Photography Final

Written Reflection:

This class has taught me many ways to advance as a photographer. My images from the beginning of the year were unorganized. There was obviously no planning when it came to compositions, angles, lighting, meaning, etc... Take my hands image for example. It was the very first project and I decided it would be a good idea to use skills that I don't have. I can't paint to save my life but I still went through with it. As we got assigned more projects, I learned it was a lot easier on myself if I took the extra second to plan those things, and in return my images came out looking stronger and stronger. One of our latest projects, weather, is one of my strongest. It shows composition well and I planned the whole flower scene and natural looking pose. These two images are prime examples of my improvement this year.

This semester brought upon a lot of challenges. The biggest one, and the one I learned from the most, is time management. Photography is time consuming and tedious. You have to plan an image, then take a bunch until you get one that you think works just right, and who knows how long that will take. Then you have to switch it from your camera to your computer and then edit and print and develop and so much more. Don't forget about after the image is done, when you have to scan, upload, and write about it. Having no study halls, this was difficult. When I couldn't get the right image or angle, or I messed up the developing process, it was frustrating. I always felt like I was wasting time on something that shouldn't take much time.

This semester also brought upon good moments. I was able to create some pretty interesting and meaningful images. The skills I learned allowed me to make stronger images. There was one specific image, my reflection image, that was put up at the Freeport Library and judged by the Freeport Woman's Club and I ended up winning first place. This was definitely my most proud moment.

My work shows my strengths and weaknesses as a learner because there were some skills and techniques that I was able to grasp, and there were some that I really couldn't. I was able to put a meaning behind my images a lot better by the end of the year. I became more creative and had more ideas for projects. If I was not a strong learner, then I wouldn't have improved at all as a photographer. My images continued getting stronger in many ways, proving my strength as a learner. Something I struggled with was the darkroom. A lot of the time I would have to make many copies and I couldn't get the right whites and grays. I just couldn't become great at it, no matter how hard I tried. A lot of factors played into how the image turned out and I had a hard time figuring out what it was. At the very end, I realized how helpful putting two transparencies together was and I ended up doing that quite a few times.