Welcome to my Final portfolio

Welcome! This website serves as my final portfolio for my Critical Media Practices course, showcasing a diverse range of projects and creative endeavors. Throughout this course, I have learned how to photograph with intention, and have grown widely within my creative abilities. One thing that I took away from this course was the idea that I can do anything I put my mind to it intentionally. What works for me is unique, and this course taught me that that was okay. My work shown will highlight my love for the outdoors, and bright colors. I feel confident that this page accurately represents my own creative genre within media, and I hope you enjoy. 

Individual Key Course Concepts

Here’s a glimpse into some of my key projects.

Image 1: Voice and Environment

For the above image, I have decided to dive in how it connects to one of the courses Key concepts of Voice and Environment. I feel as though my main strengths throughout this course was creating my own unique voice within my work. I have always been drawn to outside environments, and throughout consistent projects, I have been able to clearly show that. this course if anything, taught me how to find my own voice within a loud room. This image makes me feel peaceful, and accurately represents my skill, and a key part of this course, uniqueness. 

Image 2: Interrogative Design 

The above image was taken for Still Image Project 3 under the theme of Perspective and Style. I thought that it accurately connected to another one of this courses main key points. The idea of Interrogative Design. Interrogative design within an image refers to when an image takes a risk, explores, articulates, and responds to the questionable conditions of this world. I think that this image articulates the idea of peace within a

Image 3: Space and Media

This particular Image, taken for Still Image project 3 with the theme of Perspective and Style, I thought was an accurate representation of one of this courses key element, Space and Media. I find that too often, we overlook the idea of taking up space within an image, especially if it has a smaller focus point. Moreover, I notice a lot of images focusing on something too close, as they are too afraid to take up space within an image. I tried my best, by using a different perspective, to take up space within this image of a donkey walking down the road. It forces the viewer to appreciate the broader image before getting right to the goods of the media. 

Explore How My ‘Eye’ Has Evolved

Dive deeper into my work across the entirety of this course. Each image shows my growth throughout the course, varying from color intensity, to the placement of my shots. 

The above Six images actively demonstrate how my eye has changes throughout this course. The top three images are in place to be compared with the below three images. Each one connecting in a different way. For example, the image of the shopping cart when compared to the tomatoes proves how my eye has changes when it comes to the intensity of the color within a shot. I have grown by recognizing when color either helps or harms an image. The next set, both nighttime images shows how I have grown through knowing when an image will be negatively or positively beneficial when taken at night. One thing I learned is that Nighttime images will always be better when there are no near city lights. By finding a generally clear sky, and keeping my camera still, I found a much better result in my shots. Finally, egg yolks! I really enjoy shooting egg yolks because of their rich yellows golden inside. I have found that unfortunately, not every yolk image comes out good. Which is why these images represent how I have found the best way to highlights the vibe of the picture. By framing my camera at a more precise angle, I have been able to better capture the magic of an egg yolk. 

Social Media Short Story: 

For my Social Media Short Story I decided to use the platform Snapchat. I decided on this app, as it is my most frequently used app when getting in touch with friends. I posted on a Private story, where I can choose a select group of people to see my photos. I have named the story “Humble story”, as I use it to show my closest friends what is happening in my life, rather than showing it to the world. Through three images, the story of meeting up with my old roommate and friend Ally for coffee and a catch up was presented by me. As my posts progress, you are able to see the process of leading to hanging out, actually hanging out, and the aftermath of feeling happy and reinsured of our friendship. Ally and I have spent less and less time together after moving apart. It is apps like Snapchat that can bring us together, and even share with friends. I will say, however, that I don’t think Snapchat was necessary in this story. I think that next time I would have found a more creative idea, though it was fun to carry out. Snapchat I have found should be kept to more personal things, as no one really needed to know about hanging out with ally. My idea I suppose was to show how the app brought us closer together. 

Why I Used Snapchat…

The reason that I used Snapchat for this assignment was because that is the primary social media platform that I use on a daily basis. I regret using Snapchat, as all of my images delete after one day. Which explains the lack of my Social Media Images…. To further explain the images I will depict each one. The fist image was a selfie of me with the text over it saying “going to ask ally to get coffee”. All of my friends who’m I posted this photo to knows Ally, and therefore were invested off the bat. The following image that I posted was a screenshot of her our texts exchange where Ally agreed to joining me for coffee. I knew that this post would generate some responses as other’s would be excited for us to get coffee. The final image was of the coffee shop where I met Ally for coffee. Overall I feel like this short story was successful, however I feel although I was not as creative as I could have been. If I were to re-do this assignment, I would most likely use instagram, and tell a more interesting story. Though the Social Media Short Story was initially not a success, I have learned from that moment that I should always give myself more time to visualize my plan of action within my assignments. I will always enjoy Snapchat as a way to connect with friends, however it is not the best for a social media short story. 

Found Footage & Metaphor of Self Video

Where to find: In Canvas under each assignment’s title

Project showcase: Found Footage

Disclaimer: This Website builder does not allow for me to add videos, so I will ask for you to go and look under each assignment.

This particular project was quite interesting. Tasked with finding multiple visual clips to make a story, I created a metaphor for the importance of finding your own passion and plan. Moreover, I began with looking up silly things on the internet. The first being ‘random videos of seagulls’… After scrolling around for a little while,  I decided to then film myself mindlessly scrolling through TIk Tok. My point in doing these mindless activities was to then show a video that I came across with the text over it saying, ‘The plan’. ‘The plan’ was pasted over a compilation of videos of amazing landscapes and wondrous views. Ultimately, I wanted to curate the vision that there is more to life than just social media. Ironic, right? In a Critical Media class, creating a passionate video representing that there is more to life that media…. Got to do it somehow right? In the end, I circle back to the beginning idea of seagulls by showing a seagull laughing. I found a video of a seagulls throwing his head back, which made it seem like it was laughing. I thought this would be a great way to end it out as it is again ironic to the point of how I think mindlessly scrolling through my phone is silly. I have come to find through this class, in taking numerous photos and exploring many different creative styles, that I find nature to be what is most important to me. I would like to do my best to stay off social media as much as I can, unless it is to create messages like the one this video has. 

Why These Projects Differed…

Project showcase: Metaphor of Self

For my Metaphor of Self Project I created yet another outdoorsy video. I used many creative transitions, timely screen cuts in accordance to the music, and an overall satisfying, aesthetic vibe. This project showed me that I excel in highlighting natures beauty. I have learned that I would do best in outdoor cinematography, and making videos highlighting the different robust aspects of different landscapes. The process of making this video was quite seamless as I found a good flow of editing within the TIk Tok app. By selecting the videos that I took, it was very simple to adjust, move, rearrange, and edit the videos overall. I noticed that I find video editing a lot easier on TIk Tok as all of the aspects are easy to figure out. I was also pleasantly surprised with how easy it was to add music to the video. While it was not required, I have found that I like to add music as I think it adds a very important aspect to any video. Music has the power to shape how a viewer sees the video, and plays a huge role in finalizing the idea that your video was about. in my case, I shot the outdoors as I feel very connected to them. With an upbeat tune, I was able to solidify the idea that I love nature, and was able to even boost the appearance of my video as it added a whole other aspect. Within this project, I was happy in the overall vibe that I created, as well as the transitions and quick attention grabbers that I added. I hope you enjoy!

While completing both the Found Footage, and the Metaphor of Self videos I found only a few differences. While beginning my plan for both videos, I found it easier to plan the Found Footage because I just started searching random things up, and the rest fell into place. Whereas with the Metaphor of self video seemed to take more time to plan. While the planning of the Found footage video was easier, the execution was more difficult than that of the Metaphor of self video. I found this to be the case as the Found footage video was harder to get my message across than the latter. For my video of metaphor of self, I found it easier to take videos that I resonated with. Ultimately, both videos had challenges and places where I could excel. I found a good message in my work while creating both of these, and I hope you can find a message within as well. 

Hypertext Media Project…

For my Hypertext Media assignment, I played around a lot with my creative storytelling abilities. I allowed these abilities to craft a very exciting, random, mysterious, creepy, loving game. I quite liked the process of using Twinery, as I felt like it was beneficial to play the game as I made it. This project forced me out of my comfort zone when it came to coding, and perfecting each button.slide/choice. I found it particularly exciting when I finished, and was able to play my game. Hint: it all leads to getting cookies from grandma! If you play it right… I used an approach of mystery, as I always enjoy that myself. By giving a bunch of different story lines, each one is exciting to play. Overall, I am most proud of this assignment, not counting this beautiful website ;). 

Hypertext Media in Relation to Spatiality…

I would say that my Hypertext Media project relates to speciality in a few slim ways. One being that it got confusing at times what buttons to press, because this website made everything generate into the same small space, and the other being that I felt as though I had a very large space for opportunity within my game. I felt little to no restriction while making my story game, and with that, my ideas flowed. At times when I am given too many guidelines, I get freaked out and create something that doesn’t feel natural to myself. Whereas when I am given the space to create as I wish, fun things like this arrive. Throughout this course, I have been able to narrow down the type of media I like to interact with. The Hypertext media assignment surely caught my creative attention, and i would like to make more games like this one. 

Final Response…

Ultimately, throughout the course of this Critical Media Practices course i have learned many things. I will talk about three of them. The first being that one must be dedicated to one’s work in order to create a powerful piece, the second being that one must always find what works for their particular vibe, and the last being that one must trust one’s instincts to produce the best work. Throughout this course, not only was I dedicated to the media I created, but I also found what worked for me. Whether that being good editing platforms, or the vibe that I would like to show across all of my future work. As I end my time in this course, I have been asked to reflect on the idea of ‘old’ and ‘new’ media art, and how I would characterize the relationship between how we experience and create media art. In my opinion, as art is ever changing, and so are we. This may seem obvious, but it is not a simple subject. Historically, media experiences have been very linear, and mostly curated by institutional peoples. Moreover, media mostly revolved around as radio, broadcasting, and museums. As society has evolved, we have become more focused on social media than ever before. Meaning, the popularity from thinks like radio and broadcasting has become less popular while making room for new media. While this change has been evolving, not only has the media changed, but the equipment used as well. Accordingly, special equipment, technical training, and infrastructures for production  were all much more important that they have become now. Due to thinks like AI, and just an overall more advanced interconnected system of technology, media has become way more convenient and easy to create. Back then, the distance between the maker and the viewer was very wide, however now, the viewer can be the maker, and the maker can be the viewer. Now, today’s media practices are defined more by inner connectivity, views, and convenience. Encountering media has become less complex, but using it has opened many complex doors. Now, the common individual has the power to manipulate, create, and, enjoy media in much simpler ways. This change from ‘old’ to ‘new’ media has been interesting, but in my opinion, very benaficial to those who might not have the resources to create media than they did back then. Next, I have been asked to reflect on what the burgeoning media ecosystem (with the use of crowdsourcing) really mean for us as a society. It is my view that crowdsourcing carries significant weight within society. One one hand, this crowdsourcing helps normalize information catered towards what is most common. Rather, it enables collective participation and knowledge in order to enhance convenience within media. This is beneficial as it helps ensure a diverse voice aligning with public discourse. Another benefit of crowdsourcing is that it allows individuals to conjoin resources in order to enhance experiences of others. On the flip side, this can also open up new vulnerabilities… turning participation into data is one of them. Many times, people don’t know that their data is being used in these ways, so it can become shady. Moreover, the fact that crowdsourcing takes from all users, there is a higher risk for information not to be credible. Ultimately, this burgeoning media ecosystem challenges us to question authorship, community, and many other aspects within a digital culture. Meaning the connection from audience to platform is increasingly indistinct. This is why we must all fact check, and make sure we use credible sources, but most importantly think for ourselves with and outside of media. 

Contact me

Location

Denver, Colorado
United States