Rachel S. O'Hara

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...

Athens' very own Flash Mob has started up thanks to some of the theater students at OU. The group's first big event was a pillow fight at the crosswalk of Union and Court. It was quite the event and was a ton of fun to watch the fighters and the observers. As a member of Soul of Athens... I got to enjoy it as well! Peace. Love. Happiness. -rso-

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-

Spring break 2010/ My 22nd birthday was a huge success! Minus some sun poisoning and some chewed up glasses, the whole trip was perfect! I had a great birthday dinner at Rocco's Tacos and dessert at the first Cheesecake Factory I ever went to as a kid. We kayaked, shopped, saw friends, enjoyed great meals (including food from Chef Bryan). It was also nice to enjoy the Cook's newest addition... SCOUT! What a sweet puppy! The break was laid back and fun - perfection really! HUGE thanks to Shani and Bryan for always taking us in and showing us a great time. Love you guys! P.S. First 3 photos are by Shani Cook. Peace. Love. Happiness. -rso-

So the Bobcats really came through on Thursday night during the first round of the NCAA tourney. Beating Georgetown was AWESOME and the guys really brought their A game. Court Street was out of control afterwards! Of course, with any OU "riot" the police had to break it up in the end. Oh well! It was a great night!!! GOOOO BOBCATS!!! Peace. Love. Happiness. -rso-

UPC sponsored a really rockin' concert and I got to shoot it for them. Mat Kearney and Ingrid Michaelson with special guest Angel Taylor. I love shooting concerts and any events on stage. It truly makes me miss theater and singing and all that jazz. Enjoy the pix! :-) Peace. Love. Happiness. -rso-