I Graduated!
The day I've been preparing for my entire life. College graduation. I started my photography career at The Art Institute of Pittsburgh in October of 2012, and in almost three years time, and a heck of a lot of hours and money invested in my work, and bam, June 19, 2015 I graduated with my Bachelor's of Science in Photography. The day before, June 18, was the quarterly Portfolio Show held at Heinz Field, where all majors at The Art Institute present all of our best work to professors, employers, friends, family, and the public.
At AIP, at the Portfolio Show, in order to graduate, we put together a print and web portfolio, résumé, social media platforms, promotional pieces, and a display; and really, the sky is the limit on the direction we take this and how much effort we put into it. So being the "go hard or go home" person I am when it comes to photography and putting all I have (sleep included) into projects, I wanted this to be the best I could have done. With my love of movies and inspiration I get from them, I decided that I wanted the overall theme to be something like a movie premiere.
I drew up a rough design for my display and went over building ideas with my dad, who will literally build you a wall if you ask him to. Dad prepped the wall and the frames for my display, and later hung them up the morning of Portfolio Show to make sure everything worked out.
I decided I wanted to have a simple sign for my table resembling the signs at movie theaters, so I planned to use the simple watermark I use on my photos. The sign was built all by hand by the talented Alyssa Emigh of AKE Fabrications. Alyssa built the sign as a "box" so we were able to put lights behind the acrylic front and look just like a movie title sign.
Then I reached out to Amber Wellman, a graphic designer from The Art Institute, who does flippin' amazing work no matter what it is, and asked if she would like to collab on my display. I was so very excited to work with Amber as she designed the "movie poster" photos to be used as display images and promotional posters!
I also added goodie bags to the table filled with "white trash" candy, as some call it. I thought it might be a little less weird and definitely more creative if I went with a title that would fit my photos and branding. Here is the tag and recipe I used for the mix which turned out delicious, I had to sneak a couple bags.
And finally, for my print portfolio, I chose to work with Shrapnel Design out of Vancouver. They do beautiful work and I highly recommend looking into them if you ever need a portfolio case. I went with an aluminum case painted white with black etching on the cover to again tie in the watermark I use for my images. They posted the final look of my case on their Instagram page (below). As a side note, I will be sharing my print portfolio with you in the near future!
With the hustle and bustle of the early morning at Heinz Field, I didn't even think to take photos of my display with my camera, but I got some shots with my phone. Here is the final display that so much work from so many people helped me with! Thank you so much to everyone who was a part of making this possible! I also made my thesis book, Out of the Fog , and promotional video a part of my display.
Although I didn't get shots of the day with my camera myself, Jake Doerr did. The following photos are all by Jacob Doerr.
Thank you for the great photos, Jake! See more of his work at jdoerrphoto.com.
With lots of pizza and Chinese take out in between, I spent time with some great people and artists that I was able to collaborate with and make this big pile of stress into a pretty awesome presentation. So this blog post is dedicated to all of you lovely souls who made this a reality! Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU(!!) for all of your hard work and lets collaborate in the near future!
Live by faith & share through fotos.
