artist statement

i grew up taking pictures, my grandfather was an amazing photographer, and he took joy in teaching me to use his camera, showing me different angles, and interesting perspectives on photos as well as life. i learned some skills, however, i never took much of this to heart. as i got older, the most i ever did as far as photography was take a rare selfie for instagram. although i found an audible way to express myself in music. i still was  searching for a physical/visual way to express. photography never came to mind as something like that. the reason i am in photography is 1 is because i didnt like any of the other classes that occurred this period. this class was originally just a "filler" class for me. now i see photography as that visual/physical way to express things. 

What i have learned most in digital photography 1 is not technical skill (however i am thankful for the photoshop shortcuts i have learned), rather i have obtained more confidence in taking pictures and giving them meaning, unlike the instagram selfies i post for popularity and "likes". This digital photography has helped me learn that i don't need to be afraid to post something that i've created to share a lesson, thought, or opinion with peers. and that loss of fear has also led me to thinking more about what i create. 

Challenges i have faced over this semester amount to two main things. tHe first has already been touched on man times in this statement so far. pressing the "publish" button was a challenge for me for a long amount of time. Another challenge, has been obtaining the right amount of pictures on time while still putting thought into each one that I take. 

of all the projects that i've done, two particularly stood out for me. the first is my favorite, the Mosaic Project. i enjoyed the fact that you could make each photo have a more interesting effect and a wider range of meaning by "breaking" it. The second project that really stood out to me was the lEvitaion Project. It was my favorite to complete, however I feel like i could have done much, much more on the project. The Project had a much larger potential that i did not tap into.

When I was brainstorming and creating the final project, I tried my best to create a set of images that used imagery such as, my positioning of myself, the books had in the scene, hand positions, small props, etc. to create subtle meanings in every corner of the picture. the use of subtle imagery and the fact that each photo has a wider range of meanings, i believe is representation of me. As a person, i am not an extroverted, "out there" kind of person. i am generally a subtle person myself. and hopefully this is expressed in the imagery i use in my photos. When someone sees my final project. I want them to leave it thinking "what the heck did I just see." and i want them to be thinking "what did that mean?". I want to hopefully get people to look at it and think and take away their own meaning from the photos. 

for Future photography 1 students. my main advice would be to remember that photography is an art. use it. don't be afraid to express yourself. don't be afraid to sing along with Mr. Hohman when "take on me" comes on, on the radio. and as long as you don't get arrested or break any major U.S. laws, break all of the rules. and always, put silly captions with somewhat deep subliminal messages in them.