Creative Critical Reflection

To conclude my project, here is my CCR! I am so happy and proud of the final product I have created. 

Final Magazine

I am finally able to present my magazine in its final form. I am very happy with how it came out and the way it follows the conventions of the genre but also challenges conventions with its slightly unconventional cover. So, here it is!

Interview Responses

1. When did you first begin your workout journey?

• Two weeks before hurricane Irma (August 28th, 2017)

2. What steps did you take in order to dedicate yourself to working out?

• I forced myself to go to the gym because if I didn't, I would look at pictures of myself and be unhappy with the way look. When I didn't want to go I would force myself to take my pre-workout because once you take it you have to work out. Also, my friends work at the gym I go to so when they noticed I didn't go they would call me out for it and I had to go because my ego wouldn't let that go.

3. What do you feel has been the most important lesson you've learned from working out?

• I don't want to sound like the stereotypical "never give up" but seriously, I have learned that dedication is the key to accomplish your goals. I never expected to achieve so much so quickly, especially with the way I looked before.
• What made you decide that you could actually "do this"? 
• I would look in the mirror and I would see the progress, like I'm not big yet but I'm getting somewhere and I want to get big. After the first month and a half I noticed that I would look down in the shower and my belly wouldn't be as prominent. I also just felt better, like I would wake up in the morning and I wouldn't feel the lack of energy that I used to.

4. Why did you decide that working out was for you?

• Because I was tired of being fat and lazy; I was tired of looking the way I did and I decided I needed change in my life.

5. What would you say has positively impacted you the most in your fitness?

• Aside from my large ego, probably my friends who work at my gym and the people who have been with me since before I made this change in my life.

6. What time of day do you feel is the best to work out at? Why?

• Depends on the day, if I work or have school I will go right after school or an hour after work. I won't go between 5-7 because that's when the gym is the most crowded. On weekends, I will go in the morning before I start my day because if I don't go to the gym I feel useless.

7. What is your favorite pre-workout snack?

• Orange, raspberries, a banana if I have any. If I'm really hungry I'll eat a peanut butter sandwich with a little jam if I haven't had too much sugar that day.

8. What is your favorite workout to do?

• I have 2, a tricep routine with the cable thats a superset of 3 sets of 10 reps and I used to not enjoy legs that much but now that I'm getting better at the form, I enjoy deadlifting and squatting. I also actually enjoy the running that I do before my workout a lot. They're all equally my favorite.

9. What are essentials for you to bring to the gym? (For this question I want to include visuals based on his response)

• My aminos, my air pods, my phone, car keys especially to claim areas, and a hair tie 

10. What advice do you have for a beginner?

• You know how everyone says no one's watching? Well, everyone's watching but nobody cares; we're all here for the same thing and we all started somewhere.

Taking The Images

Instead of the original idea I had, I saved my friend some money and we went to Dania beach for the photo shoot. I still wanted to achieve similar to images to what I originally had in mind so I brought dumbbells and we had my friend, Derick, work out with them and pose with them for the pictures. The weather was very overcast so I was a little worried that the sunset would not be as colorful as I originally had in mind for the pictures, but it ended up being okay. I was even able to slightly achieve the silhouette-like image that I really wanted to achieve and through editing I can bring the image even closer to what I wanted to do.
Despite changing locations, my pictures still satisfied the ideas I had in mind and I was able to take all the pictures for my cover and two page spread. I want to take different pictures of either myself or my boyfriend (or both) for the table of contents in order to add some variety in the images, I don't want all the pictures in my magazine to be of Derick.
I would include some of the raw images in this post, but I am waiting to have access to them tomorrow on a flash drive so I can see them and begin editing them. I am excited to begin the editing my magazine with the actual pictures and information and actually see it come together. I have struggled to begin editing my magazine because I can't see it in my head without everything on it. I am planning to have Derick answer my interview questions tomorrow.

Change of Plans

I was originally going to take the images for my magazine with my friend as the model at Fort Lauderdale beach and/or at The Gym, but I had to change locations. With the Tortuga music festival in town, there was going to be a lot of traffic in that area. In order to avoid loss of time and gas, I decided I would rather take the pictures at Dania beach and avoid the traffic than go to Fort Lauderdale.
We also had to change the day instead of today to tomorrow (Sunday) because I had to work with my friend's schedule. It's no problem though because now we will have more time instead of being in a rush today. We are planning to go to the beach around 7 PM because the sun sets at around 7:30 PM and I wanted to get pictures at golden hour as well.

Photo Shoot Plan

I am planning to go take pictures on Saturday with my friend, Derick, and with my boyfriend to help Derick pose and look as muscular as possible in each picture. We are planning to go to Fort Lauderdale beach and take some pictures on the beach, working out at the calisthenics area, and at The Gym. I'm going to bring dumbbells to take pictures of Derick working out with the incredibly scenic sunset in the background, adding colors to the images.
I am trusting Derick to choose his own workout-esque outfit for the shoot and we are both bringing our cameras and two different lenses each to get a variety of different images to choose from.

Image Ideas

I am planning to start shooting pictures this week for the cover and the spread. In order to achieve the images that I see in my head, I need an interesting location and the models that I have in mind to be portrayed in my images (my two friends).
For the cover, I originally spoke of a sillhoute like image but now I am thinking of a high contrast image with a very visually appealing background.  To do this, I was thinking of either shooting at the beach or at this gym that is on a rooftop right by the beach at sunset to have a brightly colored sky in the background. I could even still take pictures with my original silhouette image in mind because the lighting on the rooftop would make this possible. For the images in the spread, I want to do close ups of my friend while he works out and/or close ups of the gym equipment. I feel that the combination of all these images will work out very well and will bring the article together.
 
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