For the Explorations project, we were given the persmission to explore whatever we wanted and create our own project that we could complete in a month. At first, I juggled with a couple ideas involving sewing, photography, or drawing. After some discussion, I narrowed it down to photography. I knew that I wanted to capture humans and have more experience with portrait photography. I drew inspiration from Humans of New York as well as a photo project I had seen online. The project was done by a student, and involved taking pictures before and after they were given a compliment. The photos captured their reaction. I then settled on the idea that I wanted to take pictures of similarities I saw in people around San Francisco, such as people wearing similar clothing. After going to the city, taking pictures of people in repose, or at rest, was the easiest for me and I decided to base my project around repose.

Screenshot of Adobe InDesign

Screenshot of Adobe Dreamweaver

My infographic

Part of the Explorations project involved making an infographic. We were allowed to use an Adobe application to create it, or we could use an infographic generator online. I chose to create mine in Adobe Illustrator. In English, we brainstormed ideas on what to make our infographic about. It was supposed to answer a question that related to our own Explorations project. I decided to make my infographic a guide on portrait photography.

Screenshot of Adobe Illustrator

My first year of Freestyle started out slowly. A lot of classtime was spent learning how to use the many applications, and it was hard for me to remember all the different tools in each application. However, as time went on, things got better. We were given time in class to work on whatever areas we needed to, and that was when I felt most productive. This first year has taught me a lot about several Adobe applications, as well as a lot on time management.