Day 11

Final exam week is coming to a close. I have completed three out of four exams for this semester and cannot wait to finish my last one on Friday.

Today was my last Intro to Photography class. Since we took our exam on Monday, today we presented our final "Mini Portfolio's" and our awesome professor brought in coffee, doughnuts and bagels. 

A woman in my class made the buttons above with catch phrases from my professor. My class found them hilarious; as did I.

The first one is in reference to my professor's "Golden Rule" that when hand holding your camera, your shutter speed must be greater than or equal to the focal length of your lens; in order to reduce camera shake. 

Whenever something he lectured about was very important and would later show up on an exam, he would use his "foot stompers" and, obviously, stomp his foot. Three times to be exact. An example of this would be, "So when hand holding your camera, your shutter speed must be greater than or equal to the focal length of your lens." **STOMP STOMP STOMP** Then everyone's pens would hit their notepad, scribbling down his instruction.

Another thing my professor did was teach us how to use "The Force" while photographing in the studio. And it's quite funny. When we had a headshot model for the class, we would use our hands, (most likely our left hand extended out, our first finger and thumb making and "L" shape) to direct the model's head without touching him/her. When directing the model, we would move our hands in the same direction as we told them to move, and it was just like using "The Force." Quite amusing.

Catch lights are the glint in a subject's eye or that little "spark" you see. It's caused by the reflection of light in the subject's eye and is used a lot in portraiture photography. Specific light patterns can be recognized by the position of the catch lights in the eyes. When acting as our headshot model in the studio, our professor asked us what type of light pattern he was using and said, "Look into my catch lights." Another funny antic from my professor.

This class, having been my first formal photography class, I would have to say it was very informative and fun. My professor made the class a great and comfortable environment for everyone. Each day was full of laughter. And I believe that is rare in a college-level class. I'm looking forward to taking more photography classes at my college and hopefully seeing my professor again.

Below is my final Mini Portfolio I turned in for the class, I thought I'd share it with you, but especially for my youngest fan who lives in Minnesota. This little one reads my blog everyday with her mother and I couldn't be more thankful to have a constant support like that. So this one is for you Trista! Hope you it, especially all the animal pictures!!

Kimmik