Greta Haskell Capstone

For my capstone I wrote a blog about gap years. The blog is ongoing so it will never be “finished” but I am happy with how it stands. In the beginning of the year I was going to build my portfolio by styling people and taking their pictures, because I want to be a fashion merchandising major. But my whole year was revolving around my gap year so I decided to change my plan. My gap year and gap years in general, are something I am super passionate about, so I decided to write a gap year to track my progress. I interviewed people about their gap years and wrote posts with my tips and my stories. My plans are to keep updating it while I am away so that people from home can read about it. I am also going to send my link to Mrs. Hirschfield so she can post it on the college news blog. 

Here is my blog.

My bibliography now has nothing to do with my capstone, but here it is:

1. Bolton, Andrew. Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2011. Print.

This book is my main source of creativity for my project. As I explained to my advisors in my Teach your Passion project, Alexander McQueen is my favorite fashion designer and he was the biggest influence on me wanting to have a career in the fashion world. The book has pictures and written pieces about McQueen that I am going to reference in the backstory of my capstone. I selected this source because of the importance it plays in my life and how it has shaped my thinking of my future. It is a reliable source being a book published by the MET. I also attended the exhibit where I bought the book after McQueen died which really influenced me. 

2. Borecka, Natalia. "25 Photoshoot Ideas to Inspire Your Next Editorial." Lone Wolf. N.p., 10 Mar. 2014. Web. 04 Feb. 2016.

I chose this source because it will serve as inspiration. It gives me a short description about a photographer and their style of photography and by knowing that I can look at their photos and decide how I want mine to look. After deciding that I can learn how to take photos like theirs. It also describes different types of of interesting ways to take photos. There are lots of ideas for me to consider, this source is a good beginning point for my project and my creative aspect. 

3. Digital-Photography.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Feb. 2016.

This source is good because it has a lot of articles for me to learn about how to use the flash on the camera. It also has camera reviews and examples of how photos will look when using different flash. This source will be good for reference if I can not get help from Mr. Herman. I will most likely have to take photos alone or teach my helpers how to do what they need to help me with. This will be good because I will need to be an expert about how to use the camera and all the equipment when I take the pictures. 

4. Gelardi, Piera, and Christene Barberich. Refinery29: Style Stalking. N.p.: Potter Style, 2014. Print.

This book is also super useful for my project because it includes hundreds of styling tips. This will be really helpful because even though I can style people I want to show my knowledge of fashion, silhouettes, accessories, etc. This book will give me tips on how to style people with pieces or combinations that I wouldn’t think of without a little inspiration. It tells you how to mix patterns, wear clothes you wouldn’t pick on your first instinct and lots of other interesting points. When I received the book as a gift I was excited to read it and pick up some tips. This will be a very useful and reputable source for my project. 

5. Herman, Douglas. "Mentor Meeting." Personal interview. 01 Feb. 2016.

Mr. Herman is my mentor and will be the backbone to my project. I have never taken photography class, only digital video so he is giving me the basics of the class during my free periods. He is also going to help me learn about photoshop so that I can edit my pictures. He is extremely knowledgeable and i know i can ask him a question whenever I need to. Another great thing he did for me was add me into the photography course on canvas so that if there is ever a time where I can’t reach him I can look at the sources on there and use them to help me. 

6. Horan, Betsy. "Indelible Images From a Fashion Photography Icon." The New York Times. The New York Times, 03 Feb. 2016. Web. 04 Feb. 2016.

This source takes a deep look at one specific photographer and his style of taking photos. This is good for me because he has shot many different styles, not just fashion. Seeing these photos is good because I can learn a brief overview of the photographer and also see his style and use it as inspiration. There are a lot of different perspectives for me to look at which will hopefully give me some diversity in my photographs. I especially like the photo of the Rolling Stones, I like the lighting and the way that every member of the band can be seen but they are all different distances away so it gives the photo very good depth. 

7. "How to Become a Fashion Photographer | FASHION NET." Fashionnet. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Feb. 2016.

This is a very professional source with a lot of tips and information to have good fashion photography. There are a few paragraphs about each topic, not all topics are relevant to me but the one that is most relevant to me is “Having a Portfolio”, as this is basically my capstone. This source is also helpful because they listed their sources at the bottom of the article, so I used a few of their sources to find helpful ones to me. This source has good info about how my portfolio should look, such as sizes of images and preferred lighting. 

8. Mowery, Allen. "How To Get the 'Terry Richardson Look' and Shoot Like a Fashion Pro with Minimal Gear." DIY Photography. N.p., 18 Aug. 2015. Web. 04 Feb. 2016.

I chose this source because Terry Richardson is one of the most famous and influential fashion photographers in the fashion industry. The way he photographs is very different and I like how his photographs look. It will probably be hard for me to achieve this look because I am not that experienced as a photographer but with a combination of Mr. Herman’s help and this source’s tips I can at least try. His look is very bright and sharp and kind of crazy. I would have to work out if my styling would look good with this style of photography. It also tells me the gear to use and how to achieve the look with not too many props or gear.

9. "PhotoForum on the Internet." School of Photographic Arts and Sciences at Rochester Institute of Technology, n.d. Web. 04 Feb. 2016. <https://people.rit.edu/andpph/pf-faq.html>.

This source is amazing because it has a huge list of any photography topic you can think of. I am planning on using this source to help answer any questions I have if I don’t have Mr. Herman’s help. There are pdfs and links to hundreds of tutorials and tips of how to use cameras and photoshop. The thing I will need the most help with is the flash and how to use a flash and reflectors that are not attached to the camera. I will be able to find a lot of help with that on this website. This was a website that was linked off of Fashionnet. 

10. School of Photography. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Feb. 2016.

This source is a good source for any questions I have. It is a free source with tutorials, tips and and links for me to use. I can search any topic and find some useful articles about it. On the homepage there are links that I can click on to lead me to a number of helpful and informational articles. There are also videos about how to use equipment. I think this source will be extremely helpful because of the amount of information on the site. It is called school of photography, so it should help teach me what I need to know.