Visual Journalism Baltimore: March 2011

Thursday, March 31, 2011

Portrait/Weekly

I interviewed my friend Mier. Well even though she is not a stranger for the assignments interview, I still don't know much about her culture background. So we talked about how her Asian and American influence has big impact on her art.

Interview with Michel (portraits and an excerpt)

There is nobody to save me in this country. I don’t have any family. You’ve really got to survive. It’s funny- one time I had a girlfriend who was from Romania. Her grandma there was a gypsy and when she was 18 or 16 she went to Auschwitz. And she was experimented on by Mengele. She was one of the patients. This woman went through hell. The first thing this woman said to me – and she floored me, she really floored me – she said to me “You’re a survivor. And you must not hate.” That’s the first thing she said to me. And that was really strange- that in some way that she could see through it so clearly. Growing up was very tough.

Michelle Porucznik - Portrait

Over spring break I had the chance to go back home and visit my family. My parents both have very intense backgrounds, but I never really knew to what extent so I decided to interview my dad. He grew up in the south-western region of Poland on a farm with 4 other brothers. He told me a few stories that I had never known, one example being that he was kicked by a horse when he was 13 years old and was in a bed ridden coma for a few days, unable to ever find out if he had a concussion. He moved to the USA in his mid 20's, settling in the Northern area of New Jersey. He went to a technical school for auto-mechanics, then worked for a few businesses here and there, and eventually saved up enough to buy his own business where he still works today. He now supports a family of 7, me being the middle child of 5.

Jiah- weekly sketches

Interview and More by Adam

An interview with Michel Henry

And others

Friday, March 25, 2011

Interview and sketches

For my interview i talked with a friend of mine who has had some major health issues due to untreated and undiagnosed lyme disease. She was bitten by a tick at an outdoor school event and got the tell-tale red ring, but the doctors said it was only an infection and let it be. She started getting progressively sicker over a period of years and her doctors blamed it on depression and lack of sleep. It was only until she couldn't physically get up for a few hours one day that they decided they should test her for anything she might have gotten over the years. 14 vials of blood later they discovered Lyme disease in her system. Thankfully, it wasn't too late.

Katherine- Portrait interview/HW

interview by nara

http://student.mica.edu/nlee/

download "interview" file.

DeAnna: Spring Break

Interview/Portrait:

I interviewed my old roommate from freshman year. Her name is Jessica Davidson and she's quite the interesting gal! I'm thinking of actually maybe doing another piece that would incorporate my interview with her but for now I have the portrait.

These color studies are actually one person. It's actually different poses made by Jessica.

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Jessica - Spring break

This is Rick Lewis, a friend/co worker of my Dad's. I chose to interview him because he is one of the most interesting people I know. In the 70s he got busted for possession of Marijuana. He could either go to jail, or join the Marines. He chose the Marines and spent the next 3 years jumping out of planes, doing underwater demolition, and close combat training. Learning, as he said, "a lot of neat shit that doesn't do you much good in real life."

After hearing about the time that he had to drive home to Chicago from Daytona on a motorcycle in the middle of a snowstorm, I asked if he had any more good stories. He said, "Sure, but most of them are X rated."

For this project I wanted to have more of a final piece, rather than just something in my sketch book. Obviously it's still in progress, but this is what I've been working on.