Northern Arizona University: 2023 Photography Capstone

May 15

Last week, I graduated from Northern Arizona University with a Bachelor’s in photography and a minor in communication studies. As part of NAU’s senior capstone class, I created a semester-long photo series entitled, Emotions Through Flowers. My artist statement for this series is as follows:

As a portrait photographer, I always strive to capture emotion and relationship dynamics in my photographs. This is the most essential and best-loved part of every photo shoot, and I love how real it makes these frozen moments seem.

For my capstone project, I chose to take this aspect of my work and bring it to the next level. Each of my models plays a different and vital role in my life, and through the language and symbolism of flowers, I have created images to represent this role. Each photograph gives my subject a chance to see themselves through my eyes via the stylization of their photos and the symbolic meanings of the flowers I chose for them. Every photograph’s composition encapsulates the relationship that each subject brings into my life, which I was tasked with capturing.

This set of images carefully combines my overall style of photography with my desire to capture relational dynamics in my pictures. It has also given me a chance to assess the meaningful relationships of those around me and challenged me to recreate them through my passion for photography.

My classmates and I have our work displayed online at http://nauphotocapstone.com/2023-capstone .