Final Portrait Series

Life Beyond ROTC

ROTC consumes the life of young college students at the University of Missouri, but personality and passions lie beyond the uniform and the discipline.

In this project, student members of the Air Force ROTC showcase their hobbies and passions. This portrait series uncovers the lives of those who have committed their time to serve their country.

This project aims to defy the stereotypes of people in uniform as bland, single personality, people and show that they are students who enjoy sports, travel, and filling their time with loved ones. 

Brianne Caldwell

Brianne Caldwell is a senior studying Civil Engineering and strives to be a helicopter pilot, part of aircraft maintenance, or be a member of security forces after graduation. Caldwell also has a passion for the Cubs. This flag is one of her 200 item collection of Cubs memorabilia. She says she loves how the flag shows her love for the military and for the Cubs.

Kris Long

Kris Long is a senior majoring in Mechanical Engineering. Long is also the president of the Baptist Student Union, a Christian campus organization. Long has been dating his fiancée, Kayla Goth, for four years and four months. They got engaged last year and are getting married Jan. 13, 2017.

Teddi Moorman

Teddi Moorman is studying Russian and International Studies. She will be going to McChord, an Air Force base in Seattle, after graduation. Moorman loves to travel and has been to about 17 different countries. She studied abroad in Kazakhstan and developed her Russian. Moorman would like to visit Alaska someday as well as go back to Switzerland and Kazakhstan.

Emma Vickers

Emma Vickers is a senior double majoring in Russian and Psychology. After college she will be working as an OSI agent investigating felonies and other charges. She has had a passion for track since 5th grade and started to dedicate most of her time to track her senior year of high school. Vickers is now the captain of the track team at Mizzou. 

Lighting Diagram

Analysis: This was a very fun project! I enjoyed this one the most I think because everything seemed to work out. I got all my people scheduled for the right day when they were all in uniform and my equipment worked! I only had one shot and I pulled it off. I liked this cross lighting because it lit them pretty equally while the background was dark. I like that look of being in a studio but being outdoors. The locations worked out very well too. I got a track in the background along with the flag from Crowder Hall was a nice touch. Everyone remembered their item and I was just amazed that my final project came together so quickly. 

Blending and Color Correction

Color corrected in Photoshop

Color corrected with gels

Alex Ragsdale (right) and Louie Hendricks work with the soundboard and computer during band practice at the BSU (Baptist Student Union) Dec. 1, 2016. The BSU hosts a Christian worship night every Thursday at 8 p.m. 

Original on daylight setting (not corrected)

Analysis: 

This project had a pretty easy concept. My hardest task was finding a situation that would work where I could try out many different gels and my subjects would be in a good (ugly) indoor lighting. My first images turned out way too blue so I tried different shades of orange gels. Once I got the right gel, I just bracketed the flash to light the scene correctly. I think the final image looks really nice and would be a great feature for a magazine. 

Lighting Diagram

Multiple Flash

Analysis: This project was frustrating from start to finish...

     Nana and I had a plan to take pictures of Ultimate Frisbee (glow in the dark) but last minute that plan was ruined. The team that was playing lost their glow in the dark Frisbee and ended up playing on Stankowski field which has very bright lights. To overpower the lights we had to get subjects very close to the camera to get the flash on them. It was impossible to get close enough. I did get one good shot of a guy running the track. I had one frame of him and he left right after. I have no idea who he is!

     We went downtown and found two girls fundraising. The problem with this was getting enough light on them without producing horribly distracting shadows on the background. For Nana's picture we turned them around but there was no natural light coming in so we had to flash the ground behind them to try to get enough light. Overall my photo turned out dark even though it looked fine on the LCD. I wish I could have turned in the photo of the guy running. 

This was my favorite take but he left before I got caption information. Very disappointing!

Another take I liked

Final Submission

Summer Thomas (middle) and Maggie Resor (right) collect money for Chi-Alpha, a campus ministry who donates to a fund called "Feed One." $10 can feed one child for a month in a foreign country. These donations will most likely go to Haiti. Chi-Alpha takes a trip to Haiti every year to see where their money goes and to help build a school for the local children. November is Chi-Alpha's month for fundraising and they ask people to go online and donate at http://www.mizzouxa.com/feedone-donation/.

Lighting Diagram

Interview

Nate Brown from Amy Blevins on Vimeo.

Fill and Balance Flash

Steven Sapp (bottom), owner of Strawberry Hill Farms, and Doug Hurt put new plastic on nursery greenhouses Thursday October 27, 2016. Strawberry Hill Farms generally changes their plastic every four years. They have custom made wooden greenhouses designed by the founder of Strawberry Hill, Gary Sapp. It takes two rolls of plastic (approximately 60x100 feet each) to cover one greenhouse. They have a total of 24 greenhouses and have been open since 1980. 

Analysis: The struggle with this assignment was when shooting in full sun the flash needs to be on full power and it takes a long time to recharge in between shoots. Sometimes my flash didn’t fire so I had to wait for the perfect shot and then get one picture. Another issue was I was so far below the subject and I had to get really close to their equipment to get a good shot. I like how my final select came out and I think if I would have had more time I could have found something to stand on or used a ladder to get some other angles. 

Metal

The Oxford Dictionaries' word of the year was "selfie" in 2013. According to PewResearch.com, cell phone ownership increased to 91% of adults in 2013 making it even easier to take a picture of oneself. Even though pictures like these were taken before 2013, "suddenly, everybody around the world was using the word, as they self-snapped away," CNN says. With over 57 millin photos bearing the #selfie on instagram even though this term is 3 years old its use has continued throughout many social media platforms. 

Lighting Diagram

Analysis: This project was very challenging because of the amount of reflections in round metal objects. My first attempt at the project was on a chrome piggy bank. Even when switching to the selfie concept the area of angles seen by the metal was difficult to cover. I used a big tent of white to reflect light from all angles. The most difficult part was getting the tent smooth enough so wrinkles would not show up in the reflection. Overall I think the concept is easily understood and even though it took a long time to build the tent the results were very nice. 

Single Flash

Direct Flash

Rebecca Golden digs in her bag during an early morning study session, October 10, 2016. Golden is a Mizzou sophomore who loves cows. Golden says her apartment is full of cow decorations including pillows, blankets, bowls, silverware and more. Golden plans to dress up as a cow for Halloween this year. 

Bounce Flash

Bounce Flash

Rebecca golden studies her psychology textbook before class. Golden transferred from Kansas University to Mizzou this fall and is now a sophomore studying Communication Science Disorders. She says going to KU was a big mistake because she didn't make any new friends there but here she is thriving and finding her true self. 

Analysis:

I met Rebecca a few days ago and found her very interesting because of her abundance of cow stuff. I went to her house and photographed her with her cow stuffed animals etc. but then soon realized we were supposed to be shooting candid pictures. AHH! The pictures I had taken I thought were journalistic because her being surrounded by cow trinkets was visually appealing and catches readers interests. I was very disappointed that it needed to be that person in their daily lives. I decided to photograph her reading because she loves to read but at this point in the semester she is mostly reading textbooks which is why she is studying in the bounce flash shot. The other photo I wanted to capture something "cow" so I had her backpack in the shot while she was studying outside the coffee shop. I dislike the first photo because it is direct flash and looks ugly and harsh on her. I prefer the bounce flash which is more natural and comes from above. One of the most challenging things was the direct flash because it looks very unnatural and produces ugly shadows. 

Classmate Project

Nana Nashkidashvili

Nana Nashkidashvili laughs from the embarrassment of getting her pictures taken. She is used to being behind the camera as a investigative documentary journalist. As a journalist, she has traveled to many countries and says she advises others to travel as well. "Traveling the world is the best thing you can do with your life," Nashkidashvili said.

Lighting Diagram

Nana Naskidashvili is a graduate student at the University of Missouri studying Investigative Journalism. Originally from Georgia, Naskidashvili has worked on investigative documentaries and has traveled to many countries including Latvia, Ukraine and Turkey. In the United States she has had the opportunity to intern at News Week in New York and is now attending graduate school. Naskidashvili loves big cities and was worried about coming to Missouri because it is smaller than she is used to. However, she says she has enjoyed the time she has spent here.

Lighting Diagram

Processes:
I chose a 45 degree soft-box for the one light setup. I chose this because I wanted to give some definition to her face instead of using front model lighting. It was challenging with one light to make sure some light fell on the other side of her face. I didn't want her to look like she had half of a face because the lighting was less for effect. I wanted to capture her and she is not creepy or mysterious. One light can make some shadows that appear creepy so I tried to avoid this with the 45 degree light. I think this photo was successful because it captures her in a natural state. There is less posing and more of just her presence and how she would normally stand. 

For the multi-light setup, I chose a 45 degree light, a reflector at 45 degrees, a rim light on the ground and a hair light on the boom.  It was challenging to make the lights set at the right stops on the Speedotron because I don't fully understand it yet. I also got some halation from the hair light at first because it was facing the camera too much. I put the hair light more directly above the subject to fix this. I think this photo is successful because it captures Nana's fun side. She is adventurous and has traveled the world and I think this photo displays her personality well. 

I learned that lights can be stubborn and equipment doesn't always work as planned. Sometimes it takes hours in the studio before you get equipment running smoothly.

Copy Table

Studio Copy Table Project

My first photo is taken from the book "Testimony" by Gillian Laub

"We're here with my platoon at a memorial ceremony for our friends. Adi Avitan, Benny Avraham, and Omar Suad were kidnapped exactly one year ago. The ceremony is so we can call out to them in Lebanon, letting them know they have parents, friends, and many other people waiting for them at home. Hopefully one day they'll come back into the arms of those who love them. We must keep this hope for their safe return. Sometimes soldiers are kidnapped, and everyday soldiers die for the cause of peace and security in Israel. Like they say in the song: 'I have no other country even if my land is burning. I will not stop crying out because my country has changed its face. Only a prayer in Hebrew penetrates my veins and my soul. With a pained body, with a hungry heart, here is my home.'" -Testimony (Photographer Gillian Laub)

Tiberias October 2002

 My second photo is taken from "Diagram of the Heart" by Glenna Gordon

"Henna Hands, open and closed. Ready for marriage." -Diagram of the Heart

Lighting Setup

These photographs were photographed on a copy table with four lights and two diffusers. The camera was placed overhead. Glass was placed over the image to keep it flat.

Lighting: I started with the lights at a 45 degree angle but there was a glare reflecting off the glass so I pushed the lights down to about a 65 degree angle. The diffusers were used to disperse the light to cover the whole image.

Challenges: Using glass is difficult because of its reflections. Not only were lights reflecting but my reflection was also seen. The camera settings were also difficult because I didn't realize my camera went by 1/3 stops instead of 1/2 stops. After figuring this out I was able to adjust settings. 

Successes: I was able to easily change the white balance. I figured out the easiest way to adjust the stops was by shutter speed since I needed to perform less than a full stop. After adjusting the lighting and camera settings it was easy to snap pictures to test white balance and bracketing. 

What I learned: Lighting with glass is very hard. There are reflections and dust that collects on the glass which will show up in images. After spending a long time in the studio I also learned that studio hot lights are indeed hot.