These are the 28 photos I think I did the best on during this class. They are not in any particular order and do not include photos from the Feast of Assumption set below as this set was photographed and added after my class was over.
Overall, I really feel like I learned a lot but I still have a long way to go before I can become a competent photo journalist. My weakest areas are not quite as weak anymore and that is probably my single biggest accomplishment for this class. However, they still exist as follows:
- Getting close. I need to work on and practice getting close using a wide angle lens to improve the intimate feel of being right in the middle of whatever is going on.
- Waiting for the photo journalistic artsy moment: action, mood, perspective, emotion and moment will take more practice than two short months will allow. Learning to anticipate this stuff rather than clicking away hoping to catch something at random still does not come naturally and I end up taking far too many photos out of anxiety rather than being patient and waiting for "it" to happen. I feel like I am not going to end up with anything and reflexively click when I should wait.
- Light and exposure. I have a better understanding than I did about light and exposure due to having to take photos on full manual settings. But I still cannot predict changing light reliably and I cannot utilize the "shooting my hand" technique to my best advantage. I also need to pause and think about how to use existing light to my best advantage. During the pow wow I realized that there where two occasions where I should have reversed my strategy to make better use of the light at given times of the day.
- Scheduling. As a wanna be photo journalist it is my job to get the photo. Several times, the scheduling information I was given was wrong or had been altered and I therefore missed any opportunity to get "the" shot completely. I need to learn to be on top of this so I can be present to have a chance.
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