MMS 173 Assignment 6: End Blog - One Shot Summary

May 12, 2025

This photo is actually a test shot from the self-portraiture assignment. It was taken while I was testing the lighting and experimenting with post-processing. Beyond what we consider the best photos we chose to submit in every assignment, there is a series of photos taken along with it. Perhaps, a photo that taught us to adjust our ISO because it was a little bit overexposed, a photo showing how blurry it was, thus made us adjust our shutter speed accordingly, or even a photo that helped us find our way of telling stories. It was all part of the process. But I would like to see it as a reflection of how far we have come. Every discarded photo is not just a mere addition to our dumped files, but a stepping stone to achieve the perfect scene we have in mind. Well, there may be times we don’t achieve our ideal outcome, but we always get something out of the process. We learn something from it. And we could use it to do better and better. 

While working on assignment 5, I had a dilemma of whether to use this photo instead of the one I submitted. Technically speaking,  this isn’t the best photo. It was slightly out of focus and I’m only wearing a sando. Again, it was just a test shot. But what I really like about it is how genuine it feels, at least for me. My reaction felt authentic, raw, and I was just being myself. I guess if that’s the case, then that is the ‘authentic jairo’ people are actually seeing. That’s the image they have and that’s what I look like.

As I have mentioned in the previous assignment, I am so used to being the person behind the camera. I am always the one taking photos and videos. However, doing the self portrait allowed me to be the main subject for a while. And beyond that, I was also able to reflect on my journey in this course. I was so optimistic and excited when I enrolled in MMS 173, not just because photography has always been my passion, but I am really looking forward to appreciating it more, and it did not fail me. At the beginning of this course, we have set our own goals of what we want to achieve at the end of term. I set my objective to really developing a deeper understanding of photography as a discipline– being rooted to its fundamentals, understanding its technicalities, and being able to explore my creativity. And one thing that helped me achieve these objectives is to just immerse myself in the process. I guess that’s how it works. Every single photo we took and every scene we captured reflected who we are and what version of ourselves we are currently in. Are we still the out-of-focus photographer? The underexposed photographer? Or we have learned already and know how triangle exposure works.

Well, I can say that this course made me feel more connected to my camera. I even found my sweet spot for shutter speed of 1/125. I remember during the face to face session that Prof. Al mentioned that his sweet spot for shutter speed is 1/60 or 1/80. I tried it actually but later fell in love with 1/125. On my defense, I mostly do handheld shots, so a slower shutter speed can make it soft or blurry. I have also learned how to control my ISO “properly”. Having found my sweet spot for shutter speed allowed me to go as low as 100 with my ISO. Before, I would crank my shutter speed to 1/320 minimum, so just imagine how high my ISO would be. 

Now, going back to the photo. It reminds me that we are all in the process. And even after taking this course, this process will not stop. We will continuously learn, discover, and explore new things. This photo may not be the best, but it is a great reminder that I was once here and continuously growing. Afterall, maybe perfection is actually never the goal but honesty and intention. And if a slightly blurry photo of me in a sando can make me feel something and can remind me of how far I have come, perhaps it may be the most successful photo I have done this term.