Photography 1

Reflection

At the beginning of digital photography, my photographs were not very strong. I had a few good ones along the way but overall I am not very proud of the work I did. As we began film photography my photographs were also not very strong. I do not think it was until I did the independent project that I really showed my capabilities in photography. Even at the end of digital photography, my photographs were weak and boring. Even though I am not proud of the work I did I think you can see the difference of quality in my independent photo to my other photos. I did learn a lot from this semester and think I will have more success in Photo 2.

The most challenging part of photography was finding things to take pictures of. I cannot drive anywhere which makes it hard for me to find interesting subjects. I also don't see many people outside of school so I can't take pictures of other people. I think my best photographs were produced when I went somewhere to take photos. The two times I went somewhere to take pictures was for my Textures portfolio and my Independent portfolio. Personally, I think that those two portfolios contain my best photos.

I am most proud of my ability to edit photos. After learning about how to use photoshop I have really used it to my advantage to make my photos look even better. I used it in many of my film photos to edit out blotches or scratches on my enlarged photos. I also used it to do some color selection in my digital work when I felt like the photographs were not very strong. I am also proud of my ability to see photo opportunities. What I mean by this is that I see places that would be great opportunities for photos without even having to be looking for them.

My work really shows my strengths and weaknesses. It is not very common to see strengths in my photos, but there are a few photographs that show my pull capabilities as a photographer. My Independent portfolio and, maybe, my Textures portfolio are the only portfolios, I feel, that are really good. They show that I am capable of capturing different perspectives as well as capturing a beautiful landscape that is unique to my area. Most of my weaknesses are shown in my Repetition portfolio and Leading Lines portfolio. They show that most of the time my photos are blurry and boring. This is probably because I did not often have the time to find interesting subjects or the time to stand still and take the photographs.

Overall I have learned a lot during this semester and I am excited to use all I have learned this semester during Photo 2. This class has made me enjoy taking pictures and I take pictures outside of class, just for fun. I also enjoyed learning how to use photoshop and still like to play around with it in my free time. I really liked learning how to use the darkroom and the process that goes along with it. I thought that the science behind film photography was very cool. Taking this class has made me think about doing something in the future where I could take photographs.