Toperzer_Cameron2016 by Renee Burke

Cameron Toperzer

Portfolio

Cameron Toperzer T: (407) 608-8092 E: cammiejanes@gmail. com @Cameron Jane Photography

To: Eve Wildermuth Photographer William R. Boone High School 1000 E. Kaley St. Orlando, FL 32806 Date: May 16, 2016

Dear Ms. Eve Wildermuth, I understand that you are in need of an assistant when photographing weddings. Your assistant photographer, the position I am applying for, demands a certain level of greatness to ensure your business keeps its excellent reputation. Attached is a copy of my resumé for your review for the position as your assistant. I have always had a passion for photography and when I was introduced to Photoshop my sophomore year, I was hooked. In the past two years, I started working more towards portrait photography and have conducted many photography sessions, including senior pictures and weddings, of my own. Even though the position I am applying for is only temporary, I believe I will contribute greatly to your wedding sessions and to your overall business. This job opportunity requires extensive knowledge and skill in Photoshop, Lightroom and with a camera. As I learned to use these tools my sophomore year, I have approximately three years of experience. Through instruction in Photography 1 and 2 and Photography 3 honors, I believe I have mastered the skills needed to assist you. I can effectively pose models and recognize beautiful photographs when I see them. I can also recognize the edits and effects that need to be added to photographs. I believe these skills that I have acquired will help keep the level of excellence your business demonstrates. Regardless of the merits contained within my resumé, I believe that an interview and an opportunity to look at my portfolio could better allow me to express and showcase the skills I feel I would contribute. I would be grateful to have the chance to meet with you at your earliest convenience. Thank you for reviewing my enclosed resumé. I look forward to meeting with you soon to discuss my interest in this available position. Best regards,

Cameron Toperzer

Cameron Toperzer T: (407) 608-8092 E: cammiejanes@gmail. com @Cameron Jane Photography

Objective: To contribute within a business and expand my knowledge and skills in photography

Skills and experience: • Hi-lights Newspaper staffer and copy editor (2015-present) Performing interviews; writing and copy editing; photography; experience in Adobe Photoshop CC; experience in Adobe InDesign CS6; creating and publishing web stories; collaborating with others towards a common goal; working on strict deadlines • Entrepreneur of Cameron Jane Photography (2014-present) Photograph events and portraits; experience in Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop CC; create contracts; work diligently and fulfill the wantings of a client Relevant Education: • Completed four years at William R. Boone High School, graduation on May 31, 2016 • Unweighted GPA: 2.8, Weighted GPA: 3.4 • Relevant studies: Journalism 5 honors, Advanced Placement Physics 1, English 1 honors, Photo 1-2 and 3 honors, Ceramics 1-2 Honors, Awards and Leadership Positions: • Junior Varsity Volleyball Team Captain, 2012-2014 • First Place 3D Art and Sculpture, Art Under the Stars, 2015 • First Place Ceramics, Boone High School, 2016 • Second Place Adobe InDesign CS6, Camp Orlando, 2015 Activities: • Junior Varsity Volleyball Team, 2012-2014 • Varsity Volleyball Team, 2014-2015 References: • Renée Burke, newspaper adviser (407) 893-7200 x6014614 • John Burke, photography teacher (407) 893-7200 x6012501 • Vitalie Barbos, current employer (321) 202-3623

Self Analysis

In seventh grade I took my first journalism class, we took pictures of the students, we interviewed them and we occasionally wrote stories. After that class I swore I would never take another journalism class again, but last year the opportunity arose and I jumped in, head first. This opportunity has helped me develop in other ways besides being a journalist, it has taught me how to find the shot, how to talk to people I have never met and most importantly, it has taught me how to manage my stress. The deadlines alone made me want to cry, but in the end, the reward always outweighed the painful process. I have learned what it feels like to be on a winning publication with amazing and talented writers. This opportunity has taught me how to set a goal. Every time I was resubed it made me want to work harder and it made me want to write the best piece ever. My goal at the beginning of the year was to go to press, but by the end, it was to write the best article anyone has ever seen. My goals are constantly changing because of this class. I have learned so many skills that I can use everyday. I can actually design something now, which for me is a huge accomplishment. I can now argue a side without saying I, my, me, our or any to be verbs. I am a better writer because of this amazing opportunity and I am much better at speaking my opinion. Working on a fast approaching deadline definitely became harder and harder as the year went on. Each deadline I took on more and more responsibility until I could barely breathe because of all the work, but somehow I made it. The last deadline was by far the hardest for so many reasons, but in the end, it was the most rewarding. Now I know how much work I can handle and now, I feel I am better at time management and surviving on little to no sleep. These skills I have learned will help me in whatever career choice I decide to peruse, whether it be a photojournalist for National Geographic or a physicist researching for Carnegie Mellon. Out of all the things I have learned while taking this class, the one that I think will help me the most in the future is learning how to work towards a common goal. Group think is used in many companies, like Google, and working as a publication has definitely showed me the pros and cons of working with others, but it has taught me that everyone makes up a piece of the big picture. When I first decided to take this class, I was set on being a physicist, but now I have decided to leave my options open and possibly try to work for National Geographic as a photojournalist. My future has changed directions compared to when I started out this year, but now I am even more excited to see where it goes.

Reflection

Reflection #1

My purpose for writing this article is to show that climate change is a huge problem and society needs to stop ignoring the facts. When reading back through this article I believe I accomplished this goal. Surprisingly, this piece was harder to write than expected. I really struggled with adding voice into the article because I felt the facts were so important, but in the end I had to be reminded that this is argument and my point needs to appear early in the editorial. The first draft of this piece was extremely rough. It started off as a fact heavy, boring list of why climate change is terrible, but in the end this article is a well developed argument to convince readers to take action to work to cut down on the amount of waste and carbon they are producing. When I first started writing this, I found a bunch of research that supported my claim and I found some research that challenged my point of view. For the first draft I tried to take all of this information and smush it into a 600-800 word article. This was my first fault. This article is an editorial not a news story. It is supposed to be a strong opinion supported by facts and evidence. Once I realized that I needed to add more voice I re-wrote the entire article. I found that adding voice was harder than I thought simply because I felt the facts speak for themselves. When I first re-wrote it, I used a lot of me, my and ours, but that was simply to add voice into the mix. After this step in the process, I re-wrote the article one more time before resubmitting to Burke, for the last time. When I got my story back I had little to no edits and the voice and facts balanced themselves. This piece was difficult for me because I had to re-write my story so many times, but in the end, I feel this is my most influential and my best story I wrote all year. It displays the right amount of sass and facts all condensed to 600-800 words. I also really love the graphic Jessie drew for me, it is exactly what I asked her to do which helped lower my stress level a tiny bit.

Before

After

Reflection

Reflection #2 N3 Editorial Writing Our View “Climate change, not just a bunch of hot air” February 5, 2016 This was my favorite piece to write and I feel like it challenged me when it came to actually showing an opinion instead of facts. I am most proud of this piece and I really love my headline.

N12 Personality Profile DPS “Leah gets a new name” November 16, 2015 This was my first feature story I have ever written. It was by far the most frustrating piece as well. I learned how hard interviewing really was while writing this piece and I realized that I truly do not like feature stories, but I want to enter it because I worked hard on it and this piece pushed me to be a better writer.. N3 Editorial Writing Our View “Supporters should dump Trump” October 9, 2015 This was my first piece ever written on the Hi-Lights staff. It was the beginning of many editorials and many resubs. This piece taught me that I am a great writer and that I can do what I put my mind to. Even though this piece was my first, I still think it is one of my best.

Clips

Writing Reasoning: I feel this piece best represents my writing because it is what I write best, an editorial. Since this was my first piece, I struggled on this the most, it drove me crazy, but it showed me that I could write well and take on the great task as the writer of the main editorial and as the copy editor. Information: Deadline 1 October 9, 2015 Pg 2 Editorial

Mine

What’s Mine:  Body Copy  Captions  Photography q Secondary Coverage  Design

Writing Reasoning: I feel this piece best represents my writing because it is my first feature story. After writing two editorials, this was a big change and this piece really challenged my writing style and process. Information: Deadline 2 November 16, 2015 Pg 6 Feature

Mine

What’s Mine:  Body Copy  Captions  Photography q Secondary Coverage  Design

Writing Reasoning: I feel this piece best represents my writing because I believe it is my best piece. This was resubed twice and I stayed up so late working on it, but I can see all the hard work I put into it. Every time I read it, I realize that hard work paid off. Information: Deadline 4 February 5, 2016 Pg 2 Editorial

Mine

What’s Mine:  Body Copy  Captions  Photography q Secondary Coverage  Design

Writing Reasoning: I feel this piece best represents my writing because it is one of the pieces that challenged me the most. I personally did not know where I stood on the subject, so writing for one side posed its difficulties. Information: Deadline 3 December 18, 2015 Pg 2 Editorial

Mine

What’s Mine:  Body Copy  Captions  Photography  Secondary Coverage  Design

Writing Reasoning: I feel this piece best represents my writing because it is one of my many editorials that I wrote this year. It is also clearly my style and it went along with my personal views. Information: Deadline 5 March 11, 2016 Pg 2 Editorial

Mine

What’s Mine:  Body Copy  Captions  Photography q Secondary Coverage  Design

Writing Reasoning: I feel this piece best represents my writing because it is one of my well written Our Views. I enjoyed picking a side for this article, it was a really sassy one. Information: Deadline 2 November 16, 2015 Pg 2 Editorial

Mine

What’s Mine:  Body Copy  Captions  Photography  Secondary Coverage  Design

Writing Reasoning: I feel this piece best represents my writing because it is the last editorial I wrote and it really shows how I have grown. One can clearly see how my writing has changed. Information: Deadline 6 May 13, 2016 Pg 2 Editorial

Mine

What’s Mine:  Body Copy  Captions  Photography q Secondary Coverage  Design

Writing Reasoning: I feel this piece best represents my writing because it is all writing, everything else is standard I just had to summarize the stories. Information: Deadline 3 December 18, 2015 Pg 10 News 2 note

Mine

What’s Mine:  Body Copy  Captions  Photography  Secondary Coverage  Design

Design Reasoning: I feel this piece best represents my design because it is an amazing design that Jessie and I worked on together. We truly worked hard on this DPS and we really collaborated. Information: Deadline 4 February 5, 2016 Pg 6-7 DPS

What’s Mine:  Body Copy  Captions  Photography q Secondary Coverage  Design

Design Reasoning: I feel this piece best represents my design because it is a spread that is mostly pictures and design, the body copy is limited. This spread took a long time because of all the cobs. Information: Deadline 6 May 13, 2016 Pg 22-23 DPS

What’s Mine:  Body Copy  Captions  Photography  Secondary Coverage  Design

Photography

Reasoning: I feel this piece best represents my photography because this is the shot I was wanting to get. Also, I do not have many pieces that include my photography.

Mine

Information: Deadline 5 March 11, 2016 Pg 12 Sports

What’s Mine:  Body Copy  Captions  Photography  Secondary Coverage  Design

Web

Information: October 15, 2015 Sports