to create the surroundings of a memory where there are no external interruptions. The angle is straight above the objects in order to get a full view of the objects and balance the white space in relation to how they exist in the photo. 

The torn up bucket list was used to give the impression of an accident. For instance, the accident could have been missing out on the opportunities to travel the world before the writer turned 40, like they had planned. Bandaids are universally known to heal injuries and patch up scars. In this case the bandaids are being used as a symbol of patching the list back together and the “desire” of renewing the longing to explore the world. Overall the objects portray a sense of sadness but hopefulness to repair a mistake made in the past.

In Design, I’ve already learned many tips to enhance my photos in Photoshop. Specifically, I used curves, brightness, the crop tool, and the spot healing brush tool. Both curves and brightness were used to deepen the shadows of every aspect of the photo and amp up the vibrance of color. I used the crop tool to balance the white space around the objects. Finally, I used the spot healing brush tool to simply get rid of unnecessary spots of dirt or pencil smudges and create a very sleek look. 

Alphabet Name

For the Alphabet Name assignment, we were told to go out into nature and find the letters of our first name. We were told to explore until we found a natural form of our name.

Elements of Art Photo Collage

For this assignment, we were challenged to take photos that captured each of the elements of art. We were then assigned to format a collage that used a balanced amount of negative space with our photos and our titles.