Classmate Self Portrait Assignment: Huong Edition

"I don't f*** with people; people better be honest with me," Huong Truong said while explaining how her Big Sister gave her the nickname Aletheia. Aletheia is the Greek goddess, or spirit, of truth, and Truong believes that the truth can reveal a lot; it is the reason why she wants to be journalist. Truong is a Sister of the Alpha Phi Gamma Sorority, Inc., Eta Chapter, at the University of Missouri. Since becoming a member in the Fall of 2015, she has been extremely involved, taking up several executive positions, including the President of Multicultural Greek Council at MU.

I decided to choose a photo that used only one light source. I did use a reflector, but I didn't want the shadow to be eliminated, or even brighter than it appears in the photo. I really wanted to emphasize the letters that are Huong's jacket because her sorority is a significant part of her life. I also wanted to have a high lighting ratio because I wanted to give off the mood that she's not messing around. I don't see Huong as an extremely serious person, but she is definitely serious about Alpha Phi Gamma and the bond she has with her sisters. The only challenge that I think some of us also faced was having the backdrop not be wide enough for the cropping we desired. I would have cropped this photo differently if my backdrop gave me sufficient space to, but it's just something I had to work around. I think a big success during this assignment was the ability to connect with Huong and understand her true passion for truth-telling. I think I really wanted to capture that in her and I felt that this simple, yet captivating lighting setup did the job. 

I also really liked this multi-light source photo, but I felt that the light flare was an extremely personal preference, and I didn't feel like others would find it as dope as I did. 

Instead of using a light above her, I thought that a light below would give a different mood to the photograph, which I absolutely loved, but didn't know if it was the best choice for what I wanted to portray.