Final Reflection

When I first started photography class this year I was sure that I wouldn’t learn much because I taught myself a lot about taking pictures. In the first few classes I realized I was wrong and that I had so much to learn. It helped my photography skills learning about compositions and techniques and how to apply them. My pictures improved from the first capturing compositions and techniques project to my inspired image, I was able to use more then two composition and techniques and identify them. I have taken those skills and carried them over to film photography where there is no way to view the picture till it’s processed. Overall this class was a great experience and I learned quite a bit about photography and how to be independent and solve problems.

My favorite portion of this semester was film and learning how to use the dark room. This summer I learned a little about film photography, but this past quarter I learned how to do it on my own. My favorite project for film was repetition and grouping. This was also the project that I had the most success in, I rolled my film correctly, processed it and it didn’t take long to get the right exposure and aperture. The film process is a lot of work, but it is rewarding. Learning how to use photoshop was another one of my favorite processes to learn. It’s amazing how much you can do using photoshop and it makes the pictures better. I struggled with photoshop, but I worked through it. I struggled with film and getting the perfect image and as I said with photoshop, but I didn’t dislike them and I learned a lot. I’m proud of my multiplicity and color selection photos, my digital inspired image and my film repetition and grouping image.

Taking pictures is an art because two people cannot take the exact same picture just as two people cannot paint or draw identical pictures. Photography relates to my life because they are my original ideas captured of events and things in my life. I then edit these pictures and make them even more unique. Photography has different levels because everyone takes pictures with their phones to capture what’s going on around them and other people take time to compose an image and then take it. I love different kinds of art and is a big part of my life. I now really like film photography because the process is cool to go through, it’s almost magical watching a picture appear on our paper and when that picture comes out well it’s rewarding. In the future I want to have a career related to art because i is so important to me, you can do so much with it. The saying ‘a picture is worth one-thousand words’ is true because you can tell a story with just one picture.

Looking at my work I can tell that I have improved my photo taking skills quite a bit over the past semester. What I have learned about compositions and techniques will stick with me and this coming semester my pictures will only get better. One problem this semester was getting my work in on time because I am kind of a perfectionist when it comes to my photos and spend time on them, this affected my habits of work grade. I try to always turn in my best work which shows that I care about this class and photography. Sometimes I would get frustrated in the dark room and run out of time which is why a few of my final prints have uneven borders and a few of my digital pictures aren’t my very best work. Over the course of semester my habits of work improved as I learned to manage my time and homework. I understand everything that we learned this semester and I worked through and setbacks or confusion I had.

My experience in Photo 1 was definitely a good one. Even though it was a lot of work sometimes I learned to work through it and I was always willing to stay after school and catch up. Staying after school helped me become independent and learn from my mistakes. I am excited to learn more about photography in Photo 2 and apply what I have learned this semester.