Photo Core Lab
Elizabeth Moran
Self evaluation assignment
10/7/2017
Midterm Reflection
By Maegan Sundlie
To be frank, upon entering Photo Lab I assumed that grasping new material would be as quick as a 1/500th shutter speed, or a walk down photo memory lane. Most of what I had previously learned about digital photography came from playing around with the camera’s settings, memory, and studying youtube videos. I was surprised to leave the first class feeling a mix of emotions– shock, intimidation, vulnerability; clearly I was a virgin to the digital gods! But I also felt happy to know I could grow closer to my camera and understand it on a deeper, more technical level. Learning the histogram proved especially challenging– who would have ever thought 0 could count as 1 in the 256 tones. Sadly, grasping this concept didn’t come easily. To be honest, I figured when joining art school that I had finally ditched those “suckers” who made me recite numbers and talk fractions, or forced me to study chemistry and breathe fumes in the science lab. And I fully expected that my art brain would continue to grow on only one side of the lobe– the side I much preferred. After a few classes I came to realize that the analytical, mathematical side of photography was not as hard as I feared. I looked around the classroom one day and experienced an important epiphany. I realized that just because other students were confidently shouting out fractions, that didn’t mean I had to run and find the nearest rock in central park to live under. I came to see that I can actually discipline myself to sit down, listen, and learn in a challenging classroom. I also came to realize that I wasn’t the only one grappling with certain concepts, which became evident when students raised their hands and voiced many of my own questions. I actually dabbled in Lightroom before, even taking a summer class at Pratt where I frequently used it, but there were certain mystery buttons that I clicked on here and there for fun but never actually put to good use. I understand now that I will continue to learn and grow, for even measured by what we’ve studied so far I can see significant improvement in my work. In particular, my editing skills have drastically improved, especially in my Scavenger shoot. I can only imagine by the end of this class how much I will grow as a photographer, printer, and visual editor. When we first began the printing process I felt as though everyone was speaking a different language called Color Theory. Someone would yell out: “ Does this have too much Magenta?! Are my shadows making my figure too dark?” I’d glance at the photo and say to myself, “Wow! Nice! What the hell needs to be changed there?” Then helpful little eyes would peer over rolly chairs or I’d hear someone exclaim over the buzz and hum of the printers, “I agree. Use a smidge bit of yellow to balance it out.” I only then started to see that these small contributions shifted the image into something ten times better. After noticing this it became easier to analyze tone issues throughout my work. Overall, I believe that the several classes I’ve taken to date, along with this project in particular, have inspired me to become a much better photographer. I hope to continue to grow and expand my horizons, overcoming areas of weakness and taking risks in my field to produce original, high quality work that lingers in the mind of the viewer.
