Photography 1

My experience in photography has been quite successful the more I think and reflect on it. One of these things that I learned from this class was all the techniques that I learned in photography and the rules that come with it. With this, I also had to be aware of some of the compositions and ensure I got the right quality when I took the photos. Some of the things that go along with is making sure I have the right light quality and that my images relate to what I am tasked with doing. But overall, I just learned to be more careful with taking photos. With this experience that I have gotten from photography through using a camera and experimenting with many of the compositional techniques, I learned what I needed from Photography 1.

The hardest part of this class was following some of the directions for each assignment and how to do them successfully on my own. As someone introduced to more challenges this year, the biggest challenge was working independently. For me, whenever I would get confused about the directions of an assignment I was given, rather than putting the time and work into figuring it out on my own, I would sometimes instead rely heavily on the teacher. Much of this came from my desire to focus on the grade rather than the work, which I will be on myself more this summer so it does not wreck me my junior year. Other times this semester during this semester when I am calm and not letting my anxiety overwhelm my brain, I actually produce some excellent work that I end up being proud of. If I continue doing that, then the last half of high school, when it matters, will be even more successful than my first half.

My favorite project this year would have to be the words and images assignment. I liked that assignment because I could use whatever image and or text had meaning to me and edit it onto a portrait that I took of myself. This project allowed me to express and edit some of what I love onto portraits without explaining it in direct dialogue. I did this by incorporating the light from the darkness when I was blending my images together so that they merged and became one together. Though it took me a long time, this was one of the assignments I really had fun with because I took the time to make them how I wanted the images to be. I did this by not freaking out or anything and instead worked at my own pace with one thing in mind. Whenever I do not stress about an assignment and I go for it, I end up producing some of my better work which was with this project.

My least favorite project was the film camera projects, and I did not like these assignments primarily because of the starting process and having to set everything up. One of the issues with these projects was making the cameras that I was using were on the proper settings and that I had the DX code set up correctly. But also that I had no light interfering with my film whatsoever. With this came the fear that once I had my images all set up and processed that I would end up having to start over because maybe the roll of film was not correctly loaded in and got too many finger markings. But also how I could not take the cameras home and that they had to remain at school at all times for everyone to use. This stressed me out because, having been sick a lot this year, I was worried that when I caught a cold, I would fall way behind, and I would have to come in during my study halls to finish some of this work. But because of my resilience and determination, I managed to get these projects done as well as gain more knowledge on how the film used to be developed when photos were initially taken, and I am delighted with what I have put forth into this class.

My understanding and appreciation for photography and the work of other photographers have deepened despite having prior knowledge already on photography and the history behind it all. My view of photography has deepened, and whenever I have gone out to take photos, I think of it differently each time with a new perspective of how I view something before I take a picture of it. This class really exposed me to new types of ideas and elements of the digital world that I had never thought of before. This class really taught me about the amount of time and patience that went into photography years and years ago these photographers had put their time into. As much as my Photography 1 class has opened my eyes up more to what's really around me, I will not be taking another photography class during high school. Thank you for your time, patience, and dedication this year Mr. Andreson and whether I take Ceramics II in the future, I wish you the best of luck as you continue to spread more of your positivity onto future students that you will have.