A History Major's Journey

[Westerner]

My second semester at TESC (October-December 2013).

Introduction to Photography
Professor Paul Light
Grade: A- (91)

Part 1:
"Photography 101" was a TESC class I'd been eyeing, but wasn't sure I'd get to do, until I got the Pell Grant that paid for a year of classes there. So I'm getting to do it, praise God! I'm about a month into it.

There are 6 2-week modules.

There is 1 required book, "Photography" by London, Stone & Upton. I got a pretty recent version, costing $65, but you might be able to make do with an even older one. I'll just have to see when I get to the stuff about darkroom vs. digital—you'll need to be up to date on that. In the course, you're provided with links to websites (like Kodak's) that have photo-taking tips. Quite a bit of it was review for me, of things I'd heard before, from friends and through independent research.

The main thing you'll be doing is reading a chapter of the book, then getting your camera out and practicing 1 or 2 of the techniques. It really forces you to learn about your camera, practice with the controls and take different kinds of pictures, which is great! Also, the other types of assignment is "personal," like showing what types if photography you like or are drawn to, what you like to photograph, things that help you "get in touch with your artsy side" I guess

My professor is Paul Light. He didn't have good reviews on ratemyprofessor.com, and he's living up to the mostly unsatisfactory reviews he does have. He doesn't grade fast, or give particularly good grades. I know photography is subjective, but when I had to write papers in other classes giving my opinion, the professors were happy to hear it and I got As. Here, I haven't gotten one 100 on a photo assignment yet.

Module 1—learning about your camera. Taking pictures from different distances.
Module 2—aperture and shutter speed. Taking pictures while changing these settings.

That's as far as I've gotten. I'll post again later.

Part 2:
In week 10 of the course now.

Module 3—metering and bracketing. Experimenting and getting the best picture. Practicing with ISO.
Module 4—no photo exercise. Discussing the history of photography: wet dark rooms vs. digital workspace.
Module 5—lighting. Taking photos in different lighting conditions and times of the day. Also, in this module, the class looks at famous portrait photographers; every student picks one. DO NOT pick Annie Lebowitz. Her famous photos are quite obscene. Yousef Karoush, Ansel Adams, and Dorothea Lange are good options.
Module 6—up until now, you've only been required to post 4 photos/week. In this module, you collect 16 photos that demonstrate techniques you've been learning throughout the course.

And, I hope you don't have to take this course with Paul Light, but if you do, his main thing is to take creative pictures. I have been getting Bs on the photo exercises (except on 1, which I got A-) and on the corresponding discussion forums. On the creative exercise forums (in which you write about your personal inspirations and such), I get 100s. But since those don't count nearly as much as the photo exercises and DFs, I asked him about how to improve my photography so I could get As, but all he wrote in his return email was a copy-past from the instructions and his original post with his expectations (namely, to be creative). I could've gathered that much and would've liked a more personal response (after all, what's a professor for if not to help his students?) but I guess I'm not getting that from him. I agree with other students of his who say that he expects too much from people taking an "Introduction to Photography" class.

Part 3:
Well, I finished "Introduction to Photography." The basic information about the course is in my previous posts. For the Final Project, you create a (unified!) portfolio of 20 photos. Your 2 strongest images should be first and last.

Here are my photo exercises from the course, along with notes on what we were practicing each module.
Photo Exercise 1: Photographic Exercise 1 - a set on Flickr
Photo Exercise 2: Photographic Exercise 2 - a set on Flickr
Photo Exercise 3: Photographic Exercise 3 - a set on Flickr
Photo Exercise 4: Photographic Exercise 4 - a set on Flickr
Photo Exercise 5: Photographic Exercise 5 - a set on Flickr
Final Project: Final Project - a set on Flickr

Now, I have to say something about my course mentor.

I took this course with Professor Paul Light. He was not available for questions and did not seem to want to help his students learn. He was a very slow grader. He gave poor grades and did not explain AT ALL why I was marked down. Nor did he give adequate feedback about the photos I took for assignments—what he liked or did not like. Once I emailed him to ask for suggestions on how to improve my photography in order to get As, and all he sent back was a copy-past of his grading policy! That was not helpful. What is a mentor for, if not to coach and help students? I tried to take more creative photos as he suggested but he never gave feedback on how I was doing. Grades were late, and then he finally surfaced to comment on my final project. I really was left to navigate this course on my own.

Professor Light never actually helped me learn to take better pictures. All he did was critique my photos ONCE, and sometimes gave links to other photos to show "what our photos should look like." I expected critiques of every photo I took, and tips on how to improve photography, but I did not get any. He said late assignments would not get critiqued; by extension, doesn't that sound like on-time assignments WILL be critiqued? That's what I thought, but my on-time assignments weren't critiqued... Professor Light sent us to other websites for info; he never gave personal, customized tips. All the unexplained Bs he gave my photo assignments dragged my final grade down to a barely-A-. I am EXTREMELY disappointed in his nonexistent "mentoring."

He also gave 100s for participation in the Creative Forums (which counted for less overall) but Bs in the Photographic Exercise Forums (which were weighted more heavily). I seriously don't understand that. I participated fully in both. Why grade down for full participation? In other courses, in every Discussion Board I participated fully in (responding to 2 or more people, as the course syllabus instructs) I got 100. Why not here? As a matter of fact, he said responding to 1 person would get a maximum of 50. So, then, why wouldn't responding to 2 or more people, which is what I did every time, warrant a 100??

I would NOT recommend Paul Light as a mentor. Others got mentors in this course who gave 100s without critique or comments. I would take a professor like that over one who gives 85s without critique or comments, any day. Mr. Light might be a good photographer, and he has a blog where he teaches about the subject, but he completely fails as a college professor.

I love photography, so I was so excited for this class, and I really thought I would enjoy it, learn a lot, and better my photography. Well, after finishing, I can say that this course was not as enjoyable, and it was all because of my particular professor. The best things about this course were...

—I was happy I got to interact with other budding photographers. My fellow students and I had a GREAT time seeing each other's photos, discussing, sharing our likes and dislikes, and practicing with our cameras.
—The textbook was helpful and I'm glad I got to learn about and practice with my camera and learn more about what it can do.

That was really all I got from this course, but I was expecting to get more. I was expecting professional critiques and coaching from the mentor (Paul Light) and I DID NOT receive that at all.

In the end, this class wasn't really worth it. Order the $60 textbook, join an online photo community, and have at it. Much cheaper!