COM364: Reflection Journal
During Erika Schultz’s course on photojournalism in a diverse society, the lesson(s) that contributed the most to my learning focused on how to operate a DSLR, using manual settings. I went into this class having little experience with aperture, f-stop, iso, and etc. Moreover, I knew the meanings and purposes of these terms, but I never before put them to practical use. Essentially, prior to this photojournalism course, I was able to get away with relying heavily on my phone’s limited camera capabilities. So spending the extra time in-class, and out-of-class, to become comfortable with adjusting DSLR camera settings and understand the basics helped me tremendously.
More specifically, the extra out-of-class weekend practice sessions helped me become very comfortable with the camera very quickly. And the lesson that focused on dynamic light helped me gain a better understanding of the relationship between iso and aperture. Learning how to work with light is important, particularly in Seattle. This class took place during winter quarter, so it was usually either dark and rainy or overcast and cloudy. And while reporting, I had to constantly adjust my camera settings to accommodate for these uncontrollable factors. So learning the fundamentals early on in the course was quite beneficial.
My biggest challenge during this course was feeling comfortable approaching strangers to take their pictures. In fact, I am still not entirely comfortable with this aspect of photojournalism. But in the meantime, this course taught me that photographing in teams and groups and/or photographing event coverage are a great ways to help journalists/photographers/individuals that are not exactly social-butterflies, like myself, get the job done.
The most inspiring aspect of this course was going over classmates’ visual assignments in-class. Over these past 10 weeks, I valued being able to watch the capabilities and skills of my fellow peers grow. Also, it was interesting to look at the stylistic differences amongst my peers.
Overall, I am happy that I enrolled in this photojournalism course, because I am walking away with very valuable skills that will only help me grow as a journalist. Additionally, I am pleased that this course gave me the opportunity to work with Adobe Premiere Pro again. Also, when it comes to videography, I realized that I enjoy the process of both storyboarding/pre-production and editing/post-production a bit more than the filming/production stage. Ultimately, I am excited to continue using these photo/visual skills in future reporting, and further strengthen my work as a whole.