Alexis Stern Portfolio

Option 1-I would like to take portraits for my final photographs. I have not done many portraits this semester that I was proud of, so I would really like to make up for that. I have taken really nice staged and dramatic portraits in the past, especially in high school. The majority of portraits I took this semester were of young children, so I am thinking about experimenting with teenagers or people my age. I think it would be very enjoyable to photograph my friends, especially since many of them were excited about the possibility of modeling for me. One book I found in the library, but decided against doing at the time because I was more inexperienced with taking black and white architecture photos, was a collection of Annie Lebovitz photography. Her photos were very staged, and a combination of black and white and color. I want to keep my photos mostly staged and some model-like. I am also thinking about doing my photos mainly in black and white, since I really liked how my black and white architecture photos came out. I do want to experiment with some color photography, since I have had success with color portraits in the past. It may be challenging to schedule models, try not to make the photos too similar, and think of interesting places and poses to photograph, but I feel that this portrait photography will be very good practice for the magazine photography I will need to do next semester.

Option 2- I was intrigued by seeing some macro photography, in class and on my own time, so I am also considering doing this for my final photographs. I think close up photos are very interesting, because they show a lot of unexpected detail that you may not usually notice. I think I could have a wide array of options of things I could photograph, however it may be challenging to think of things to photograph ahead of time, so I think walking around with a camera and photographing things I come across will be a better plan. Although I do not have a macro lens, I think it will be interesting to try to mimic the macro effect with my lens. I am thinking about photographing every day objects you may not realize have interesting detail, nature, and possibly the human body.