Sam Kulliver
Portfolio 2016-2017
This semester was my first semester with a real leadership position. I was given a fantastic team of three girls who are always down to work. In the course of this semester I have learned to be more organized and more responsible. This semester was very rocky in the sense that I didn’t truly know what I was doing, I had never really put a spread together, and the year prior to this, all I really had to do was make a mod or two. However this year since we have a much smaller staff, this means more writing, more pictures, and more time spent. This semester taught me a lot. I learned how to put a spread together, that is not only going to draw in the reader, but not harsh on the reader’s eyes. In the future, meaning next semester and next year. I will be able to put spreads together that are designed well, with a structure and they will look neater and cleaner. My main concern with spread building is so that the reader will actually want to read what is on the page. I think with my new knowledge that I will be able to pull this off. Furthermore, when it comes to deadlines, I learned more from those than any other. I learned how stressful they can be for the team leaders and editors. It showed me how important deadlines were and that if we do not meet them then we are in deep doo doo. In the future I think I need to plan a little better for those respective nights. I need to make sure that my team actually has their stuff done and that is to the quality that it needs to be. When it comes to teamwork, I believe that my team and I worked very well together. I think that I was as helpful to them as I could of been. If I could change something, I wish it would be that I knew more. I feel as though I lack some knowledge when it comes to running a team, however I do believe that I did the best that I could possibly do. I have always been honest when it comes to yearbook. I always made sure my team was actually writing something original and not something that was just copied off the internet. Telling the truth is extremely important in any world. Especially in journalism, I believe it is one of the most important parts. There is no point of being a journalist if you are not going to be honest. In my opinion I was as helpful as possible this deadline. I stayed longer on deadline nights then I truly needed to. I have stayed during my classes to help the editors who are constantly swamped with work towards the end of a deadline. I am extremely committed to this publication, it is my second year and I plan to come back next year and help lead the team.
Self-analytical Evaluation
One of my main problems this year, was keeping my cool and being organized. Both are something that I could truly work on for myself. I tend to get frustrated easily when it comes to the yearbook because I just want it to be amazing. If problems like this arose in the future, I believe that I just need to learn to chill and truly I believe I will be fine. My greatest weakness would probably be photography. I just need to take more opportunities to take photos. Next semester I will take photos at more events and truly get to know the camera and how everything works when it comes to lighting and all that.
This year my work has definitely gotten better since my first year of yearbook. If I was to choose three pieces of my work that I am proud of this year, it would have to be: the photo of the couple at the homecoming dance, my photo on the couple for early college, and my mod on summer reading. The homecoming dance was something that I have never been more last when it came to taking photos. It was dark, misty and loud. Taking photos was next to impossible do too these conditions. However I was able to get a solid five by the end of the night. One of these was a photo of a couple who were looking lovingly into each other’s eyes during a song. It was kind of to me, what high school is about. Like you aren’t going to be here forever, so spend it with the people you love. It just tells a story in my opinion. Second comes my photo for the story about the early college couple and how it affects their relationship. I had to take a photo of the couple and photoshop them in different place. Photoshop can be tricky and i’m glad that I was able to put it together in a way that it looks nice. Could it be cleaner? Of course. However I only have a few months of knowledge when it comes to photoshop, so I believe that what I did was worthwhile. Lastly, comes my mod about summer reading. Now it is not the most exciting mod, I mean its a mod about summer reading. Nobody thinks summer reading and jumps up and down with joy. But the way that it is put together is creative in my opinion. We were able to use stacks of books to show the percentages. I have never seen that done before and thought that was super creative. All three pieces I believe show that I have become more creative when it comes to ideas and mods and my writing.
Reflection #1
This year my work has definitely gotten better since my first year of yearbook. If I was to choose three pieces of my work that I am proud of this year, it would have to be: the photo of the couple at the homecoming dance, my photo on the couple for early college, and my mod on summer reading. The homecoming dance was something that I have never been more last when it came to taking photos. It was dark, misty and loud. Taking photos was next to impossible do too these conditions. However I was able to get a solid five by the end of the night. One of these was a photo of a couple who were looking lovingly into each other’s eyes during a song. It was kind of to me, what high school is about. Like you aren’t going to be here forever, so spend it with the people you love. It just tells a story in my opinion. Second comes my photo for the story about the early college couple and how it affects their relationship. I had to take a photo of the couple and photoshop them in different place. Photoshop can be tricky and i’m glad that I was able to put it together in a way that it looks nice. Could it be cleaner? Of course. However I only have a few months of knowledge when it comes to photoshop, so I believe that what I did was worthwhile. Lastly, comes my mod about summer reading. Now it is not the most exciting mod, I mean its a mod about summer reading. Nobody thinks summer reading and jumps up and down with joy. But the way that it is put together is creative in my opinion. We were able to use stacks of books to show the percentages. I have never seen that done before and thought that was super creative. All three pieces I believe show that I have become more creative when it comes to ideas and mods and my writing.
Reflection #2
This is the story that I wrote about the class sizes and how the school doesn’t have enough money to have smaller classes
I took this photo at the homecoming dance
Mod about seniors and their future endeveres
To add a little more life to the swim and dive spread, I did a madlib about an event that happned during the season
Homecoming that I put together along with olivia
Haunted house spread, with mods like hot to make skin, a layout of the building,, and a story about a injured
All about me