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
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| "Naughty & Nice" Photos by Roberto Gonzalez |
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| "Gothic Magician" Photo by Roberto Gonzalez |
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| Abandoned House Project. Photo by Roberto Gonzalez |
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| "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!!!
Congratulations! We did have SO many classes together. I remember at the start of the program I would maybe have one or two familiar names in my classes, but about halfway through it seemed weird to see a new name. Seeing other students come up with unique concepts and overcome struggles helped me see my own work in a new way. It has been a blast getting to know you and your work - best of luck in everything to come!
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