Final Reflection Post

I came into this class knowing a fair amount about photography because of my dad.  He has always been big into taking pictures and showing me and my sister how to take a good shot first with little disposables and then digital upgrades when we were older and more responsible.  I have been taking photographs my entire life, but looking back at them, I can see my fourth grade self didn't have much of an eye.  Over the years my dad has tried to teach me about composition, but, of course, I didn't want to listen to him because I just wanted to take a picture of the cows over there.  This is not to say that by the time I was in 8th grade I was still trying to take pictures of ducks even though they were clearly too far away.  I was able to take successful photographs, though I never could really capture the greatest images with a dinky point and shoot that required full on sunlight for a non-grainy picture.  Entering this class, I felt confident that I had the skills to take pretty solid photos.  Throughout the year, I really started to focus on visually appealing compositions as well as the quality of the image.  Having a really nice camera generously donated by my grandfather helped tremendously, as it could still take lovely pictures at low light.  Just having that camera made me more excited about photography, and applying what I had learned about composition from class and what I could remember from my dad led me to be successful in the class overall.  At the moment, I am looking forward to traveling and taking pictures in new and exotic places with my new-found attentiveness to detail and kickass camera. I have begun taking photographs on my own time around my house mostly, and that is getting a little boring.  Some new subjects would be good.  Even though I am not taking photography next year, I will continue to take pictures and polish my skills.

My favorite photograph of all is probably the upside-down tree reflection.  I love how you don't really know what it is but you do know what it is at the same time and then it's upside-down and you have no idea what you're looking at any more.  I confuse myself when looking at it sometimes.  I just think it's really cool and I like to think that I was clever for thinking of photographing the ground, which is an under-appreciated thing.
Best project was definitely the abstract project.  I really liked how it made me think about what I saw in a different way and to use oddities and patterns to confuse people.  I often still think about the abstract nature of things when I take pictures because those are the most interesting of all, the ones that make you stop and figure them out.
I really did not enjoy the unexpected moment project.  Even though the idea of the project is good, it's still incredibly awkward for everyone and all your friends get sick of you trying to photograph them really fast.  In that way the pictures I took weren't that interesting to look at.