Photographic journalism Foundation project Hopes and fears Writing an essay on hopes and fears is a very personal thing. Everyone in the world has their own set of hopes and fears each individual and differing from person to person. Writing an essay like this takes a lot of deep thought and analysis of my own life and the hopes and fears I might have, that I may usually try to forget about and hide away. This essay provides me with the chance to think thoroughly about and fears I may have which may help me expose them and give me the basis to tackle them head on.
Upon joining this course I had both big aspirations for the future but also many worries for how the course would go. In the past I have always had an interest in photography but have never pursued it as further than just a small hobby. The first time I remember starting to get quite into photography was on my first ever snowboarding holiday. The place we visited was a place In Switzerland called Zermatt and it was a stunning place with the famous Matterhorn mountain top in clear view from my chalet. I enjoyed having the chance to snap some photos of the stunning sights I saw on the holiday as much as the snowboarding and one of my favourite images which I have taken is of the Matterhorn from the bottom of the slopes. From then on my camera started getting used a lot more, but it wasn‛t until I moved to Leeds for my first year of university doing human geography that I started to take up a big interest in photography.
Before the move to Leeds for university I only had a few friends whom took an interest in the subject, so although I really enjoyed it I didn‛t devote as much time playing with a camera and different images as one might have done if others were interested. In Leeds I quickly became friends with a lot of art students very into photography, this is where my interest grew a lot as there was now people to share my interest and talk to about it. Upon arrival to university last year it started to hit me that I may have chosen the wrong course. When around my friends I found myself helping them with their photography, and getting really into it. This is when I started to search for a more artistic and creative course to maybe do at Leeds met the next. When I found the photographic journalism course it sounded ideal and I was very interested in applying, but there was also some doubts in my mind. I wanted to attend the course but was also fearful because of having no previous photographic training, and only from personal use of cameras had knowledge been gained, there was a worry that everyone would be much more experienced than me, and
After applying I asked a friend to help me by showing me the way around a camera and some of the basics and I got the hang of using different settings quickly. I have always taking an interest in blogs and found looking at other peoples photos and images very interesting, getting a whole mixture of different styles. I spoke to a family friend whom is a photographic journalist, about their job as a photographer for a magazine about geography and nature. Aside from photography the subject I always liked and had been quite into is geography and I would love to combine the two in a job. Talking to the family friend got me excited to start the course but I was still a little nervous. Until a few years I had only been using a standard digital camera, when I came to university last year I started using friends digital SLR, I found the change in quality of photos amazing. Although I had got a little practice I was still also worried coming into the course about the use of digital slrs and not having sufficient knowledge to use the camera to its full potential, and that most other students would be very skilled with the cameras. Although I knew the basics of using a camera, and the basics of taking a good shot, I have never had the confidence in myself to believe that I could take good quality pictures all the time and had a lot of nerves in the weeks leading up to the course, also mixed with excitement and desire to do well.
Upon starting this term I have found that there is a bit of a mix of people with different levels of experience, and have found that not everyone has had previous experience of photography in a teaching environment and that other people just enjoyed photography as a hobby and liked the sound of the course. Some of my nerves have gone because everyone is on different levels and skills of photography and I‛m not the only one without previous teaching, but I am still not fully confident in my abilities and the nerves are still there. With access to a digital SLR in my house I have been able to learn how to use the camera much more proficiently which is something I was slightly worried about. Upon starting this term I have found that there is a bit of a mix of people with different levels of experience, and have found that not everyone has had previous experience of photography in a teaching environment and that other people just enjoyed photography as a hobby and liked the sound of the course. Some of my nerves have gone because everyone is on different levels and skills of photography and I‛m not the only one without previous teaching, but I am still not fully confident in my abilities and the nerves are still there. With access to a digital SLR in my house I have been able to learn how to use the camera much more proficiently which is something I was slightly worried about.
When we first got the project brief I had a few ideas, but was worried to share with other people in case they sounded amateur, but have felt a small grow in confidence in my work as the project has come on, and have more belief in my ability to create a good image. I hope my images are seen as up to a good standard, and also hope as the year goes with constant use of the camera that capturing some very powerful images will start becoming much more second nature and I can gain some real confidence in my work, and have the want to showcase it to everyone possible. I have recently acquired Photoshop onto my laptop. In the past I have had little experience with adobe Photoshop, and only played around with on friend‛s laptops. I was worried that it would be hard to become proficient enough with the use of the software, and also my images may not be strong enough on their own because of my camera experience. with the download of Photoshop I have learnt a few techniques to touch up pictures and am starting to find it quite easy to use. I found enjoyment messing around with different settings to do the photo for my project which wanted me in a part of history. I chose my image and played around for a long time trying different tools to place my head into the picture, and believe the end product to be quite pleasing.
My favourite image at the moment is a photograph taken by New York photographer Jay Fine. He heard that a storm was going to hit Manhattan and decided to try and get a photo of lighting striking the statue of liberty taking 81 shots before getting a brilliant photo of lighting actually striking the statue. the idea and his determination and position to get a shot were very good and the end product is defiantly was defiantly worth the effort, I would love to one day to take an image like Jay and get coverage in many newspapers. I have taken a lot of time thinking about what the end shots of my project should look like before actually taking the picture, in the hope that I can get some strong images. Although photo shoots and planned out shots can be brilliant, I like to take a camera around with me in case there is the opportunity to capture something out of the ordinary, or which is unfolding before me. Unplanned images can create a very strong atmosphere and be more powerful. I am hoping that by the end of this year i will have started to create quite professional looking photographs which will go to creating a strong portfolio. I hope it is up to scratch with everyone else and that it achieves a good grade, and I have a strong yearning to do well.
Looking to the future I have lots of aspirations but also uncertainties. Although I am still fearful that my work may not be good enough to make it in the world of photo journalism, my hope is that through hard work and time I will be able to learn the skills and become knowledgeable with the use of a camera. I hope that by the end of the course I will be producing high quality work which I can be proud to show off. I plan to go travelling after university to capture some of the world with the skills learnt on this course, and will hope to capture some powerful images to boost my portfolio. I would love one day to work for a geographic magazine and be paid to travel and take images from around the globe, especially capturing shots of nature‛s many forces such as volcanoes and tornados, which would make for some very striking photos, but the photographic journalism business is hard to break into. I am uncertain of how the course will go for me and if i will be good enough to ever make it anywhere in the business, so am willing to put the effort in to try and become a high-quality photographer.
The technology used in the photography business is always changing, and after 3 years at university, new equipment could have been invented and new skills may be required. With ever changing technology in the future there could be complete changes to the whole business, one of the main changes taking place at the moment is that newspapers with images are available online and don‛t even need printing, and also the loss of hard copies of photos with many just stored on computers. There will be a lot of hard work needed to keep up with new technologies but hopefully new technology doesn‛t wipe out things like having a hard copy of a photograph.
From this course overall i am really hopping to do well and achieve a top grade, but also know that i have a lot of a way to go to achieve a top grade, and that it is going to take lots of hard work and perseverance to come out at the end with a worthwhile grade and maybe even make it somewhere in the photographic journalism business.