From the start, I felt nervous about this course because I don’t have much experience with programs such as Photoshop or InDesign. I also have not worked much with photography but the information and skills we learned really interested me. I found myself enjoying this course because of how foreign the subject matter was. I think that the amount of time I spent on projects increased for each.

I used practice time to make sure I had the printing down. I did so many test print outs of my book before the final print. I also spent a great deal of time taking pictures of bathrooms of South Congress and making sure they weren’t of bad quality (which was hard for me). I spent most of practice time on the computer assignments, like my book layout and making sure I knew everything about the InDesign setup to print correctly.

I thought I dealt with feedback fine. The instructors were extremely helpful with the projects and making sure our final project came out how we wanted it to. I think you pushed me to expand my ideas and gave helpful suggestions from your past experiences. I gave helpful suggestions to other students whose work I saw. I tried to help students to expand their ideas as well.

It was hard for me to love these projects since they were so foreign to me and I felt like I was not sure what I was doing. I ended up picking the bathrooms for my final project because I really enjoyed taking pictures of them. I found love in this project because of that interest. There was lots of love in that project and I love designing things.

I watched memento during the semester and it was a great movie. I thought it was such an effective way to describe what you meant for sequence. It made the creative part of my mind really spin and gave me a few ideas for future projects. I followed a few photography instagram accounts this semester, which helped me expand my skillset for angles to take pictures and ideas for photos.

I think I worked hard this semester in this course. More so in the end than the beginning. I made sure to come to every class I could. I think I had one or two absences. I think that towards the end of the semester I would give myself an A but going back to the beginning I don’t think I deserve that good of a grade. I really enjoyed this course and hope to have you and Bill as professors again. The energy and positivity that you both brought to the class everyday was very welcoming and encouraging. Also the patience you both had with the class we had was really inspiring and I just have a lot of respect for both of you. I hope you have a wonderful winter break!

Emma Final Book 2015

This is my final book!

My use of practice time changed for each project. The harder ones like the harmony project took a little more time and effort for practice time. I would categorize that as achieving my practice times by stressfully getting it where I could. Previous projects, I would say I achieved my practice times very easily for. The blog is what I have had to put the most extra practice time into because I am not familiar with using blogs. The feedback I received for each assignment I understood easily and knew how it applied to me. I gave out constructive critiques and observations to others assignments and learned from others as well as the instructors in the critiques. These projects have challenged me on there own but I also gave myself a challenge by trying to take the projects in directions that I am not familiar with or is not my usual style. For my inventory of expert experiences I did all of my projects. Some parts of each assignment that I liked, I have worked further with like the little books we made. I have made several of those and am using them for a project in another class and for personal use.

 

Practice time: B

Feedback: A

Challenge: B

Expert: B

With my last set of shots, I wanted to head to a different part of South Congress that was less commercialized and gave a more real feeling to the viewer. These bathrooms are attached to venues that don’t always have toilet paper and are not visited by tourists everyday. South Congress is an interesting avenue that presents all of what Austin has to offer. I found the common tile in each bathroom to be the most interesting part of this set of shots.

 

   

 

I used the gestalt methods in taking this set of pictures. In my first photo, I used similarity and symmetry because the checkered pattern brings out the similarity in pattern and repetition. The dinosaurs are showing symmetry to me all in the same position, leading in the right direction. The second photo has similar elements and shows common fate with every object leaving the page, going somewhere. The third photo shows containment with the walkway leading to the house, framing the picture. The fourth photo produces a memory with the pizza and especially N.Y. style pizza. The fifth photo has containment with the door as its frame. The last photo also has containment with the sides but also has a strong sense of continuity with all of the panels leading the same way.

   

 

I was originally taking pictures of the different open signs for stores and restaurants on South Congress but it seemed familiar and bland. So as I was getting tired in the hot sun, I stopped to use the restroom in the Tom’s Coffeehouse where my first picture was taken. Instead of taking pictures outside showing life on SoCo, I decided I’d take a set of shots that showed necessary but unfamiliar places used by an everyday person. These restrooms are places that I have been countless times before but never stopped to notice where I was. After looking at these shots and thinking more about them, I realized how strange it is that we share such public places for our own intimate use but don’t actually take a moment to even recall the interior of where we were. This made me wonder how many other common places in my life I cannot recall but are as important as the obvious noticed places. I got to observe the unique way these venues designed their restrooms and some were as or even more beautiful than the setting outside these under appreciated rooms.