Top Ten tips for Success in the Classroom…

This weeks post comes from one of our other Alumni, P. Seth Roberts. Seth graduated with his BS in photography back in October of 2014. You can check out his website here.

Hello! My name is P. Seth Roberts, owner of PSR Images, and a former student from AIO. I have since graduated in October of 2014, with a Bachelor’s degree in Photography. I have been asked to create what I believe to be the top ten things to consider for success in the classroom. My list contains technical, academic, and personal considerations. I am honored by this request, so, I humbly submit the following list.

Be Open / Be Humble

When I first joined AIO, I already had several years of professional filmmaking under my belt. I wasn’t sure what, if anything, AIO could offer me. However, I also knew that if I had entered my studies with anything but a complete willingness to learn, it would ultimately prove futile. I learned more about capturing images through my complete commitment to studies than I did in my experience as a film director. My time at AIO not only made me a good photographer, but a much better filmmaker.

Also, remember, this isn’t a competition between you and your classmates, or you and the Professor. It isn’t whether your images are the best in class, but are your images the best they can be, for the sake of the assignment.

Criticism isn’t Mean, it is Critical

Learning to take criticism is part of the student process. Let’s face the truth of it, you will never impress or get everyone to like your work. That’s life, you have to learn to deal with it. People will love or hate your work for various reasons. You take it, and you move on.

However, criticism in class is NEVER meant to be destructive. I remember several classes when I did what I thought was my best work. I was ready for the shower of praises I felt was sure to come once I posted my assignment. Then, when I logged in and saw this litany of criticism from Professors and peers, I was devastated. I questioned whether or not I even belonged there.

Having the wrong attitude toward criticism will inhibit your growth as an artist, professional, and human being. I had to determine that I was going to be a photographer, and that meant putting on my big boy pants, growing thick skin, deeply considering the criticism, then making the changes that were necessary to my growth. Don’t let personal pride get in your way!

Breaking Away from Safe

By nature, I am a very introverted individual. New people worry me, crowds scare me, and the world to me is a dark and dangerous place.  With that said, my introverted nature was actually hampering my ability to perform as a photographic student, it can also be contradictory to the very practice of photography. Unless I was going to simply photograph my walls, I needed to go against the grain and step out into the world. It was uncomfortable, it was challenging, and at times I hated to do it.

However, once I took the step, and I adhered to the requirements of my assignments, (shooting in manual only, etc…), I noticed an enormous increase of skill and understanding of the science behind picture taking. We don’t get better by doing what we’ve always done, we get better, we become masters of our crafts, by doing the things we haven’t, the things that challenge us to depart from our very natures.

Owning a Camera, does not a Photographer make

Your Professors will say this over and over again, and it may become so repetitious that it becomes annoying, but ask yourself these two questions: 1. If it weren’t so true, so important, would so many Professors say it so often? 2. What does a photographer do, if he/she does not take pictures?

Taking pictures is what we do folks, and if that annoys you, then perhaps being a photographer isn’t for you. I get it, I understand, believe me. I have been sick, tired, stressed, all of that. Realize this, that only through practicing your craft, experimenting with equipment and light, will you ever become a professional photographer. Take pictures, take thousands of images.

Technically Speaking, Can You Do It Again
I remember several classes both for outdoor and indoor shooting when we were required to record all of our camera settings, for each shot. This included, lighting scheme, ISO, shutter speed, white balance, color setting, and more. This was done for two reasons, first to make you think about what you were doing and why. More importantly however, I feel it is to help you understand how you were able to create an image.
We’ve all been there, when we snap 400 images, hoping to capture the one that will be what we wanted, what we were hoping for. Not only does that waste time and energy, but it shows a serious lack of understanding about the science and aesthetics of good photography. That doesn’t mean you won’t take 400 images of a subject, however, knowing how and why things work will ensure that many of those images will be what you are looking for. Learn you camera, learn your light meter, and learn those pesky little settings, and you will see the quality of your work improve greatly.

Attitude and Habit Follow You Out The Door

Consider this, and if it makes you mad, well…. perhaps you should reconsider your attitude. Your approach to your studies, and your assignments will be the exact same way you operate as a professional photographer. If you are lazy and late, only do half the research, or try to fudge your way through your assignments, not only do your Professors know, but you will do the exact same thing when you open your own shop.

Your time at AIO is there to teach you not only the craft, but the professional habits and actions of a successful photographer. Treat each assignment, even written assignments, as if you’ve been approached by a client. While granted, some of the images I had passed in were a disaster, I put my best effort into each and every one. Only through risk and hard work, was I able to grow and become a success.

Communication

Talking with your Professors is paramount to your success. These highly trained and experienced experts are photographers that currently work in the field, and make money at what they do. If there is something, anything you do not understand, they are the BEST source of knowledge you will have far beyond anything you could learn in a text book, or from fellow students who are learning right alongside you.

That isn’t to say text books aren’t important. To the contrary, they are very important to building a solid foundation of understanding. With that said, books can’t directly answer question, but your Professor can. Reach out to them, it is after all what they do.

This should include times when you are confused about your grade, struggling with deadlines, or any other issues you may have.

Obstacles Are Nothing More Than Challenges To Overcome

I live in Maine and come from a small town, so there were two big challenges for me to overcome to meet several assignment requirements. These particular challenges were weather and a small population. It was often difficult to shoot in snow, and to meet particular assignments because we were far from any real large city or population center.

Do not let this become a stumbling block for your success. There are always ways of overcoming anything that gets in your way. It is times like this that you must learn to think outside the box. These challenges, whatever they may be, are not to be feared, but embraced. They will make you stronger and more effective as a professional photographer.

You will learn to do things you would never have thought of if these challenges hadn’t arisen. Believe me when I say, challenges will come with every shoot. The last thing you want is to be on a professional shoot, have something occur, and be unable to come up with a solution.

Study, Study, Study, then Study Some More

Studying is the very essence of learning and truly comprehending your craft. Fudging it, plagiarism, and trying to sneak your way through is unacceptable. It goes back to who you want to be as a professional. You must have a firm foundation of your art, if you truly expect to be a recognized contributor to photography.

Yes, there are so many text books, and so many chapters, and so much information you are expected to have, however, without it, you’re just another person with a camera, that can take cute pictures. To be successfully active within your field of study means that you have a firm grasp of the science, history, and aesthetics of the program.

On another note, many students attempt to enhance their images by “breaking or bending” the rules of photography for the sake of art. STOP right there. Before rules can be broken or bent, you must first have a clear understanding of the rules, why they are there, and how to “break” them in order to create the best image possible. Breaking or bending the rules of photography, especially as a student does not show a deeper understanding of art, rather it shows an ignorance of professional camera use.

Put It Into Practice

As I have stated earlier, your Professors are experienced professionals, currently working within the field of photography. When they give you pointers, PAY ATTENTION, and put it into practice. They know what they are talking about, and coming from someone who was a fellow student, it works.

This includes carefully constructed portfolios, well-made and functional websites, the proper use of social media, a smartly crafted artist statement, understanding context versus content, business plans, dealing with galleries, and methods of marketing. IT WORKS!!! Regardless of your brand, there is something in their wisdom and lessons for everyone.

These 10 methods worked very well for me, and while I could go on and on with many techniques that helped me to graduate with Dean’s Award, we could save that for further discussion. Each one of you has something unique to contribute. Don’t give up, don’t give in, believe in yourself. You will find your voice, I promise.
Comments/Questions

What Am I Doing?

Greetings fellow shooters! Tuesday Ambassador Stanley, here welcoming you to another Tuesday.  It has been a good six, maybe seven, weeks since I started writing Tuesday blogs and I think it is about time to let my readers know what I have been up to lately in school. As I am nearing the end of another set of courses, I will be met with new classes to which I am sure will take its toll on me in the coming weeks. So what classes will I be leaving within the week you ask? Well Studio Photography and Marketing are the two classes I will be departing from and to be quite honest, I did not find those classes to be quite as hard or time consuming as I had been told by many. However, I guess not having a full-time job can leave a person to have boat loads of time to do whatever they desire.

Yes, I know I should have taken Studio Photography earlier in my studies but having financial stress prevented me from taking that class in the order recommended by The Art Institute. The out of order class did not stop me from continuing with my studies though, so that is one big plus on my part. However, that is the story of my life. Usually when something does not go right I just have pay not mind to it and move on to the next. If the opportunity arises again then I should know what to do for the next time. Right?

With that said, I am sure you are itching to see some photos of my prior work in Studio Photography. Keep in strict mind that I am a person that has to learn to crawl before walking as you can clearly see in my photos. You will see how much different these images have changed over the course of five and half weeks. Now these assignments were basically exercises for our final project, which by the way will be posted by the time the course ends. For the last shot in this series you will see a multi light scenario where we had to initially freeze our subject and move it all in the same frame. It’s a very cool technique that I am sure I will exploit later on in my career.

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3
 

Week 3

Week 4

Week 4

Week 5

In a previous blog of mine I mentioned the need to test your equipment and make sure everything is working as intended in order to prevent any unfortunate circumstances with school. What I did not mention is that it if you do test your equipment, not only do you prevent situations that could bar you from class, but you prevent unfortunate situations when it comes to your job, if you have one, even yourself. I figure that if you are in school for something that you enjoy doing, then it should help to drive that passion even further. So the next time you receive that sexy piece of glass, or a boat load of lights, maybe literally, then test that equipment out that you love so much! I know I do. And as always, thanks for reading.

- Tues. Amb. Stanley

Oh ya, my next classes will be Editorial Photography and Portraiture I. Now I do not have a good feeling about timelines with these classes. Let's hope I can keep up with the blogs in the coming weeks. 0_0 Please leave any questions and

comments below.

My Last "Top 5" List

Greetings, welcome to another Terrific Tuesday!

This will probably be my last blog as a student of the Art Institute of Pittsburgh Online Division as I will be finishing my studies sometime this week!  Your Saturday Student Ambassador, Deva Mayorga-Malone and myself are doing our last presentation for our Portfolio on Wednesday and after that...we are graduates!

My name is Roberto Luis Gonzalez and I have been the ambassador for Tuesdays since the program began back in June of 2013.  It has been a great experience and I hope we have been able to provide some useful information here and there for our classmates and for those that are beginning the great journey in the field of photography.

I have decided to go back in time and share some of my classroom experiences in the form of "Top Lists", but this one will be a more personal one, so here we go!

Top 5 professors that I will always remember (learned a lot from them!):

1. Traeton Garl (PH 435 Fashion/Figure Photography) - After his first critique I felt like an amateur, but he brought out the best of me and from then on, my style was more defined and my vision clearer!
2. Maki Kawakita (PH 136 Lighting and PH323 Portraiture II) - Tough critiques all the time, elevated my technical aspects every single time.
3. Jill Mott (PH 342 Photo Essay) - I had other classes with her, but this one was a nightmare for me as I was never able to grasp the concept, her direction sometimes confused me and it was not until the end that I was able to see the big picture!
4. Damon Sauer - Once, I took two classes at the same time with him, I ended up posting assignments on the wrong thread in more than one occasion, he was always patient with me and encouraging.
5. Douglas Barkey - My last professor for my last class, had other ones with him but we never forget the last class and the last instructor.

Top 5 Photography classes that were difficult for me:

1. Marketing (PH 343) - A lot of reading, research, writing, exploring, re-doing, posting and re-posting while working two other jobs.
2. Business of Photography II (PH 332) - See above.
3. Digital Image Illustration (PH 134) - I remembered this one as the introduction to Photoshop, over 700 pages of information to be done in 5.5 weeks!
4. Portraiture II (PH 323) The concept of environmental portraits was a little weird for me at the time.
5. Photo Essay (PH 342) - For the longest time I kept thinking of photo story meets editorial photography and had the child of Photo Essay.  The concept and the timing of performing the assignments was not a good one for me!

Top 5 Personal Favorite Photography classes:

1. Studio Photography (PH 212) - New equipment to play with and the class only had two other classmates.
2. Lighting (PH 136) - Tungsten lighting and white continuous lighting creating shadows and cool contrasts!
3. Digital Image Management (PH 134) - Don't know, why but creating those contact sheets and learning about the management of images was something that stuck with me for a long time!
4. E-folio (PH 431) - Along with all the other portfolio classes, this was fun because I was able to start creating and establishing my website.
5. Thesis (PH 420) - This was one of those classes were I stepped out of my comfort zone and created a series on Boudoir photography.  This class was done around May 2013, and word of mouth since then has enabled me to make some profit in this genre.

5 Concepts that were "Easy to think about them, harder to accomplish" in no particular order:

1. Abandoned House Project - PH 412 Project Development
2. Gothic Magician - PH 323 Portraiture II
3. "Naughty and Nice" - PH 420 Thesis
4. The Retirement of Criska - PH 223 Magazine Photography
5. "The Duct Tape Dress" - PH 435 Location Photography

"Naughty & Nice" Photos by Roberto Gonzalez

"Gothic Magician"  Photo by Roberto Gonzalez

Abandoned House Project. Photo by Roberto Gonzalez

"The Retirement of Criska" Cover of Magazine Project

    























       Top 5 "I can't believe I actually enjoyed this class!" Surprise courses:
                               
1. ART 2100 The Afterlife in the History of Art - I had no idea what the class was about, but toward the end I was wishing it was a longer course!
2. FND 110 Drawing - Not part of the curriculum anymore but it was a good inspiring class that created a different perspective of how I saw objects in the open and in a studio.
3. ENG 2500 World Literature - The readings were extremely interesting!
4. BIO 2010 Nutrition - I learned a lot and still using the information I gathered from the class.
5. ART 1020 & 1030 - Art history course that helped with the photography history courses!

Classmates that I shared the most classes with, those in bold are part of my last course: 

Joe Mohn - "Keep On Firing" will always be tops in inspirational phrases.
Connie Rohne, Deva Mayorga-Malone, Doris Long, Rebecca "Peka" Simmons
Carolyn Lloyd, Lisa Bandy, Danielle Snider, Karen Sorby-Wirth, George Reis
Scotty McIntosh, Michael Barath, Ashleigh Shaeffer, Autumm Ginetti.

This has been a great experience and the learning that I have acquired is something that I will take with me forever, where ever life sends my way, I will be ready!

Thank you to all the professors and faculty for inspiring, pushing me while at the same time being patient adn always helping!

Thank you for all classmates that were part of my photographic journey, your critiques, comments and help was instrumental in finishing my studies!

In the words of our friend Joe Mohn, KEEP ON FIRING!!!

This is your Tuesday Ambassador, Roberto Gonzalez, wishing you a great pixel filled day!

Until we meet again, goodbye!!!

Got the Camera! What's Next?

Hello Everyone, welcome to another Terrific Tuesday! 

Last week I talked a little about buying a new camera, including some stuff that everyone should be aware when doing it.  As I was reading my own blog I realized that the requirements from the school when it pertains to the equipment needed might have changed in the last few years.  True enough, there have been some changes since I started, so this blog is going to be like a continuation from last week.

Having a camera with video capabilities is now a requirement that starts with your first photography class!  So, if you haven't done so yet, plan ahead and know that down the line there is a class called Time-Based Media where you will not be able to complete the class without meeting that requirement.

Done.  Good!  But what is down the road in your studies, you might be wondering.

PH 136 (Lighting) - You will need a tungsten light kit with at least two lights with a minimum of 500 watts each.  Sounds like a lot, and it is, they are very bright.  Shop around and get a good set, you will be using it several times throughout the rest of your studies!  Now that you have the lights, you will also need a light meter, and again there are several models to choose from, just be sure that it measures ambient light as well as flash lighting and can be set for reflective readings.  If you buy one that is not ready for recording and measuring flash or strobe lighting, you will need to get one for the Studio Photography class!  Prices vary, but these two items will run about $600 for both of them, again depending what you go with, and as always...research!

PH 212 (Studio Photography) - This was the class that I considered being the one that I spent the most time and money.  You will need at least (yes, I said at least) a 2-light strobe kit capable of 320ws - 500ws for each monolight.  I said at least because after the class, you might find out that you need more than two, I currently have 6!  BE AWARE, when shopping for the sets, go to reputable source such as B & H Photography.  You might find sets out there on other sites that would announce a 3-light set 600ws for a specific price.  If you do not research, you could be in trouble because for some sites that means 3 lights at 200ws each for a total of 600ws, remember the requirement is 320-500 EACH!  Of course, now that you have the lights, you will also need some light modifiers, background, background support system, a table and other requirements.  All in all expect to budget over 1K for the equipment.  Don't be cheap, get the equipment that you need now that will help you and stay with you later on.

PH 226 (Printing) - This is another class that has some explicit requirements for equipment.  You are going to need a ColorMunki (a what?), a printer with 6+ inkwells and used for photos as well as 20-25 Photo Paper, hopefully from the same company as the printer.  You are going to use the ColorMunki to calibrate your monitor as well as using it to create profiles for the paper you use.  The requirement states the amount of sheets, but let me tell you, I used almost three times that amount during the class!  If you like printing your images, you will love this class, if you do not like printing your images, you will still love this class!

Epson Stylus Photo 1400

ColorMunki with case

So there, now you know what to expect if you are in your first or second year.  Of course there are other things that are not completely photography oriented that you might need.  If you do not have web camera, get ready to get one for COM 1010 (Speech).

Want to see what's out there?  You can start with this link to B&H Photo:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/

Want to check out some strobes?  Check the Alien Bees:

http://www.paulcbuff.com/alienbees.php

That will be all for now, if you have any other type of equipment that you didn't realize you needed for any of your classes and found out when the class started, drop me a line, it could save some headaches to someone down the line!

Until later then, this is your Tuesday Ambassador wishing you a great day!