My success boiled down to one day, and that was the day I skipped school.

 

Last Friday I was having dinner with one of my production assistants. I was telling her about how bad I felt for ditching school and that my followers would be anxiously waiting an update (Ok that anxiously waiting part is an exaggeration). Regardless, I felt bad.

She turned to me and said- “Look, in five-ten years down the road people are going to ask, what was the turning point in your career? And you’ll say- It was the day I skipped school.”

You see, I did not skip school just so that I could sit at home and veg out all day, no. I skipped school because I was having meetings and signing contracts for the biggest break I’ve had in my entire career. For now, this is top secret. I will refer to it as “The Project” until I can fully disclose it’s awesomeness.

However, I will tell you this. I am VERY excited. I am VERY nervous. I am VERY ready.

911

September 11th.

This is very brief, If I really get started, I’m afraid I would never stop.

I was shocked when I looked at the calendar this month. On the box that is September 11th, there were small red letter that read “Patriot’s Day”.

When did that become? Who voted on this?

It guess I am just a little upset about the whole thing. So many lives lost on that one day, and every day since then. Troops from all over the world are on a perpetual tour.

I don’t like the idea that this is a national holiday. I don’t even want to imagine how it feels to have lost a loved one on this day.

It was fourth grade for me, right at that age when you start to understand that there is a world outside of your own. I woke up to chaos in my house as all of the adults watched the news in horror. The entire school day was focused on what “half staff” means and our teachers trying to communicate to us this tragedy without making us fear for our own lives, definitely a lot of Q & A.

Since then every year the same memorials are held, flags are at half staff, and a fog of sorrow encompasses the entire country.

091114001_JRN225_GCC_RAW (In Progress)

September 2014-

So this semester Glendale Community College is offering their first Photojournalism class. SO EXCITING!! The class is being taught by Tracy Vincent and you bet your bottom dollar I registered! There are about 10 students in the class (which works). Most of the students are actually journalism majors which makes for a good refresher of the basic camera functions.

So I will be adding to this post as the class progresses to give a run down of what the class consists of and as a personal reminder to DO MY HOMEWORK =]

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Week One-Assignment One- Photography Fundamentals

Review Your Camera’s Manual (can also be found online at camera.manualsonline or butkus)

Experimenting with DOF using SUNNY16 24 consecutive stills with varied dof, in shade and in sun.

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Class Review-

SIMPLE HOW TO SAVE METADATA (In Bridge)

HOW TO SAVE & ARCHIVE FILES  (The importance and suggested techniques)

Suggested format-

091114001_GCC_JRN225_ASSIGNMENTONE_RAW

(month/day/year/assignment#oftheday_Place_Reason_TAGNAME_IMAGEUSE

Image use is for when you go to edit. RAW will never be touched- EVER- save only. Then comes the _WORKING then come the _EDITED which could also be followed by what the output is such as .png, .tiff, .jpg, .raw etc.

THIS ALLOWS FOR EASY SEARCHING!!

This is ONE IDEA. There are many ways to archive photos. Pick a format that you like, and STICK WITH IT! Do not flop back and forth, that makes for more work on your part.

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Week Two-Assignment One- Review & Redo

Review the photos from Assignment One, Reshoot them.

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Week Two-Assignment Two- News

Start shooting for first critique (due week 8)

Must be a Newsworthy event. NOT A FEATURE Can be Spot News or General News (Click here for a simple comparison)

WISH ME LUCK!!

WATCH MY PROGRESS AS A PHOTOGRAPHER