Casa de Valle

MOPA: Ethnicity #4

MOPA: Ethnicity #3

MOPA: Ethnicity #2

MOPA: Ethnicity #1

This the first photo for my first semester portfolio. Visually, there are a two objects, or subjects, looking at each other. It’s almost as if they’re just “chilling out” on a blanket, perhaps in the park. The picture is focused on the two (the donut and watermelon), and the picture is quite shallow and close. In addition, the picture is straightforward and figurative. I used the rule of thirds to compose this picture. My subjects are not smack-dab in the middle because I decided to use the rule of thirds. Using this rule, I chose to put them towards the bottom left corner of the picture, creating a white space around them. In addition, I think the colors all coordinate with each other, in the sense that each color in the photo does not conflict with one another. The picture is bright to accentuate the fact that for my portfolio, one of my major themes is blown-out/bright lighting. It was taken indoor with ambient lighting. I think this image works because my concept of “love” or “affection” is clearly displayed through my subjects while the idea of “happiness” can be defined through the illumination of the light.


So, this is my second shot for my portfolio. Here, there are weeds that compose the focal points of my picture. Again, they are close and shallow, and the background consists of multiple items in my backyard. They work seems figurative in my opinion in the sense that it proves that like, something ugly can be beautiful. I worked with shallow depth of field again in the picture and in addition to the shallow-ness, it featured bokeh, which is a technique I adore. I remained conscious of my background and kept it leveled, and I kept the flat board (the white rectangle) in the photo to add a feeling of the picture being “blown out”. Likewise in my first picture, I used ambient lighting, but this time in an outdoor setting. I did not choose to alter any items in the background, but nonetheless, I chose these weeds in this setting to promote the idea that something ugly (the weeds) can beautiful. This is through the luminosity of the lighting as well at the bokeh that gives off a “fresh” and “pure” feeling. I think this picture works in conjunction to my first picture because it follows my two main concepts of bright/blown-out lighting with shallow depth of field.


Numero tres out of diez! This is a picture of a design I’ve been progressively working on and is actually now almost finished. Nonetheless, here you see a a rectangular piece of work with a design on it, all on top of a white background. Again, the object is close to demonstrate my theme of shallow depth of field. I suppose that my work is abstract in this picture in the sense that it’s not a straightforward concept. Moving on, the subject of the picture is actually a piece of blue construction paper. I composed it in the way that the work sheet was not featured because the sheet as a whole did not benefit my picture. This is because the design is unfinished and I wanted to focus on the design on the paper itself. Although I did not directly use the rule of thirds for this picture, I believe because of the edges of the paper flow onto not only the top left corner and bottom right corner of the picture, that it balances out the design on the paper. I also did not use ambient lighting in my room this time, but in my photo processing, I photoshopped it to make the lighting brighter and blown out to somewhat match the other pictures that make up my portfolio so far. I think that this picture works because it successfully adds to my choice theme of bright lighting and shallow depth of field, but also displays purity and simplicity through the whiteness of the background in contrast to the design.


My fourth piece of my first semester portfolio. Visually you see a black net/screen with colors of greens and pinks peeking through the holes of the screen. Towards the left you see an insect, which in essence is a bee. The bee is focused in a shallow depth of field causing part of the net and the majority of the background to be out of focus and blurry. This effect that has been followed all throughout my portfolio is a decision I made to help the eye follow the in-focus part of my picture which are my focal points. Unfortunately, I did not use the rule of thirds on point this time, but I did make sure that the bee, my subject, was not composed in the middle. In the background there are various shapes of bright colors and such. This is a choice I made to contrast the bee which becomes a darker aspect of the picture. This picture was taken indoors with ambient lighting again, but in my process of photo editing, I made the picture more contrasted, and the lighting brighter, causing the colors to be much more vibrant. The bee represents (human) nature, but the fact that it is on the screen kind of displays the concept of being trapped and confined by our own means, which is something all of us go through in our everyday lives whether we know it or not. I think this picture is successful, but not as successful in my portfolio as it could be because of how contrasted the picture appears which is different from my other pictures because the colors in the other pictures are seemingly a little bit more desaturated.


installation number five to my 10-picture portfolio! here I used three of my everyday necessities: my cell phone, my notebook, and my pen. another still life shot in a shallow depth of field. my work is seemingly literal in the sense that I believe many can connect and relate to that of which these three items are common things many people own and use on a regular basis. as far as composition goes, again, I did not place anything in the complete middle. I did not fully use the rule of thirds for this, but it was somewhat of a variation of it in the sense that my phone is towards the bottom left, which my pen is located towards the top right. I chose to keep my notebook asymmetrical in the way that it’s not leveled and balanced out to give the picture a more abstract and natural look. the image is in focus, and the edges are quite sharp. I think this works in my portfolio because it follows the rules of which it can be considered a still life, the lighting is clear and bright, and there is a shallow depth of field.


numero seis. this work features four of many of my collection of toys and such from various urban stores. this picture was taken with a shallow depth of field, thus exemplifying the fact that the picture was taken closely, focused on “loompdea” which is my user-name on many websites. the work is straightforward, again, but this time, does not necessarily have a meaning behind it. the main point of this photo is to display composition. this in the sense of balance in that there are four background subjects which can evenly be split into half, as well as my user-name, which is the focal point, in the middle. in the background, there are blurry shapes of my other toys that are bigger than the miniature toys behind the piece of paper. in addition is the reflection of my user-name on the paper onto the dresser, which is my favorite part of the photo. this picture was taken indoor with florescent lighting provided by the default light in my room. I think this work is successful in terms of composition, but kind of fails in terms of there being an ideal “meaning” behind the picture.


this is the seventh picture of my portfolio. it features the top of UCSD’s student run newspaper The Guardian display stand. it’s surrounded by colors of green (provided by the flowers in the background) and gray (provided by the wall behind it), and is in a shallow depth of field. I believe that the colors work well with each other and clearly do not contradict one another. they all seem neutral, especially with the gray, slightly complimented by the brown rust on the edges of the stand. “The Guardian” is placed towards the bottom right of the picture, allowing elsewhere to be white space. although the picture is not completely leveled out, I did this intentionally again to give it a flawed, natural feel. the name of the newspaper itself implies “perfection” and the idea of ease, where there is nothing to worry about. this is also displayed by the flowers which kind of create a garden feeling as well. this isn’t one of my most successful pieces of work unfortunately due to the fact that the composition wasn’t as great as it could have been. this was the only photo in my portfolio thus fair that was not taken with my 50mm lens. although, the picture does follow the rules of somewhat shallow depth and clean, bright lighting.


picture number eight out of ten for my fall semester portfolio. here, I featured another multimedia artist, Carlo Ybanez, with a random piece he painted last school year when we shared Photo 1-2 together. I also used two pieces my younger brother made, placed under Carlo’s picture to compliment. in contrast, I took the picture on a black table. the picture is straightforward. I used shallow depth of field in the way that the focal point is on Carlo’s signature, followed by the rest of the painting. the ambient lighting brought a slight glare on the bottom right corner of the picture, but I believe that it works because it gives the picture a more natural look. I also did not place the picture straight to create an abstract looking in that the picture is not symmetrical. this picture follows the aesthetic of shallow depth of field and bright lighting, which is why it works.


the second to last photo of my portfolio! I think this definitely has to be my favorite out of the ten. not just because I think the shallow depth of field is on point, but because the color is balanced to my liking, and the lighting is perfect. I believe this is a picture that I can say was inspired by my artist, Julie Toy. here, I used my sister’s hands to hold flowers. the colors here are all soft and somewhat neutral, neither creating significant color contrast against each other. the image is in focus, defining every shape and line in each flower and in her hands. it was also taken outdoors. I think this picture is very successful because it is all that I wanted my portfolio to be and clearly portrays techniques inspired by Julie Toy.


my last picture of the fall semester portfolio set. in this picture, I featured my younger brother, an aspiring saxophone/clarinet musician. the depth of field isn’t as shallow as other pictures, but I felt almost obligated to use the sunset in the background to my advantage. my brother is in focus, including some of his surroundings. the picture is also completely straightforward; no inner meanings beneath the surface except maybe the beauty of music. I don’t think this picture is as successful as it could because because the colors are a bit too contrasted and it’s not as shallow in comparison as the rest, but I think these two concepts are significant enough in the picture. it was obviously taken outdoors with ambient lighting.

location #2

in my second fashion shot, I used Sidney Nguyen. it was actually shot somewhere in the from of the administration office, and I used a flat panel flash for my professional use of lighting. I decided to crop out the top of her face to give her a seemingly "anonymous" quality, but I also cropped it out because you could see the back wall. I think this picture works because it is in fact quite fashionable, and it was also taken with professional lighting on the school campus. oh! and I used the rule of thirds to balance out the shot. :]

location #1

for the fashion shot around the school, as a test shot, I used Connor Bunting to test my flash. it turns out that it was one of the best from the set. essentially, he is sitting in front of what looks like a "wall of leaves", but he's really sitting in front of a bush next to the studio. it's in focus, and a straight forward "fashion shot". I think it works because I met the requirements of using profession lighting on the school campus of a model.