Since I started learning how to use the camera, Brittney took me to an event to take pictures. We went to the shooting range to where the School Resource Officer (SRO) unit was training. This was such a cool experience! Some of the officers came up to me and told me they did not want their photo taken. This was hard since I had not met some of them, so I accidentally took a few photos I had to go back and delete later. Learning to photograph groups is very new to me. You always have those who do not want photos or want specific photos. Getting used to knowing who to not take photos of was hard.

Brittney told me to take photos when they were shooting and to practice with the two cameras we brought. The first one was her favorite camera, a Sony, which she uses for almost everything. This was good for action photos, like deputies running and going through training drills. The other camera, my favorite, was the Canon. It could zoom in so much that I could see the details of the gun when I took the picture. The downside to this camera was it was hard to stay precise when zoomed in. The Sony was much better with this, but I still used the Canon more. It allowed me to keep my distance from the deputies’ shooting while also getting cool pictures.

After getting back to the office, Brittney showed me how she goes through all photos, decides what to keep, and how she edits them. Lightroom is the Adobe program she uses to view all photos taken initially. I went through the photos I had taken, picked my favorites, then started the editing process. During the photoshoot, it was very bright outside. Lightroom easily fixed the colors to make the colors of the grass and uniforms vibrant. Next week, I will continue to work on editing the photos I took, and hopefully be able to share my favorite one!

After dipping my feet back into Photoshop, I used it for my next project. Crime Scene Investigations Unit had a new opening and needed an updated hiring flyer to post. I went through the most recent photos taken of the team to showcase what the job entails. Brittney showed me a group of photos she took of the team. She had them stage a fake crime scene so she could take action shots of them. Using some clipping techniques I learned last year, I made the photos into shapes I wanted and placed them around the flyer. I met with the captain of the unit to understand what information they needed on the flyer, then submitted it to them after finished. Being able to communicate with whom the design is for is a necessary skill to have for this career. This helps understand what is needed for the design to be executed how the client wants it.

Next, Brittney asked me to design a simple shirt for her to wear when taking photos at events. She wanted to make sure that the shirt said her department but also said “Sheriff” on it. Designing this shirt was my first design solely with typography. The design helped me to understand how important branding is and to keep it consistent. I maintained the font style that the organization uses for branding. Then, I took the star logo and made it all black while I also drew a flag design to go on the other shoulder. One complication I had during this project was that I did not save an un-rasterized version of the shirt design. When I needed to change the color to all white, I was not able to edit since rasterizing the vector turns them into un-editable images. To get around this, I reached out to Sarah and asked her for help. She taught me a way to recolor the image using a tool in the Edit section of Adobe Illustrator. This tool was extremely useful for this situation, and I know it will come in handy later.

I have received my biggest project ever to take on. A deputy runs a career camp for kids to learn from different units of the Sheriff’s Office. The deputy reached out to me and asked if I could create a poster that they can post for social media. He also wanted it on a foam board to display and get all the deputies to sign. For the design itself, he wanted all units represented and to have great diversity. But the most important part to him was to make it look “cool” to the kids. What he meant by this was to make it look like an action movie poster.

To start the design, I went through all the photos Brittney has taken of the different units. I used action photos, like the photo I previously mentioned about the boat and helicopter. I used Photoshop to cut out the exact parts I wanted to use to compile the units together on the poster. It was fun seeing all these photos, but one main challenge was making sure no undercover deputies were in the photos on the board. This narrowed down the pool by a lot. After cutting all the photos to what I wanted to use, I imported them to Illustrator.

When I first learned Photoshop, I did not care about the program. It almost created more problems than helped me. After taking Digital Art Fundamentals at Stetson, my professor taught me how to use Photoshop to my advantage. I used selection tools to pull out what I wanted with photos and put filters on them. This made sure that when the images went together, they did not clash with each other. My professor taught us how to make photos stand out from each other, which I used to create shades in between photos for depth. I left space on the poster to give room for the deputies to sign the poster, so no pictures need to get covered.

But that was not the end of it: now I had to mount it on the board. I learned how to use the massive poster printer the Sheriff’s Office owns. I had to reprint a few times since the printer would make the design show darker, putting me back in Photoshop. After that, I learned how to mount the poster onto the board, cut it out, then deliver it to the camp. Although it was the most challenging, it has become my favorite project I delivered to the Sheriff’s Office.

In a couple of weeks, LCSO is having an event to engage with the students of the Lake County Community. I have volunteered at this event already, and it helps the community engage with our deputies. Events like this educate families about cops. The most enjoyable part of the event is the photo booth they are introducing. Kids can take photos with their families and deputies. To market the event, I helped create a few flyers thanking event sponsors and took videos of the process of preparing for the event.

Edit: The event has passed, and it was a great hit in the community. I helped with some early setup, like putting up the banners and backdrops for photos. We also took photos of those sorting supplies to give at the event to post. Posting these photos shows the community what to get excited about and gets the volunteers excited to help. The week after the event, Brittney compiled the event photos and showed me how she created the videos with them. I want to explore making videos from pictures after taking the Photography class at Stetson. I was highly interested in watching her make videos. She made one for a deputy training event. Next week she will make a slide show she said I could help with.

During week 4, I saw my designs posted. Brittney showed me how she made social media posts and gave me insight into how she plans. This process is good for me to know because I will soon help someone market their new law firm. To broaden my knowledge, I will find classes to learn more about social media use for marketing skills. Social media is a way for businesses communication, so it is vital to understand how to use it with my work.

We had numerous events to take footage of. The Sheriff gave various checks, so Brittney used her whiteboard check and camera to catch the unique moments. Since she has been letting me use the camera, I have learned different techniques for certain photos. She also showed me a few photos she has taken in the past and techniques to capture interesting photos. My favorite photo she has taken was of the LCSO marine unit boat speeding across the water as our helicopter hovers over the boat. I cannot wait to learn more about photography! I have always been interested in learning photography. Now that I have had some experience, I want to take the Digital Photography class sequence. Acquiring the knowledge of photo capturing will give me the ability to use my own photos in my designs.