Assignment 1 — Portrait Package

Alba Ramos, 21, poses Sept. 7, 2022, in front of Rose Well House, located in the heart of the Old Crescent area on Indiana University’s campus. Originally from Madrid, Spain, Ramos is studying abroad at IU this year and said she is still getting used to the pace of Indiana. Credit: Ethan Moore
Ramos shows off one of her four tattoos, the coordinates of her hometown in Spain. Ramos said her friends from home have the same tattoo. Credit: Ethan Moore
Ramos, seen Sept. 7, 2022, poses for a portrait. She said she misses the big city life she enjoys in Madrid, Spain. “I miss having a lot of options of things to do,” Ramos said. Credit: Ethan Moore
Ramos poses Sept. 7, 2022, in front of Sample Gates. Despite the challeneges that come with moving to a new country for a year, Ramos said she is finding this about life at IU that she loves.

For this assignment, I had the pleasure of getting to know and work with Alba. I wanted to center the package around the fact that she is an international student from Spain and I attempted to highlight that by placing her in the heart of campus. I wanted to show her in her new enviornemnt.

Through talking with her, I learned more about her life in Madrid and I could see how she misses the pace of city life so I wanted to reflect that in some of my portraits and tell a story of both the happy and sad parts of studying abroad. To begin, I wanted to place her in front of an IU landmark and almost have it be looming behind her as a metaphor for the differences that she is still getting sued to. I used the strobes to illuminate her so I could make the Rose Well House darker in contrast and I also checked out a wide angle lens to make the building appear almost menacing behind her. It’s definitely not insanely dark but I think that contrast is still enough that I am happy with this image.

Next, I wanted to use my closeups to let the reader get to know Alba a bit more since closeups can be very vulnerable and revealing photos. I did two since I wasn’t sure if we had to have it be a traditional portrait of our partner’s face but I prefer the tattoo photo. I think it adds character and shows concrete proof of how much Alba loves Madrid and where she’s from so I wanted to be sure to include that. I don’t feel like the other closeup matches Alba’s personality as much as it could but I think any portrait that close will be more dramatic than preferred.

To finish up, I wanted to include a happier photo of Alba to show that she is still enjoying IU despite missing her home. For this, I had her in direct sunlight in front of Sample Gates to have a bright photo with an obviously IU landmark behind her.

I am happy with my package as a whole. There are definitely photos where I think you can tell that I am still getting used to the tones of this camera and how it handles light but overall I think I was able to accomplish what I wanted to. I will definitely try to incorporate strobes into my work more after this unit!