Perspective

In this post I want to talk about my issue a little more. As I said before mine is called “Perspective.” I really want the reader to be able to feel my presence in the way I describe my view point on the picture. All my pictures are from my India trip and I took all of them. In my opinion every picture tells a story and conveys a huge message. As a famous quote goes “a picture is worth a thousand words.” Those thousand words is what I want the viewer of the picture to experience. Something I want to discuss in my article is how a picture can mean one thing to the photographer and another thing to the viewer, but overall there is an understood meaning behind it all and gives an opportunity for someone to see something in another light or to see something they wouldn’t normally see. 

Joomag

My group and I planned to meet up on April 1st to use Joomag to create our magazine. We want to use it all together and do it all together so we can make ours look somewhat similar. We want to do that because it is one magazine, with different issues. If we all work together that day it also gives us all an opportunity to be able to bounce ideas off each other, which in my opinion is why we chose to do a group project in the first place. Im not completely sure on how to use Joomag but our teacher sent an account to Camila for us to do.  Joomag is something that helps us to create  our magazine. I think there was a possibility that we needed to pay for a trial of us to use Joomag, but in last class I asked a girl and she said that we get to use it as long as we need once we create the account. 

Cover Page Finalized

Since my last post my group and I decided that we were going to get all our pictures together for the magazine. Sandra had her friend Fabi model for her to take pictures with contrasting makeup and backgrounds. She was going for a very colored theme because thats her issue in the magazine. My issue is called

"Perspective" 

because its all about my pictures taken and why I took them. I will explain what the pictures mean and what I wanted to capture and convey through them. 

Also since the last post I’ve decided to change my cover photo. Im going to use a vertical picture of a local guru walking through the streets sharing his take on religion.

I am going to put a brown-orange solid background because we are all using a solid colored background. I really like this picture because I think it will really capture attention and a curiosity or read and open the magazine. 

Two-Page Spread

I have my topic for my two-page spread but I'm not exactly sure of the angle I'm going to take when approaching it. I have ideas for the pictures I want to use but I don't know how I want to do the article or how structure it in writing and across the pages. I think I'm going to put the picture across the upper part of the two pages and the story below it. The pictures I'm choosing from are all horizontal so that'll work okay.

The story that I want to do is going to focus on what is seen through the picture and what the photographer (me) was meaning to show. The article will be somewhat of a narrative explains the story through my eyes. With my personal experience and the trip I went on, I feel that the two-pay layout will come together nicely. The rest of the article will revolve around the way photos are taken, along with the characteristics that go with it.

Everyone Else

I have my two-spread figured out and have a pretty solid idea of wha I wanna do for it. The bigger problem is that not everyone in the group knows what they wanna do. We have some foggy ideas for how its gonna come out but nothing set in stone. Iggy, a group member, was going to do a feature location but he was going to use some of my pictures from other travels I've had, but then we realized that we should each use our own pictures so it will be more personal. As well as the fact that its easier to talk about each picture and location having been there and actually taken the picture.

My group and I have been looking through names for the magazine and fonts that we could use. We're looking for a sleek and crisp font that is still dominant at the same time. As of now I believe we are leaning towards the title "POLARIZE" The name helps to refer the reader to the idea that the magazine is about photography due to the definition. Its modern and catchy and I really like it! I hope we all end up agreeing on this title because I think its perfect. 

Basis of Magazine

As I said in the last post, we are going with somewhat of a simple TIME magazine look. We still are but we're thinking of using a more personalized approach. We want to use pictures we've taken with a simple colored background such as a solid color. I want to use a picture from my India trip. The pictures really capture what I saw and how I interpreted the atmosphere. Which will then take me into my two-page spread.

My two-page spread is going to be a "behind the photographer" piece. Which means that it will be somewhat of an interview of me. Because I took all the pictures the story will revolve around what I saw and captured. When I took pictures I focused on everyday people and their natural beauty. I took mainly mid-shot/close ups of people faces, with a blurred background to emphasize them as a person.

This is one of the pictures that I think I might use. I love this picture because it captivates the viewer with its innocence of the young girls face. I like the blurred Hindi writing showing the setting and where she is in her everyday life. Im glad that I think I have this figured out, but I have so much more to go with this magazine. 

Finding Background

Now that we all have agreed on a topic and I have specified my feature, it was time to find out more about photography magazines. For starters I searched

"elements of a good photography magazine."

A lot of results popped up but the most helpful one was the PPA (Professional Photographers of America) website. They have 12 important elements they listed. I'm only gonna mention the ones I found helped me the most with this project. "Impact" was an element listed Meaning the layout and the picture used must have a positive and lasting impact at first sight. The image used should evoke the emotion trying to be portrayed. Next was "presentation" saying the presentation affects the overall aspect of things in the sense that it means to give a finished look. Meaning that everything one meant to show and tell is there and easily understood and enjoyed. The third element I found insightful was "creativity" and that explained the creativity has to be original and an expression of imagination through the medium being used to convey a message.

A  photography magazine I really like the look of is the National Geographic magazine. It has a very clean, sleek design and can be recognized very easily. Its covers are very catching and make you want to read more. I'll put some pictures below to show you. 

                  

The cover on the left shows two girls from a culture very different than the western way of life, swinging on what appears to be a swing outside. Simply by the way they are dressed you can tell they are most likely from the middle eastern region of the world. Lower down in the subheadings they refer to Pakistan and more about what the article will reflect. I like the use of this picture because it shows the two girls in their natural every day lives, nothing is posed. The natural look of this picture will make a viewer interested on how a certain group of people live. On the cover to the right there is a girl looking straight into the camera wearing covering clothing, giving the assumption she is also from the middle eastern area. The subheadings then explain that the picture is from Afghanistan. I like the use of this picture because it is very focused in on her eyes looking in the camera. Not only are her eyes a very unique color, but they show the emotion she is going through and that therefore draws the audience in.

Finalizing A Topic

So today in class we learned about magazine techniques through a powerpoint and examples from years past. The projects were really good but in my opinion they were really basic. Basic in the sense that they were all about average things that you would expect from a high schooler with a magazine project. Most of them were either about fashion or food, don't get me wrong they were super good but none of them really sparked my interest.

After our lesson we got in our groups and collectively agreed on a photography magazine. We are all going to do a different featured 2 page spread in the magazine. Mine is going to be culture. If you remember in my first blog post I mentioned something about my back-packing through India for a religious holiday. Well, my mom and I go every year to visit and travel through our favorite place. Something about the last time was different though. I cant completely explain it but I came back with a newfound curiosity to learn more about the Hindu religion and their way of life.

With all of that, that had went on, I thought that the culture feature would fit me perfectly. While I was there I took many many pictures, all of things that inspired me. I believe that these pictures tell a story about each individual in them, as well as the landscape surrounding them.

The Beginning of the End

Back in October when this portfolio was assigned I was in the midst of back packing through India during a religious holiday, but thats a story for another day. When I returned home from this 2 week trip I was overwhelmed with makeup work and only more stressed and annoyed to find out that I had this H U G E end of the year portfolio for my media studies class. After I got my life back in check, and was done finishing assignments for second quarter half way through third quarter, I decided:

this isn't the WORST project ever, right..?

Now the decision of whether I was going to do a film opening or a magazine cover and whether I was going to do it individually or in a group dawned upon me. In the beginning I leaned towards the magazine cover because it sparked my interest slightly more. After I decided that I looked into whether or not I wanted to do it in a group. Throughout the whole year my best friend (and mom of the group), Sandra, had sat next to me in class. Group project after group project we had worked together, so why would anything be different with this one? Well after a lot of thinking (actually not really a lot, just 5 minutes after I was informed on this project) I thought to myself "she probably already has an idea of what she wants to do and we are so different so should we really work together?" I came to the conclusion. She's my best friend of course Im gonna ask her!!!!!! Long story short she said yes. After that was decided we overheard the two people in front of us talking about working together, Iggy and Camila, and we thought

"Why not ask them to work with us too?"

At the time it was a great idea, more people, more ideas, more fun! But... little did we know. As time went on we could not come up with a topic we all agreed on. We sat in class discussing topics from a dog magazine to a mens fashion magazine but just couldn't get the right fit. But I think we may have had a break through today. Shifting towards an anthropology idea we may have found our topic. Could it be? We found a topic that has something for everyone? I think so! Uh hmmm that's until Camila and Iggy started fighting about it in the Whatsapp groupchat. Well as I now sit here on Facetime with Sandra trying to figure this out, I think were just gonna do anthropology and they're just gonna have to jump on board.