I found incredible value in the light journal entries. I completely switched my way of thinking – from photographing things, people, and places, to photographing and capturing light. The journal entries (and course readings) helped me figure that out. The three assignments, Light, Significant Details, and Poetics, were also invaluable. Those assignments made the task of photographing my site less daunting – it made it more about discovery, exploring, and finding.
The diversity of the class (in terms of backgrounds, sites, techniques, strengths) greatly contributed to my learning in the class. There were many opinions, ideas, and flavors of expertise to pool together. This was apparent in our class discussions as well as in the comments made on our Flickr sites (which was a great communication tool as well).
The nature of having to create an essay with photographs and text was a compelling and challenging way to tell the story of my site. It’s one thing to show someone images, or read them a couple of paragraphs – but having a self sufficient essay to tell the story required a completely different way of thinking. I think I learned the most about my site by having to wade through the few hundred photographs I took, make selections, develop a narrative, create an order, style the essay – and ultimately, tell my story.
