Portfolio Analysis

Part One

1. Alyssa Schukar
2. Story of an eating disorder, sports, portraits
3. All of the pictures were of a certain distance, no emotions being felt by the observer, used the same lens, wanted more variety
4. They liked the picture of the man in the hat sweeping the street with the “beautiful background” and the photo of the girl who fell on the hurdles because they like only seeing the legs of her opponent.
5. I wasn’t a huge fan of Alyssa Schukar’s portfolio. I feel like the photos lacked emotion, like the judges said. I didn’t feel anything with most of the photos that were shown. Some of them made me feel sad or happy, but most were empty to me. One of the judge made the observation that Schukar seemed to take a pessimistic outlook in her photos and that he preferred the optimistic shots, but I disagree. I think darker photos can sometimes express the most important feelings or ideas better than optimistic ones can, so in that sense I liked Schukar’s photos.

1. Travis Haughton
2. Story about a child with a hearing disorder, genetic condition, sports, portraits
3. The judges didn’t like how there was a photo with the back of someone’s head dominating the frame, there’s a merger with the photo of the couple in blue where the man’s head looks attached the thing of metal in the background, the photos are cropped in too tight and the judges want to see more of the photo in the frame, there’s too many photos of little kids in his portfolio
4. There’s lots of different options and lots of different levels in the gymnastic photo, they liked the baseball photo of the man diving to catch the baseball
5. There were a few shots that I liked by Haughton, but they were also shots I’ve seen before. I didn’t see many original ideas in his photos. I do disagree with the judges when they said the photos were cropped in too tight. Some of them, I agree with, but I liked the cropping of most of the photos. If they were cropped looser, the impact of the photo would be lost.

1. Carlos Delgado
2. Story about a woman who recovered from polio, but still has a few disabilities left from the disease, sports, story of a poor couple living in a trailer
3. The backgrounds in all the photos are too busy and distract from the main focus of the shot, the lighting is off and makes the colors seem like “candy colored kool aid,” the curves and levels are too heavy in all the photos, in the second photo story things were being said in the captions but they were never shown in the photos
4. They liked the pose of the baseball player portrait and they liked the photo of the man smoking in the same room as the disabled woman in the first photo story
5. I feel indifferent about Delgado’s photos. They didn’t portray any emotions to me or make me feel anything, but I’ve seen worse. Some of the shots I did like a lot and I thought they showed a cool story or message to them, but others didn’t impress me. I agree with the judges when they said the backgrounds were too cluttered in the first story and that the color was off throughout all of the photos.

Dustin Snipes

1. The photographer was in the action rather than watching on the sides, nice color and composition, nice backgrounds, good emotion and reaction shots, good panning shot, creative shots
2. I liked how Dustin Snipes had a lot of really creative shots rather than ones that have been seen before in the previous runner up videos I watched. He was also right in the middle of the action, he wasn’t scared to get right up in it. The focus of a few photos were a little off, but that was really the only major weakness I noticed. 

Judging Process

a. To choose the winner, they go through their favorite portfolios and then look closely at all the photos as a whole collection and what the strengths and weaknesses are. They begin to eliminate the ones that aren’t as strong as the others, and ultimately come down to two portfolios. They talk about which portfolio they prefer more and they choose their winner. 

Part Two

a. In Part Five : Student Work I agree with the judges on the black and white photo of the guy wearing the "RugbyTech" hat. I think that it's a really great photo, and I love it just like the judges do. I think we love it because it's a creative photo, and it portrays the player's emotions very well through the photo.

b. I disagree with the judges in Part Two : No Pro/No College on the photo of the tennis player wearing red. I think the lighting and focus is really good, but I don't like how you can't see the face and the judges say it's okay that the face is unseen. I would like to see the face and emotion of the player. I think the judges are wrong because I think a person's face in a shot can really help pull it together and without it the photo seems like it has unsolved questions. I think the faces can be the best part of the photo.