Printing a bird was my first inclination. Birds are wonderful, beautiful creatures. I remember as a little girl watching practically a “bird hotel” at my godmother’s place. I remember hummingbirds coming to greet my mama when she was gardening. I put a poof on top of the photograph to add nice texture and vibrance. I put a butterfly flying away. I composed this photo rooted from my past experiences. I didn’t expect the butterfly to come out faded, but I’m glad it did. A butterfly in motion. – Aleeyah Rhodes
This photograph was inspired by themes and ideas discussed in my Humanities 3 class. We had been discussing ideas like what is a nation? What is our Nation? I decided to respond to the question, “What is us?” to question the identity of the United States of America. What ties us all together? “US” acting as the United States of America as well as a group of people. I included stars and feathers in my photogram to represent two symbols that are used to reference America — the stars to represent our star spangled banner, and feathers to represent the bald eagle, our national bird, as well as freedom, an idea that is supposed to represent our country. – Lila Satori
This cyanotype was made by putting pressed flowers on cyanotype paper and exposing it to sunlight. I recently grew a bunch of wildflowers in my garden and pressed them, so this was the perfect way to use them! I used cosmos, California poppies, Queen Anne’s lace and bachelor’s buttons. – Mars Davis