Hello everyone out there. I am one of the new students this year. I was graciously asked to write the first student blog of the year about the first week at school. Nervously I accepted, and will attempt to share with everyone what it was like for me in the first week.
A basic background of me and photography. I am very new to the world of photography. I received my camera as a gift from my boyfriend 2 years ago, and fell in love with photography. I have a background in art, as a painter, so I felt that photography was a way to express my viewpoint faster then painting.
Skip ahead 2 years and here I am on the steps of school, with many emotions running through my head. Its been 8 years since I last attended school ... what am I doing?! Oh my goodness I am scared. Wow ... I feel like Iʼm finally starting my life. Iʼm sure at some point all of us as new students have felt, scared, nervous, excited, and stressed about the first day, or first couple of days of this new venture for us.
I can remember walking in the very first day. Smelling this weird smell, and realizing now it is the dark room. Which got me excited. As we all sat down, I could feel this nervous energy in the room. Everyone looking scared and nervous at the same time. Wondering what will be in store for us. We received a schedule for those first full 3 days of classes and were split into 3 groups and taken on a tour of the school. I am in group B and our guide was Sarah, who is our Creative Imaging teacher. She let us in on some “secrets” about different things and made me feel at ease, lightening up the mood as best she could. We got our student pictures taken by Paolo and were dismissed for the day.
The second day, our group was lucky enough to sleep in, and our first class was Creative Imaging with Sarah. Everyone started to open up a bit more, especially when she asked us what got us interested in photography and if we were a kitchen gadget, which one would we be. I explained that photography was a way to capture everyday life, that I wanted to be a sports photographer, and my kitchen gadget was my red Kitchen Aid mixer.
Image Capture was the next day with Tristan. This is where we finally got to take out our cameras and learn about them. We then got to go out on a scavenger hunt and shoot a bunch of objects on our the list. At first this sounded pretty easy, but when you got outside to do it, it was harder then it looked. It was nice because we got some time to interact with each other and get to know each other a bit better.
Digital Techniques was next up with Bram. This is where we got to sit in front of our computers and start learning Lightroom. I started to feel more at ease after this class. It was nice to learn some tips on how to use a Mac computer, since I just purchased mine earlier this year.
This week has been a bit more of everything. We have started Analog Techniques. It was pretty awesome when Tristan put these mounds of film and other supplies on our tables. It was fun to see everyones reactions as things started to become so much more of a reality.
As the assignments start piling in and we start to get to know each other as students a bit more, things seem to be getting exciting and less scary.I have found in the first week that I have learned A LOT of things that I didnʼt know before.
How refreshing it is to be in a supportive school environment. There are so many interesting and creative people in my class. I am blown away everyday by this. The teachers are accommodating and extremely helpful. Always making sure that we understand what we have discussed in class, and they always seem to be around if we have any questions. As tough as it has been for me to adjust to school life this past week, I am truly excited to get up and go to school in the morning and learn something new about the people I go to school with and the classes Iʼm in as well.
I look forward to getting to know everyone much better throughout the year and am honoured to share this experience with you.
Ill leave you with a quote to hold onto. “If I could tell the story in words, I wouldnʼt need to lug around a camera.” - Lewis Hine
Michelle Moulson
PV Diploma Student 2011-12
Lovely pictures and awesome photography.
ReplyDeleteprops michelle for being first up! nice blog.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure many can easily relate to the nervous feelings of starting school. It's nice to know that I wasn't the only one who felt that way, and was almost gagging from the smell of the darkroom aswell haha!
Goodluck throughout the school year!