Morgan Rowland
Portfolio 2014
Morgan Rowland
mmrowland22@ gmail.com morganrowland. wordpress.com
May 16, 2014 Liz Vaccariello Chief Content Officer and Editor-in-Chief The Reader’s Digest Association Inc. 44 South Broadway White Plains, NY 10601 Dear Ms. Vaccariello, The down-to-earth and warm tone your magazine creates through photography sparked my interest in interning as a photo styler to help capture the essence of the magazine’s subjects. As the junior editor-in-chief of an award-winning yearbook at my high school, I know how to work with others, including strangers, to collaborate to create a desired piece. I have taken photos that have been published in the yearbook and online. I have my own DSLR camera that I often practice shooting a variety of photos with, both posed and candid. Additionally, I am beginning my second year in photography soon and know about unique ways to build a photo to create a one of a kind approach. I have worked with others to capture specific shots, some of which have been in my high school’s art show. Although the accompanying resume illustrates my background well, I feel a personal interview would better demonstrate my knowledge and abilities. I would appreciate the opportunity to meet with you at a convenient time. Thank you for your review and consideration. I look forward to hearing from you soon. Respectfully yours,
Morgan Rowland Enclosed: resume
Morgan Rowland
mmrowland22@ gmail.com morganrowland. wordpress.com
Objective: To assist creative photographers and learn how to compose magazine photos Education Boone High School, August 2011- June 2015 G.P.A: 4.76 Creative Photography I, August 2013-present Maintained a 96 percent average by completing tasks on time and exquisitely. Academic Photography session at Columbia, March 2014 Learned how to use different angles to shoot more interesting photos. Photography I course at Camp Orlando, July 2012 Completed a course at a journalism camp to improve my photography skills. Adobe Photoshop Certified Completed a course at a journalism camp to improve my photography skills.
Involvement
Boone Legend Yearbook Editor in chief, June 2013-present Being a leader of over 30 staff members, I edited over 440 pages and created a specific theme tied throughout the publication Boone Legend Yearbook staffer, August 2012-June 2013 As a member of this group, I was responsible for meeting constant deadlines and collaborating with students and faculty to obtain interviews and photos. Member of National Honor Society, February 2013-present To remain an active member, I completed five community service hour about every two months, one being a tutoring hour, and participated in service projects. Competing on Boone bowling team, August 2012-November 2012 As a part of this small team, I competed with nine other girls in matches around the Orlando area.
Work/Volunteer Experience
Dancer and co-instructor of Zumba classes, January 2012-Febreuary 2014 Zumba is a Latin dance workout class. After attending class a few times each week for a year, I about 40 people in a synchronized, workout routine. Volunteer for A New Beginning at Petsmart, 2011-present: A New Beginning is a nonprofit pet organization that rescues animals from shelters and finds them a forever home. As a volunteer, I not only care or the dogs but also show others the love a pet can provide and hopefully this leads to an adoption.
References
Renee Burke, yearbook adviser, (407) 443-8451 Elizabeth Eischer, family friend, (314) 706-4595 John Burke, photography teacher,
Self-analytical Evaluation I was always interested in writing so in middle school when we had to create a rough outline of the courses we were going to take in high school, I chose Journalism I. When I came into the class, I fell in love with the idea of capturing the student perspective through writing and photography. I also really enjoyed editing others’ works and helping them improve. Over the summer, I actually began to build my skills for staff. When I was selling business ads, I was more outgoing than the previous summer. Even though I ended up selling the same two ads as last year, I filled out at least 20 more spaces on the purple sheet. I decided there was no harm in asking the businesses. I picked a few days in the beginning of summer and took my best friend with me to visit business hot spots. I interacted with many more people than I thought and everybody was friendly. Additionally, I think my photography have improved this year because of shooting more events, having a camera of my own and taking Mr. Burke’s class. I volunteered to shoot events, such as the Spanish holiday dinner and I tried really hard to make my photo days worthwhile. From both these events, I shot some of my best photos. Owning my own camera allowed me to shoot more often which gave me more practice. Finally, Mr. Burke taught me how to use the camera more effectively and how to use different tools in Photoshop to enhance my photos. Being junior editor in chief taught me how to efficiently interact and collaborate with others. I tried my best to get to know every new staff member and become closer with each one I already knew. Getting to work with Blake and Amelia on theme copy was a great experience because I learned how to listen to others’ ideas and mold them with my own to create pieces that I think we were all proud of and had a say in. Ever since joining staff almost two years ago, I knew I would have to be dedicated. Being an editor, this dedication obviously increased. I learned I must organize my time and prioritize the activities in my life. Yearbook took much of my time this year but I know in the end it was all worth it. As the junior EIC, I tried my hardest to learn from Blake. We had some rough patches at the beginning of the year. I did not know how to start being the position and I did not feel like I was getting much guidance from her, so I panicked. I would come home and cry and stress out because I wanted to do something to help move the process along but I had no clue what to do. I talked to some people about it and decided to just write the copy because there weren’t any set rules for it that I could even possibly break. I felt by doing this, I really got more comfortable with the job and got the ball rolling on the new copy angle we were trying to achieve. Additionally, I tried to add as much input as possible to the theme elements and how to carry the theme through better.
Reflection #1 I think the Issues divider was my most significant piece of work because I summarized the section while adding emotion. I tried to make the tone dramatic but not to the point where it sounded fake. At first, I struggled to write the copy because I wanted to do the stories within the section justice. I found it made more sense if I used the information that was described on each spread, hoping to intrigue the readers to want to read the section. All the stories in this section are extremely serious. I wanted to leave the reader wanting more because I think it is important for all students to read this section to know the serious consequences of their actions.
Reflection #2 Y18. Feature photo
page 078-079 I think this photo shows a unique leading line and captures emotion.
Y16. Sports Feature photo
page 030 I would like this photo to represent me because it shows a creative angle.
DM27. Single Feature Photo
smugmug>academics>honors breakfast I like this photo because it captures emotion and action.
Reflection #3 Last year for my portfolio design all I did was use a brush with pre-made bubbles and three different colors. Looking back on it now, I do not think it looks professional at all. I think the colors and bubbles make the look seem very elementary and childish. This year, I went with a clean look using InDesign. The bubbles looked busy as opposed to simple lines that create a higher aesthetic appeal. For my writing, I think I am now more succinct and now how to convey my message using better diction. Instead of rambling on in a bunch of sentences, I know how to condense the information into what is important. I don’t think I put very much thought into my design last year, especially compared to this one. This year, I designed four different covers and tested out more than 10 new effects in Photoshop. I decided Photoshop might be taking the safer way out for me so I decided to try to use InDesign. I feel much more comfortable playing around in Photoshop but i waned to utilize InDesign elements instead to break out of my comforat zone.
Clips
September divider
What’s mine: story
Writing captions
design
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October divider
What’s mine: story
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November divider
What’s mine: story
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January divider
What’s mine: story
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Issues divider
What’s mine: story
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Community divider
What’s mine: story
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Student life, February
What’s mine: story
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Clubs, January
Photography
What’s mine: story
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Clubs, November
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Clubs, November
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Academics, November
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Clubs, December
Photography
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Sports, September
Photography
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Sports, Spring Supplement
Photography
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Additonal photos
Photography
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This photo has multiple quality elements. Depth of field can be seen in the blurriness of the “snow” in comparison to the clearness of her face. Additionally, the subject fills the frame and is showing obvious emotion.
Additional photos
Photography
What’s mine: story
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I think this photo is quality because I used the tape the subject is interacting with as a leading line to the subject’s emotion. Without this line, the photo would be boring.
Additional photos
Photography
What’s mine: story
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I really like this photo because I captured action and repetition at the same time. Even though the buys’ faces are slightly shadowed, I think the frozen action makes up for it.
Sports
Multimedia/open What’s mine: story
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Sports
Multimedia/open What’s mine: story
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Design
Morgan Rowland “Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.�