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AP Studio Art Drawing Portfolio: tips from a student who gained 100%

Last Updated on September 1, 2023

These are a selection of works and commentaries from Ratthamnoon Prakitpong, a graduate from Thai Chinese International School in Bangkok, Thailand. Ratthamnoon was one of sixteen students worldwide to receive a score of 100% for his AP Studio Art Drawing Portfolio in 2015, earning every point possible on each portion of his portfolio. His portfolio scored a perfect six.

AP Studio Art: Breadth

The Breadth section of the AP Studio Art portfolio is a great chance to brush up on skills and experiment. The Breadth section of the portfolio consists of 12 works of art that demonstrate a mastery of skills whilst showing the artistic range of a student. Here are some examples of what I did to make my work better and more personal:

The importance of a good composition

READ NEXT: How to make an artist website (and why you need one)

For this class project, we had to work on transparent textures. Having strong painting skills is important; having a strong composition to work from equally so. The first batch of preliminary images I did were indoors with two wine glasses. I felt like the contrast and depth were sufficient, but my teacher, Elizabeth Jendek , asked me to try other kinds of glass to make the composition more interesting. I took loads of photos to find compositions that worked. On the second and third preliminary compositions I presented to my teacher, the light was indoors and the glass didn’t have reflective areas. The third composition was better because of the outdoor light, but it still wasn’t great.

Then my teacher suggested I photograph outside in sunset. Being outside made the still life look more natural and lively; these effects were emphasized by the striped cloth, which increased movement. In addition, the sunset’s orange light really heightened the glasses’ shine and contrast. With the table’s directional line, I got the depth back from the first composition that was lost during the second and third tries. My composition was strong because my focal point was to the side, which follows the rule of thirds: there were size relationships showing depth and perspective. There also was variation by color and shape, making the composition more stimulating. A strong composition illuminated my skill of painting. Although this is a drawing portfolio, a good composition is as important as your great skill of painting in and of itself. To get the best compositions, I questioned myself; I didn’t expect things to work out the very first time, listened to my peers and teacher’s advice, and kept working on it until I got the best composition.

Revisiting work makes a big difference

As my skills improved, I found that some of my work looked a little uneven. I had a portrait that I did earlier, which no longer matched the skill level of my other work. Since the face was working fine, the teacher and I discussed the idea of cutting and pasting the head onto a new image. I took a few photos and did a new composition in Photoshop and came up with a new image. Once I was confident with my new idea, I sketched out my new composition on fresh paper, cut out the face and glued it to the new composition. My new version was much better and it evened up my skill level throughout the portfolio in my final submission.

I took calculated risks with time and composition. I scheduled my time well and used all the good guidance and technology available to finish this drawing. It turned out to be one of my favorites.

Sometimes abandoning a work of art is better than to keep fighting it

While I was doing my portfolio, I had a few compositions that needed reworking – one in particular really just wasn’t working out. I tried adding more to the composition; I did loads of preliminary sketches, and finally decided I was getting nowhere. After discussing and problem-solving with my teacher, we decided it would be better to start a fresh new artwork based off an alternative lesson. It’s true that it was hard to let go of so much work already done, and the new project was equally challenging, but it worked much better than if I would’ve continued beating a dead horse.

To compensate for lost efforts, I tried to add my own personal touches to this art piece. Even though the green plate can be seen just as a nice contrast to the orange shrimp, it’s also the same plate my family uses when we go out picnicking. We usually lay old newspapers underneath our seafood so that mess won’t spill anywhere. I took direct inspiration from that, and glued newspaper onto my work for texture; to finish, I copied Thai letters onto the composition. By adding my own personal touch, this simple project became more unique, and much richer. They were my shrimp, and this is how I eat them.

Look for inspiration around you, in unlikely places

Friends and I went on a hiking trip to Phu Kradueng. In this area of Thailand, automated services aren’t available, so local couriers offer their services by carrying huge loads to the top of the mountain area. Watching these men lift such enormous amounts was inspirational, and I took this great photo capturing their strength and beauty – it reminded me of Greek Gods. Although this wasn’t a class project, I painted it on my own anyway for two reasons: the tourist sight was so unique, and it was also an important memory for my friends and I. To further the personal nature of this image, I glued my train ticket to the composition to further add to that feeling of a snap in time, fully enclosing the character of the place and to add additional texture.

AP Studio Art: Concentration

Concentration is a section where I focused on a specific topic and many art skills. It’s very intense and pressuring. Here I commented on a few skills that I focused on to make my Concentration more successful:

Picking the right Concentration topic is incredibly important

Since the Concentration section needed twelve pieces based on a single topic, my teacher advised the class to look long and hard for a topic that had room for development and exploration, yet remained accessible. It took me a few months, but I settled on a Concentration topic about different perspective-based portraits in the kitchen.

Thematically, I picked this topic because I was already a hobbyist cook, and wanted to combine and explore the two things that I liked – art and cooking. I feel, in my country, there’s a cultural stigma about men in the kitchen that I wanted to both question and eradicate by demonstrating that men can cook as well as anyone else.

I decided to pursue portraits and create variation using different perspectives and color schemes. For my take on perspective, I used a selfie stick to find new perspective and angles. Where my hands were holding the camera, I superimposed kitchen tools – spoons, forks, spatulas – to hide the selfie stick in the drawing. As for the kitchen itself, I found inspiration from my personal exploration in using new kitchen tools, like cooking noodles for my lunch box or eggs in the morning. These were additional considerations I made when selecting this topic:

• My exploration was not only visual, but personal too. It showed my development as an artist and a thinker . I only had around 5 ideas at the beginning because I wasn’t familiar with the kitchen, but as I personally explored the kitchen more, inspiration came naturally.
• I cared about my topic . I was exploring my hobby and my culture. If I wasn’t passionate about my topic, by the 8th or 9th image I would’ve hated my work. Artwork without passion is apparent.
• It was visually appealing . Even though my personal story and passion were there, my Concentration wouldn’t be as strong if I did not play with perspectives and color schemes. I was really experimental about it too, and when the compositions didn’t work, they still served as a springboard for the next idea.
• My topic was versatile enough to have twelve different ideas united under it . The kitchen has interesting tools, objects and angles I could use to experiment. That kept my idea fresh, yet united.
• My topic was flexible . Choosing my kitchen as a basis for my topic might seem simple, but it provided enough room for experimenting with techniques that weren’t necessarily kitchen-related, like superimposition or collage.
• My topic was accessible . I could go back easily to the kitchen and photograph some more, or look for other inspirations. This made a huge difference when some compositions needed more reworking than others.

(If you are struggling to come up with your own AP Studio Art Concentration ideas, please read: Art Project Ideas: a guide to subject matter selection ).

Here are some examples of how I problem-solved composition concerns, increased depth, and manipulated my imagery.

I experimented with depth

I increased depth with my selfie stick; it gave me more options with regards to angles. The first composition in which I used the stick didn’t quite capture what I wanted, so I added an additional shelf at the top of my composition to increase depth. I used a fisheye lens to make the composition more interesting, and changed the hands that held the selfie stick altogether. I also manipulated color from the originally bland white into a triad color scheme to make it more visually dynamic.

Combining multiple skills enriches your art

I had already used bird’s eye and worm’s eye of view, so I had to come up with something unique for this one. When I looked at the oven, I remembered when my mother baked and thought of her delighted face when she pulled out her baking. So I decided to render some freshly baked food and the serenity on someone’s face when they first see the food. This gave my image more personal meaning. I also added pieces of a hand written recipe for texture and to increase movement. Additionally, I superimposed a meat fork where my selfie stick had been.

Final thoughts

In hindsight, I made many gutsy moves, and I failed – a lot. However, I succeeded a lot too. It really came down to commitment, to practice, to having many chances to fail and, in turn, to succeed. I made more than 24 art pieces, but I got to choose the ones I was actually proud of for a trimmed version of my portfolio. Most importantly, I’m just another person, and what I did may not apply to you. Listen to the people who know you, who are close to you – your teacher, your peers, and yourself. There’s no point in making anything unless you will be proud of it. That means sometimes an unyielding stance, or sometimes blind faith in advice.

This AP Studio Art Drawing course was taught by Elizabeth Jendek . Work from her students is used by Alison Youkilis, an AP Art teacher trainer, to teach other educators around the world. You can see additional outstanding artworks by Elizabeth Jendek’s students in the article: 50+ Still life drawing ideas for art students .

This high school art project was shared with our audience so that other students may benefit from the ideas, techniques and approaches used. We celebrate the effort and achievement of high school students and Art Departments around the world. If you would like to share your own art project (or that of your students), please read our submission guidelines .

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3.6 Writing for AP Art

5 min read • october 27, 2020

Sherry Ross

How to Write for AP Art and Design

A significant portion of your score for AP Art and Design comes down to you being able to come up with an idea, and then being able to articulate that idea both in written and visual evidence. While that may sound scary, it's actually not bad! 😉 Here are some tips to get you through it.

Keep a Sketchbook!

Ummmmm, a sketchbook is for drawing, why are you talking about it in a writing section? 🤨 Not only is your sketchbook a place to visually record your images, but it's a record of your entire creative process. You should use it to record ideas for future works, record your thoughts, do samples of paints, save scraps or color swatches you like, and most importantly, document your work.

What do you mean "document my work"? Exactly that.....as you try different things, think of yourself as a scientist conducting experiments and record that data. Scientists start with a  hypothesis  (an idea or concept they think might be true), then they try different things to prove or disprove that hypothesis . As you try things, write them down. State what you tried, how it turned out, and if it was what you thought would happen or not. Then, look back and what works and what didn't. Use that information to think about next steps and write those ideas down. Doing this as you work will be invaluable later!

If you get stuck, it's always good to go back and revisit the ideas in your sketchbook. Sometimes, looking back you will find new inspiration or something that hadn't occurred to you before.

After each completed assignment, go in and list the following with your preparation pages. Make sure to keep it all together. It will make it so much easier to enter the information required later for your submission.

• Work title (if it has one - it might not)
• Idea - what were you trying to do or show? What are you exploring? (WHY)
• Materials used - list all the supplies you used include things like paint, photos, wire, etc. Concentrate on physical materials used (WHAT)
• Processes used - this can be things that are actions. I took photographs for reference, I planned, I polled, I researched my subject, I sketched, I tested, etc (HOW)
• Size - height x width x depth. If it's strictly 2D, you would list 0 as the depth.
• Reflections - what did you like? what would you change? Where should you go next?

Writing About Your Guiding Question

There's an entire section on how to come up with and develop your Guiding Question so check that out. Here's where you can get a few tips if you are worried about the writing. Don't stress, it's not traditional English class writing you are doing, with footnotes and wherefores and such. This is simple, factual writing. As a matter of fact, there isn't enough spaces to use "fancy English class writing". You might need to abbreviate or even leave out some words due to space considerations.

On each piece, you will need to fill out specific information. All of that should be already written in your sketchbook (see above), so it will be easy for you to just plug it in. Since you did it as you completed each piece, you won't have to worry about forgetting anything.

A Conversation with the Reader

Think of your writing as a conversation with the AP Reader. You are telling them WHAT you did, HOW you did it, and WHY you did it. Keep in mind, the WHY is really important and should not just be something like "I wanted my Art to get better". That's the goal of every artist, it's not the WHY they made a specific piece. The WHY goes back to your Guiding Question , as it should be guiding your body of work. Make sure you talk about it and explain your WHAT, HOW, and WHY.

Enter as You Go

In mid-November, you can create your account to upload your  AP digital submission . As you complete each work, make sure to photograph it and upload it. You will then fill out the writing parts as you go. It gets easier as you practice, so doing it throughout the year will make you feel more confident in the process. Plus, an added bonus of doing it early means you won't be as stressed at the end when EVERYONE is trying to upload.

It's super simple to go back in and change the wording, the location of images, or even adding or deleting images if you decide you want to do so. Just make sure you save as you go so that you don't lose all of your work.

Always Spell Check and Character Count

The College Board is VERY CLEAR they don't penalize for spelling or grammar. However, if it cannot be understood by the Reader, that is a problem. As you write, try using a word document to check spelling and grammar.

Once you have it the way you like it, check your CHARACTER COUNT . A character count means letters, numbers, spaces, and punctuation count toward your total. After you've made sure you have everything all spiffy, you might need to go back in to start abbreviating to get under the count. 😂 You want to make sure you are AS CLOSE to the 1200 character limit as possible without going over.

It's always a good idea to have someone proof your work. Have them read your information and make sure you've included everything. Make sure the writing and artwork stand alone to make your point. If you need to explain your idea or it isn't clear, FIX IT. Have someone pretend to be a "Reader" and, without your help, test how clear your idea is. This is SO IMPORTANT. If you do this as you work, it gives you a chance to change and revise (major components in the rubric) so that you will be successful when you submit. 🙌🏽

Key Terms to Review ( 9 )

AP Art and Design

AP digital submission

Character Count

Guiding Question

Materials used

Processes used

Reflections

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10 Things to Do to Set Your AP Studio Art Students Up for Success

AP Studio Art can be a scary course to teach. I remember when I was first told I’d be teaching advanced AP Studio courses after fourteen years at the elementary level; I was nervous! I remember wondering if I was cut out to teach at that level. But, I was also excited, and within my first year, I realized I could do it!

Today I’d like to share my best AP tips with you, gleaned over 10 years of teaching these courses.

Finding the Right Support

I quickly realized networking with seasoned AP educators was key. My first year as an AP teacher, I hit as many AP and Scholastic workshops as I possibly could at NAEA. I also took an  AP summer course  and cannot recommend it highly enough. I learned so much, not only from my instructor but from my other classmates. Even better, we all continue to network and share our successes.

Building a Program

Although how you teach your AP Studio courses is important, the success of your students truly depends on your intro and other foundational courses.

To succeed in an AP Studio course, students must know and understand the fundamentals of art: vocabulary, elements, principles, and media techniques. They must be given time to experiment, take risks, practice critical and divergent thinking, and learn from their successes and failures. The courses leading up to AP Studio courses are the perfect place to lay this foundation.

In a similar vein, when you are developing your advanced curriculum, take a good look at your current foundational curriculum.

I call my advanced curriculum, AMPS.

A = Artist/Art Movement M = Media P = Prompt S = Subject Matter

Each lesson focuses on one or more of these to AMP up my students’ portfolios. Over the years, I have begun to call my lessons the “Power of the Prompt,” because they are all prompt-based which pushes students’ creative and divergent thinking skills.

10 More Must-Dos When Teaching an AP Studio Course

1. Recruit students early.

When you see students who are highly artistic, innovative, creative, and motivated, these will most likely be your most successful future AP students. Start talking to them about the possibility of signing up for AP Studio Art.

2. Hold an AP Parent Night.

Holding a special event for parents will make sure everyone is on the same page from the very beginning.

3. Make sure students understand their responsibilities.

Here are 3 things you’ll want to be sure to cover:

• The difference between their twelve breadth and twelve concentration pieces
• The importance of their five quality pieces
• Any special requirements you have for your course

4. Give students their assignments early, so they have time to plan.

If you’re looking for ideas for concentration topics, check out the “AP Studio Art 99 Concentration Topics” download in the article titled, Your Ultimate List of AP Studio Art Resources .

5. Share a self-evaluation rubric that resembles the AP scoring guide.

A form like this will help students realize the new way their work will be graded. Create your own, or use the one below !

Download Now!

6. Provide students with a way to track their work.

Find an excellent download in the article, The Best Tool to Keep Your AP Studio Students On Track . Remind students how important it is to keep up with due dates and homework assignments.

7. Give students time to experiment.

8. Create a list of visual journal assignments for your AP students.

You can find a great list to start in the article,  50 Visual Journal Prompts to Promote Drawing and Creative Thinking Skills .

9. Stress the importance of personal voice and good photos.

I suggest starting with breadth work and teaching the students to photograph each step as they create along with photographing their final works. Then, move onto their concentration work, reiterating the importance of taking strong photos for their final portfolios. Remind students personal voice matters in AP Studio artwork and is a big factor in how their work will be scored.

10. Have students practice writing.

One additional thing to do for your students is to assign writing prompts. This will let them practice and prepare for their written commentary section.

Pulling it All Together

Finally, you may want to end the course with a capstone project. In my school, my students create a student-curated art exhibit, complete with invitations and brochures documenting all the art created throughout the year and in some cases, their high school experience. It’s a wonderful way to celebrate all their hard work!

I have been honored to present at the past two Summer AP conferences sharing the value and importance of setting students up for success from the moment they enter the art room as a foundational student. I proudly share my students’ success over the past ten years. It’s amazing how much we learn and grow as art educators when we share our successes. I hope this guide will help you plan for your upcoming AP Studio course.

What are your best tips for teaching AP Studio Art? 

What questions do you still have?

Magazine articles and podcasts are opinions of professional education contributors and do not necessarily represent the position of the Art of Education University (AOEU) or its academic offerings. Contributors use terms in the way they are most often talked about in the scope of their educational experiences.

Debi West is one of AOEU’s adjunct instructors and a former AOEU Writer and NBCT art educator. She loves sharing with others and enthusiastically stands behind her motto, “Together we ART better!”

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13+ Dazzling AP Art Portfolio Examples (Plus Tips for Creating Them)

Show them what you’ve got!

Creating an Advanced Placement (AP) art portfolio can be a challenging task for high school students. But it’s also an exciting opportunity to show off their talents. It requires creativity, planning, and a thorough understanding of the requirements set by the College Board. AP art students are typically passionate about art and design, but they’re also often overwhelmed by the portfolio’s complexity. Read on to learn more about the College Board’s current portfolio requirements and scoring criteria, as well as to get tips for creating portfolios, examples of high-scoring AP art portfolios, and insights from the students who created them.

AP Art and Design Portfolio Requirements

The current version of the Advanced Placement (AP) Art and Design Portfolio consists of two sections: Sustained Investigation (60% of total score) and Selected Works (40% of total score). While the previous version required 24 artworks, the current one requires just 15. Until recently, there was a breadth section that demonstrated student range and provided an opportunity for working with different mediums. The intent with Sustained Investigation is to demonstrate practice, experimentation, and revision through a number of images that seek to answer an inquiry chosen by the artist. While students can submit solely finished artworks, they can also include revision and process images as seen with many AP art portfolio examples. The Selected Works portion consists of five high-quality artworks.

There is also a writing requirement, which includes an artist statement of 1,200 words split into two 600-word sections. Additionally, artists have 100 characters to explain the process behind each work and 100 characters to explain the materials used.

While there have been changes to the AP art portfolio requirements in recent years, older, successful portfolios still provide valuable insights.

AP Art and Design Portfolio Scoring

The portfolio, which can be 2D, 3D, or drawing, is submitted digitally and scored from 5 (extremely well qualified) to 1 (no recommendation). A score of 4 is considered well qualified, a score of 3 is qualified, and a score of 2 is possibly qualified. Previous versions of the AP portfolio scoring had different ranges and went up to a high score of 6. A portfolio provides students the opportunity to earn college credit while showing off their talent. The collection of finished artworks and images should demonstrate students’ grasp of design and art concepts while also showing the full range of their abilities. A student’s portfolio should definitely show relationships between materials, processes, and ideas. It will also include written evidence of these things. Check out our tips and AP art portfolio examples before getting started.

Top Tips for Creating an AP Art Portfolio

• Don’t be afraid to revisit artworks.
• Pay careful attention to composition.
• Don’t be afraid to abandon an artwork if it isn’t working.
• Refer to apstudents.collegeboard.org/art-designprogram for the most up-to-date information.
• Show your development as an artist.
• Develop your sustained investigation and theme.
• Take some risks.

Examples From Successful Portfolios

1. a perfect 6.

A perfect score on the AP Art Portfolio is very rare but not completely unattainable. Although difficult, student Ratthamnoon Prakitpong earned every possible point in the different sections of his drawing portfolio. Prakitpong gives loads of good advice while providing examples, including before-and-after examples of different artwork. He also recommends drawing inspiration from unexpected places.

Learn more: AP Studio Art Drawing Portfolio: Tips from a Student Who Gained 100%

2. A 3D Compilation

This video compilation shows a wide variety of finished 3D artworks but also includes photos showing Cyan D’Anjou’s process. D’Anjou said that most of the concentration section of her portfolio was developed during her final year of high school. In today’s portfolio, this would be akin to the Sustained Investigation portion.

3. A Strong Theme

Once student Alina Rhoadarmer chose childhood memories as the theme for her AP art portfolio, she was able to set out creating a wide variety of artworks that fit that topic. Rhoadarmer explained, “I was constantly developing and redeveloping my question and reinterpreting my topic to create new art pieces.”

Learn more: 2020-2021 AP Art Portfolio Showcase

4. Digital Painting Concentration

This is an example of a 2D AP art portfolio with more of a commercial focus since it centers around character creation and development. Although there are a wide variety of platforms for digital painting, this particular artist used Ibis paint, incredibly, on her iPhone. The artist created many different types of characters and environments, including variations on Thomas Edison. The portfolio expresses the story and concept of the characters while also demonstrating the artist’s range and ability.

5. Three Portfolios, One Artist

While a video compilation of an AP art portfolio is helpful, a video including three is even better! First, we see artworks from a 2D portfolio submitted in 2015 during their junior year. Next, we see a portfolio for drawing from the artist’s senior year. Finally, we see their 2D portfolio from their senior year. Although difficult to do, all three of these portfolios scored a 5 (strong).

6. Artworks With Explanations

Artist/student Conan Gray does a nice job showing his artwork while providing his rationale for each image. Since a still-life can fall flat, Gray recommends incorporating meaning and shares an example of his own still-life that succeeds at that.

7. 2D Photography Example

These images are from a perfect score AP 2D Art and Design portfolio. This artist explores the animal world through photography. As with any good AP art portfolio examples, there is a clear mastery of the chosen medium as well as consistency in theme throughout the works.

Learn more: AP Art Portfolio (score 5)

8. A Perfect Score on a Drawing Portfolio

The artist in this video provides helpful tips and examples for obtaining a perfect score on the drawing portfolio while also being hilarious. This artist used 11 completed works in her Sustained Investigation portion and 4 more revision and process images to round out the required 15 images. She provides helpful tips like using your best works toward the beginning and end and putting your least favorite works in the middle.

Examples of Sustained Investigation

9. theme: femininity and masculinity through the 20th century.

This Sustained Investigation is particularly effective since it not only explores gender but the expression of gender throughout different moments in the 20th century.

Learn more: AP Art Studio

10. Theme: Negative and Positive Effects of Social Media on Self-Esteem

This artist explored the negative and positive consequences of social media on self-esteem. They used color to express positive effects while a lack of color clearly indicates the negative consequences.

11. Theme: Feeling Comfortable vs. Uncomfortable

Looking at artworks on a given theme is helpful, but having the artist explain their processes and ideas is even better. Artist Karina Singh does a wonderful job of explaining her use of composition and materials to explore her topic of being comfortable versus being uncomfortable. Her work shows a thorough exploration of a theme with ideas ranging from female sexuality, COVID, and family to environmental waste.

12. Theme: Nonverbal Communication

Artist/student Sophie Miller chose nonverbal communication for her Sustained Investigation so she could draw “with elevated contrast.” According to the artist, at least half of her drawing time was done during a free period or at home. Her theme is made undeniably clear through her drawings of people with intense facial expressions and hand gestures.

Learn more: AP Art Students Complete Their Portfolios

13. Theme: Phobias

This artist chose a topic that certainly allowed for endless possibilities of subject matter. He showed his range by creating images that represented different phobias while utilizing different materials and mediums.

Learn more: AP Studio Art Concentration Portfolio (Phobias)

Other Ideas for Sustained Investigation

• Abandonment of people and places
• Evolution of illness
• Human influence on the environment
• Effects of social media
• Reflections on  various surfaces
• Close-ups (food, body parts, etc.)
• Effect of corporate advertising on human psyche
• Painting friends in different historical eras
• Modernization of famous fairy tales
• Woodcuts based on Japanese printmaking
• Found-object sculptures
• Exploration of clothing across cultures

Examples of Low-Scoring Portfolios

Seeing examples of high-scoring and well-flushed-out portfolios is helpful, but it can also be useful to see examples of what not to do. The AP College Board posts examples of low-scoring portfolios while including the rationale behind the scores. See below for some examples of portfolios that only scored a 1.

• 2D Portfolio Example 1/AP Central/College Board
• 2D Design Portfolio Example 2/AP Central/College Board
• AP Central/College Board/Sustained Investigation

You can also find examples of complete portfolios that scored high on the 2022 portfolio exam as well as more scoring commentaries at the AP Central College Board website .

Check out our Art & Creativity page for art lesson ideas and activities!

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An AP photographer dazzles with a drone’s view of a colorful field in Germany

Cars drive on an alley between rape fields in the outskirts of Frankfurt, Germany, Monday, April 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

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Michael Probst has been working as a photographer and editor in Germany for over 40 years.

He’s covered everything from the fall of the Berlin Wall to Olympics and soccer World Cups, but one of his favorite things to do is make feature photos, the off-the-news assignments that tell their own story.

Here’s what he had to say about creating this extraordinary feature image.

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Why this photo

I like to shoot features in nature. There aren’t many things that are nicer than watching the sun rise in the outskirts of Frankfurt with all sorts of animals that you don’t find later in the day.

When the rape fields - plants of the mustard family whose seeds yield an oil used in cooking (canola) and for industrial uses - near the city started to blossom, I drove around to find locations with good looking fields of the yellowing flowers. They are found every year in different places.

When I found two or three fields that could be nice, I returned the next day with my drone - once it was in the air, I saw that the fields were still too green. I tried again a few days later and the fields were the brilliant yellow I was looking for.

How I made this photo

I tried various altitudes with my drone between 30 and 120 meters (yards). The drone was up for about 25 minutes waiting for a red car to come by.

If things that you shoot with a drone work or not, you only find out once you are up in the air . A lot of my efforts fail.

Why this photo works

For me, green and yellow always work for some reason, and the red car adds a different color. But I actually don’t think too much about why a picture works or not. I like it or not. I try to discover things where it’s worth taking a picture.

I don’t often shoot people because in Frankfurt we don’t have assignments with important people, and shooting interesting people on the street is not allowed without asking. That makes it sometimes quite complicated because most people don’t want to be photographed in Germany - they don’t trust the media anymore.

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Nine Harvard students protested Harvard’s display of Arthur M. Sackler’s name on buildings and the University’s ties to the infamous Sackler family, the former owners of Purdue Pharma, at the Harvard Art Museums for a final class assignment on Saturday.

The students handed out pamphlets to visitors to the Arthur M. Sackler Museum that detailed information on Sackler — who donated $10.7 million to the University in 1985 — and listed the names of victims of the opioid epidemic.

The students also delivered a speech in the museum’s foyer where they demanded “transparency and a commitment to ethical practices” from the University and urged Harvard to “sack the Sacklers.” Their speech was met with applause from onlookers at the museum.

The demonstration was sparked by a final project that Jason B. Silverstein, Harvard Medical School lecturer on Global Health and Social Medicine, assigned for his course, Anthropology 2796: “The Opioid Epidemic in the United States: From Abandonment to Accompaniment.”

For the course, which discusses the Sackler family’s role in the opioid crisis, Silverstein said he asked students “to go out” and “to do a creative project that would care for the memories of people who have died.”

Four students from Silverstein’s class opted to organize the demonstration for the assignment alongside five of their friends.

In an interview with The Crimson, one of the four students, Abhi S. Patel ’25, said that his and his group members’ “philosophy is that the best way to care for the memory of the dead is to seek justice.”

Though Silverstein declined to comment on the demonstration itself, he said the students’ arguments were “very compelling” and “quite correct.”

“What they’re asking us to consider is whether we ought to ever accept donations from, not just the Sackler family, but any pharmaceutical company,” Silverstein said. “They’re asking us to consider whether or not we ought to accept donations from any company that is profiting off of the pain of others.”

The demonstration comes nearly a year after students and activists organized a die-in at the Museums for a similar cause.

Harvard spokesperson Jason A. Newton said that “the university has established a process for considering de-naming spaces, programs, or other entities,” and adding that a denaming proposal for both the Arthur M. Sackler Museum and the Arthur M. Sackler Building is currently being reviewed by administrators.

The Sackler family owned Purdue Pharma, the pharmaceutical company that developed and marketed the painkiller OxyContin, though Arthur Sackler died before the drug was released.

After Purdue filed for bankruptcy in 2019 while facing thousands of lawsuits, the Sackler family settlement in 2023 required the family to pay $6 billion to combat opioid addiction while also shielding them from personal civil liability related to the lawsuits.

The agreement was blocked by the Supreme Court in Dec. 2023.

“In the opioid epidemic, the Scarface or the Walter White is the Sackler family — except now the Sackler family faces zero threat of criminal prosecution and were able to funnel away billions of dollars,” Silverstein said.

In addition to calling the University’s continuous display of the Sackler name “outrageous,” Patel said he and his group members would like to see the University stop “accepting money from Big Pharma.”

After cutting ties with pharmaceutical companies, Patel said, the University should “then remove the Sackler name in order to honor the memory of those that have died in the opioid epidemic.”

After seeing his students’ projects, Silverstein called their work “incredibly moving” and “powerful.”

“This idea of caring for memories of the dead, I sadly don’t think is something I’ve really seen in many courses. It would be nice to see it in more,” Silverstein said.

—Staff writer Neeraja S. Kumar can be reached at [email protected] .

—Staff writer Annabel M. Yu can be reached at [email protected] . Follow her on X @annabelmyu .

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