Rachel S. O'Hara

A bit late on posting this, got too caught up in Soul of Athens ! Anyway, for the final photo assignment in portraiture we had to take a photo using an "alternative process". Polaroid, film (shocking, I know!), fish eye, camera phone, old cameras, etc. Josh Armstrong showed us a cool process in class where you used a Brownie camera and shot down through a cardboard tube with a digital camera. It was a bit of a bust and of course the lens I was supposed to use wouldn't work and I did not always end up using the tube. However, Kevin was a great and patient model. Enjoy some "alternative" photos. Per usual, the first one is the one I turned in for class. Peace. Love. Happiness. -rso-

For our series assignment I decided to do photos of people drinking some of their favorite types of drinks in settings that complimented the drink. Melissa was coffee at Donkey, Alex was alcohol in the sparse studio, Mallorie was Gatorade on the track, Stephen was soda at Court Street Diner and Jenna was water at the pool at the Commons. I got some lighting help for two of the photos from Mr. Drew Lisy, so major props to him. I thank all of my models for this. Here are all the photos on their own and a small jpg file I made of them all strung together. Hope you enjoy! Peace. Love. Happiness. -rso-

For the group/couple portrait, I had a hard time getting people together at the same time for this photo. I lucked out however and got a hold of a fellow Big Brothers Big Sisters volunteer and she happened to be meeting with her little on a day I could get into the studio. I am still uncomfortable with the studio and having to light things. However, Jamie and Tosha were patient and I hope they ended up having fun in the process. When I made them write what they liked most about being a big and a little, I got some great responses. Here are the three photos I turned in for class, plus a few extras! Thanks, ladies! Enjoy! Here were the responses: Tosha: I like to be Jamie's little because she is so cool and funny. Jamie: I like to be Tosha's big sis because she is the little sister I never had, and always makes me smile! Peace. Love. Happiness. -rso-

My pal Zane DeLong, a freshman at OU, is one of the most amazing artists I have ever met. Give him a canvas and "wala!" something fabulous will end up taking up that canvas. He does amazing self-portraits (one he did in high school is off the charts - but is safe at home). Zane is also just a nice and wonderful person in general. He is always so happy and makes the bets homemade birthday cards. The 1st 2 are the ones I turned in and then the rest are just for fun!!! Thank you, Zane for being such a great model!!! Enjoy! Peace. Love. Happiness. -rso-

Emmett Girton, 5, was my most recent model for my portraiture class. The assignment was to do a non-facial, representative portrait of someone that still showed something unique or interesting about the subject. You don't see a lot of kids when you live in the bubble of college so I thought it would be fun to do my portrait of my good friend's, Sam Girton, son, Emmett, who I have babysat a few times while in college. After the promise of a new hot wheels toy, Emmett was ready to show me all his toys (and there are A LOT of them!) in his playroom. It was a really fun shoot and I am very thankful to Sam and Emmett for being so kind and allowing me to hang out with them as well as let me be a part of their lives. Love you guys! Peace. Love. Happiness. -rso-

For my "Formal Portrait" assignment I wanted to work with someone fun. You can't get much more fun than my good pal Jenna Schoenefeld. Jenna and I have been friends since freshman year and we both worked on "Trailerpark" together as the set photogs. When I told Jenna I had to do an in studio portrait she was super kind enough to not only give me her time but she also came prepared with make-up and multiple outfits! I honestly had such a hard time picking just TWO photos to turn in for class. The first two in the blog post are the ones I did turn in. The rest are just some (of the many) that I took of Jenna that I really liked and thought were fun. Also, here is the caption for the photos: "Jenna Schoenefeld, 22, poses in the Siegfred Studio for a portrait, Tuesday, April 20, 2010. Schoenefeld is a majoring in photojournalism. She is fluent in french and aspires to one day be a contestant on America's Next Top Model." Peace. Love. Happiness. -rso-

F or my 1st environmental portrait for my portraiture class I got to photograph one of my good friends, Patrick Tafua. I met Patrick Spring Quarter of sophomore year in Bromley Hall. Far from home, friends and family back in Cali - we soon embraced Patrick when he moved in with Travis, our friend. With a great personality, sense of humor and of course his good looks - we all were very happy to have him join our circle of friends. While we don't all see one another a lot, we still keep up with one another. Watching Patrick succeed on and off the field at OU has been awesome and going to the football games became much more fun once we had a favorite person to root for. Mallorie, my roommate and one of my best friends, took a portrait of him his sophomore year here in the stands before he was a truly established player on the team. It just made sense to finish up Tafua's football photos on the field in all his gear and glory - one last time. Here are the two photos I submitted for...

For portraiture we got paired up with another classmate and had to do an environmental portrait. I got a junior named Kate Ramsey, a commercial student, and we had a really fun time. We did her pictures at her house with her record collection (as well as her many other cool old cameras and props) and my portrait was done at Donkey Coffee. Here are the two selects I turned in for class. Peace. Love. Happiness. -rso-