Friday, January 18, 2013

My Photography Lecture

You may or may not remember that in the beginning of 2011, I took a college photography class at COD.  At the time, I couldn't stop complaining about the class because it took soooooo much of my time -- 6 hours each Saturday for 16 weeks!!  I worked really hard for that class, and at the end of the semester, the professor gave me an "A+".  Obviously, I was too technologically challenged to go online to verify my grade... but nonetheless, I blogged on the last day of my class (see below).

Over the past 2 years, I have shared all my award winning photographs with my professor.  Guess what, earlier this week, he invited me to give a lecture to his 2013 class.  As crazy as my life is right now, I think it is important to make time to do it, as this is a great opportunity for me to 1) pay back what my professor has given me and 2) better organize my thoughts about photography -- where I place photography in my life, how I perceive the value of photography and how photography has enriched my life and shaped my way of living.  My lecture will be on Saturday, 2/9/13.  Wish me luck!


The Inspiration
5/7/2011
 
Today is the last day of my photography class.  For those of you who know my work schedule and my general attitude toward classrooms and pure academics, you know I've made a huge commitment to sign up for this class.  I literally spent 6 hours each Saturday for the past 16 weeks to complete this course. 
 
Yes, I learned HDR, I learned Hyperfocal Focusing, I learned Composition, I learned Photo Impressionism, I learned Flash Photography techniques, I learned Wildlife Photography and Macro Photography and much, much more.  Am I a better photographer today than I was 16 weeks ago?  I don't know.  Will I become a much better photographer because of this class?  I don't know.  At this point, I don't believe those are the important questions to answer.  However, I do know that through this class, through the people I meet in this class, I have learned so much more than just the Photography.  It's the people I encounter, their passion, devotion, and their ability to learn and to live a fulfilled life that inspires me the most.
 
For the last 3 sessions, I had two instructors who taught me Macro Photography.  Barb is 84 this year, Ruth is approaching 80.  They are two of the most prominent macro photographers in the Chicago area.  Barb did not start learning photography until after her retirement at 60.  At age 60, when she signed up for her first photography class, the professor told her that she should take a high school photography class to learn how to load films into the camera...  and so she did.
 
Twenty-four year later, today, when they showed me a collection of the flower images they took, it was just exceptional.  Barb showed me how to combine images in Photoshop, she showed me how to create star-tracks and then overlay it onto another image in Photoshop, she showed me how to edit parts of the images in Photoshop so the entire photograph can be sharp throughout... She told me she attended Tony Sweet's photography workshop last year at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park at age 83, she told me she couldn't wait to read Tony Sweet's book about iPhone Photography, she told me she is not buying iPhone4 right now because she has solid reasons to believe that iPhone5 has a much better camera...  
 
Okay, just close your eyes and imagine for a minute -- what would it take for an 84 year-old lady to keep up with all the technology and software applications and the future?!  How could she do it?  Well, it is her unending curiosity and innate desire to learn, isn't it?  Somewhere down the road, she must also have the courage to start a whole new career at age 60 and be willing to do whatever it takes to become one of the best in that field.  Just think about it -- if this is not inspiring, what is?
 
 

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