Final Blog

Reflecting on this semester of Digital Nature Photography, I recognize just how much I have grown as a photographer.  I came into this class knowing next to nothing about digital photography, and I finishing this class with so much valuable knowledge when it comes to planning the shot to taking the photograph to editing to producing the final piece of art.

When I began this class, I had no idea what all went into making a good photograph.  I had never heard of an aperture value or ISO or exposure compensation or had any concept of even how to operate a digital camera.  My growing confidence in all of these technical aspects of digital photography make me excited to pursue photography outside of the classroom.

Beyond knowing the rules and technical aspects of photography, I think the past few weeks have taught me even more about the philosophical and artistic sides that are so crucial to the field of photography.  Coming into this class, I really saw photography as primarily a way to capture a scene that only exists briefly in nature and make that scene last forever, allowing people to experience a scene that they otherwise would never have the opportunity of doing.  I saw photography more as a journalistic tool rather than a true art where creativity had its limits.  If this semester has taught me anything, it is that photography can be so much more than this.  A photographer has the power and the ability to influence not only what a viewer sees of the natural world but how they see the natural world and how the viewer experiences the scene.  A photographer has unlimited ways to accomplish what they wish to accomplish with a scene, whether it is through the manipulation of color, the use of black and white, the choice of the point of view, the use of light, and the choice of camera settings, just to name a few.  All of these considerations allow a photographer to be creative and make a photograph that is uniquely theirs and a photograph that accomplishes a specific experience in its viewers.  These elements and their unlimited possibilities are what really excite me about continuing photography.

Even without a camera in hand, I still find myself changed in the way that I see the natural world because of this class.  Photography forces one to see nature in a completely different way.  It forces one to really pay attention to their surroundings.  I find myself being so much more aware of the nature that I encounter on a day-to-day basis, appreciating the light, the color, or the shape of, say, a mountain, in a way that I was pretty much blind to previously. 

Together, all of these things demonstrate how this class has allowed me to grow as a photographer and, even more simply, as a person that enjoys nature.