Project 7

Portrait

Date Taken: 11/24/2011

Camera: FUJIFILM FinePix S2550HD

Shutter Speed: 1/13 sec.

F-Stop: f/6.4

ISO: 6400

Focal Length: 5mm

Tripod: yes

My portrait project didn’t consist of myself, but rather my cousin Jeffrey. I spent a fair

amount of time thinking of whom I was going to do a portrait of. Should I do a child, an

elder, a veteran? The list went on and on. Since I can remember I have always been

fascinated with the human body. It amazes me the potential that it is able to reach if we

allow it to. My mother has always told me, “Your body is your temple.” If you treat it

well, meaning exercise and eat healthy (or be blessed with a fast metabolism), this will

show. My cousin is a walking example of this. This photograph was taken in the

basement of my aunt’s house. This was largely because I had this image envisioned in my

head that I wanted to bring to life. In this vision, he would be standing with his head

looking towards the ground with a black backdrop behind him. I wanted to room to be

completely dark with this only light being a small lamp that would not be shown, but

would be shinning on his torso. By doing this I wanted to capture two different aspects:

the definition of his body and the “light” that is ahead of him yet he refuses to see. My

cousin is one of those people that has an immense amount potential yet never strives for

success. He instead, settles for an easier route. If he would simply “lift” his head up, he

would see all of this in front of him. Unfortunately, I had some lighting issues. Looking

back, this is from the very source that caused me problems with my night project, high ISO

settings. I feel that if I had the correct settings, I would have achieved what I had

originally set out to achieve.