Hydrophobia (photoshop final)

Today we had a photoshop final and had to create a new image using 3 images from the sample folder. We had to use specific skills such as feathering, filters, drop shadow, text, etc.

Documentaries

Taking a Risk

Parental Dilemma

Tell Me Something Good – The Rocket Summer

T-Shirt Design

We Are MD Photos

San Francisco State University

Our fieldtrip to SF State was very enlightening. I got a real taste of the campus lifestyle and I was impressed. As we walked around, we saw a multitude of diversity. Students were Asian, Filipino, White, Black, Latino, and everything in between. They all dressed nice like you would see in some type of fashion magazine, especially the Asians. I also noticed that the people on campus weren’t at all cliquey, but rather doing their own thing. The most I’ve seen were groups of three or four, and they were mostly people of the same race. In the Student Center, we’ve seen the college students in action. Many Asians were playing video games, playing some type of card game like Yugioh (I think), or playing pool. At one section of the building, there were a couple of guys setting up DJ equipment. I was thinking to myself that even in college, you find your group of friends based on your race and interests.

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Going to SF State had my mind exploding with ideas of how the next couple of years of my life will be spent in college. I pictured myself in a lecture room taking notes, walking around campus, dressing like the girls I saw, and trying all the foods on campus. Going on the tours made me want to explore more colleges so that I can gain a better understanding of the college life and have a better idea of which school I would like to attend. The colleges that I have in mind are Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Sac State, Cal Baptist University, and SF state. (Possibly somewhere in Socal too). Since I am interested in majoring in Graphic Communications, Randy suggested that I look at all the State Universities. I’ve done my research and the college visit bumped SFSU higher on my list. Hopefully I can visit the other CSU’s so that I can make a set decision.

You were not alone

I don’t usually blog about my feelings, but today I felt my heart ache in a way it has never ached before. Right when Randy walked into the room, followed by the rest of the DSA Juniors, I knew something wasn’t right. I was getting a negative vibe from the atmosphere around us. Everone silent, anticipating Randy’s words: “There’s no way to sugar-coat this, but Crispus commited suicide”. At that instant, I was in dis-belief, as if I were a part of some movie. I didn’t know how to react, but once I saw Enki and Jazmine cry, my heart just sank into my stomach. I had never experienced the death of a friend before…but to see all of the academy supporting one another, hugging and crying, I knew that this was real. I felt warm, like somehow, Crispus’ death has brought DSA c/o 11 closer as a family.

We went outside to have a prayer circle. Leylani’s words always lifts my soul. She made me think about Cris’ family, and how they were grieving harder than we were, how we need to learn from this experience and help each other out when it seems as though they aren’t well, but most importantly, how THIS could have been ME. All these people crying and showing love for Cris and one another. That question “what if I was dead?” has been answered. I made an impact in the academy I’m in as well as around school. I contemplated suicide. But now I know where it leads to. It would be a selfish thing to end my suffering only to have 100’s of others take that pain.

Then we heard Crispus’ IDentity for the first time. Just the title alone was enough to shatter my heart into pieces: “Be Alone”. We heard his voice and the words he rapped were a message to us. A message that he needed some love, some support. Why couldn’t we see that? Why couldn’t we see past his smile and know that he was experiencing pain? DSA is a family. Today we showed mad love for each other, but why didn’t he feel it? I can’t help but feel guilty for not getting to know Cris. I wish I said more than a simple wussup or one of my stupid jokes and compliments.

I hold those few memories of him close to my chest now. His stunningly white smile, his kenya shirt, his african accent. The way he shied away whenever I asked him about his girlfriend. The poems he wrote in english. the “bang bang bang” or his rather disturbing display name “Tickle a girl’s navel from the inside”. The way he flipped his pencil without looking, or how fast he ran when we played big green ball. It’s the little things about a person that makes you cherish the friendship you had with them.

Lesson learned. Death is inevitable. Life is short. We gotta show love. Rest in Mars Crispus. I hope you know that you were not alone, and I hope that you’re still smiling.

IDentity Reflection

The Identity Project was an awe-inspiring experience from beginning to end. I knew about this project since freshmen year because my brother was a Junior at the time and I helped him with his video. During the summer, I tried to write a song but when we came back to school, I changed and the lyrics about myself were no longer true. Thinking about who I was was one of the hardest things I had to do, especially for a school project. I would lag on writing my monologue because I didn’t want to be frustrated. Finally I came up with my slam poetry.

When it came to making the video, I was stressed out to an extent where I just wanted to give up. Since I am advanced in Final Cut Express, I had high expectations on my video. The more I worked on it, the more I was dissatisfied. The quality of the clips weren’t HQ like I hoped, a lot of the shots were shaky. I don’t like my final product, but I had to use it in order to perform. I think that if I had the chance, I would re-do my video.

The showcase was amazing. I was really nervous to perform because I was sick and losing my voice. Prior to my performance, I had gotten into an argument with my parents so I was upset. I channeled that anger into my performance, which made it a lot more dramatic. As I got off stage, I heard the applaud. At that moment I realized that all the hardships, all the hours spent after school, all the practice, all of it paid off. That applaud was so rewarding and one of the best feelings I’ve ever felt before. During intermission, many of my friends said that my slam made them cry. Knowing that I spread God’s message to that many people made me feel accomplished.

Photoessay – Twelve.10

To download my photoessay, click here.

The photoessay was one of my favorite assignments. It allowed me to express myself through photography and typography. We used the program Adobe Indesign in order to create our essays, and I found it a lot more easier than using photoshop. One thing that I found difficult was aligning the pictures with the bleeding lines as well as each other. I would have to scrutinize each picture and get the measurements exact. I also found it difficult to come up with the design of my essay. There are so many possible themes that I could have chosen, and I did not know how to incorporate all of the different themes into one that satisfied my taste. Overall, I am very happy with my final product