Daniel

Hi Daniel, The publisher has emailed me that 6 of your basketball photos are pixelated. (see below) We cannot use these in the yearbook. Please find similar or other photos and write captions for them. THIS IS A PRIORITY over the iMovie. If all of your photos are of similar quality, you will need to ask the players, etc. Ask Nora for advice. I will need to send these to the publisher as soon as I return. Thanks, Mrs. Scholz
 * [[image:pg64.jpg width="256" height="331"]] || [[image:pg65.jpg width="254" height="329"]] ||

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Deadline 1: The Arts**__

This was my first spread, and I'm still extremely proud of it. I think I selected very strong pictures to accentuate the spread, and I like the way in which I blended the layout between color, and black and white. Furthermore, I think that I had a powerful dominant photo, as well as fairly strong captions, with an appropriate amount of detail, though they were a bit repetitive. However, I must say that the strongest aspect of this spread, was my story. I like the title and subhead I selected, and I think that my story would be able to hold anyone's interest. I think the weakest aspect of the spread was the layout itself, I do not think that it was particularly original, and the spread originally had contained only female students, so I had to ensure to include some male art students. I also think there was a bit too much white space, which, as we all know in yearbook, is a big no-no, so I needed to improve that. Thus, I mainly learned that spreads MUST be balanced between male and female, and that a strength of mine was in writing interesting stories.



__**Deadline 2: Required Electives**__

This was my second spread, and I feel an improvement, in some ways, in relation to my first spread. I'm thrilled that I chose to be original, and took a risk, in that I selected to do a spread primarily on choir, as no one else had done this before as a spread for yearbook. I wanted choir to receive a lot of recognition, as it is not as easy as some people believe it is. I think that this spread was strong, particularly in the area of my writing, as this was probably one of the best stories I wrote this year. Being a choir student myself, I was really able to convey what exactly it is that we do during classes, and how we prepare for a concert. I think that my captions were improved from my previous spread, and included more detail/variety, and better language. I also think I had a strong title and subhead, which would make a person want to read my story. I think that I could have selected stronger pictures, and furthermore, that I could have cropped the images themselves better. Thus, the quality was not quite top notch, and I also think that I could have included, perhaps, one or two more images. I learned with this spread, that deciding to be original and take risks can be a very good thing, but I realized that I wanted to create a more original layout for my next spread assignment.

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Deadline 3: Band & Orchestra**__

This was my third spread, and, again, included a very superb story, definitely the longest I had written all year, as well as a strong variety of pictures. Like with choir, I wanted to include just about every student involved with band and orchestra, as well as a wide range of the instruments that they play, to add to the flavor of the spread. I think I succeeded in included many instruments/students in the spread, and I also think that I had a very strong dominant photo. My captions were a bit repetitive, and definitely not my best, and with this spread, I learned to use many, many adjectives, and to NOT repeat yourself from caption to caption, regardless of how similar the pictures may be. Furthermore, I learned the importance of the direction of the picture. If the people in your picture are facing the left, then they must be on the right side of your spread, and vice versa. This is really important in adding to the overall effect of the spread, and looks awkward if done otherwise. This was crucial, as my dominant photo was originally facing the wrong direction, but luckily I fixed it! I thought, yet again, that my layout could have been improved, and thus, that was my goal for my next spread, create a strong, sharp, unique layout!



__**Deadline 4: Varsity Girls' Basketball**__

This was my final spread, and one of my best, in my opinion. This spread also gave me the opportunity to take more risks with the layout and be original, as this was my first spread that did not include a story. Thus, I decided to take advantage of this opportunity. Although some of my pictures were a tad bit blurry due to the poor lighting of the gym, I think that these were some of the best shots I ever took, and I think that I chose my pictures wisely. I, true to form, had a strong dominant photo, and included more pictures than I ever had before, obviously because this was a non-story spread, but I'm proud I was able to include more than five photos, and create a strong layout, with a sharp eye-line. Moreover, I like how I blended the layout between black and white, and color, and think that it added to the overall effect of my pictures. As far as improvements are concerned, I think that I could (perhaps,) have included about one or two more pictures if I had slightly altered my layout. Moreover, I think that I could have had better quality pictures, due to the blurriness of them, even though the shots were very strong (in my opinion.) I believe I took advantage of this opportunity, and took a risk, in that stories are usually the predominant strength of my spreads, and since this spread did not include a story, I had to ensure to take strong pictures, and above all, have strong captions! When you do not have a story, then obviously, your captions must be detailed, thus, I went behind the scenes for this spread, and I asked the girls I photographed what exactly was occurring in each picture.