Reflection

With the school year coming to a close, so does my HMP classes. Looking back at my mentorship, I have gained many experiences and lessons that I would otherwise miss in a classroom setting. I have learned new ways of Photoshop, photography, and the importance of business in the photography world. However, what I have gained most of all is the affirmation that I want to become a sports photographer. This program has allowed me to see what life is like in the real world and test myself how much I want this dream career.

 To get the most out of the experiences in my mentorship, I had to ask questions. Our discussions in the morning about different aspects in the photography world is where I learned a lot about the behind the scenes that the customers don't see. As far the future goes, my dream to become a sports photographer is within reach. With plans to attend Berry college and major in Marketing and Business, I have been blessed the opportunity to possibly help market and photograph a splash fund of a 72 tennis court facility that Berry is taking part in. With everything laid out in front of me and the experience of HMP under my belt, I know I have good chance of becoming a sports photographer.

For future students desiring to participate in HMP, my advice is to understand all that is asked from you and make sure you don't overload yourself. It's a tough program and I've enjoyed it but I already had a lot on my plate before I signed up for it so things got a little stressful. If you fall behind on the weekly assignments, it can add up quickly if your short on time and have other priorities. All in all, the HM program is a great one, just be sure you can handle it.

http://multimedia.journalism.berkeley.edu/tutorials/photo-cameras/

3/2

My plan  is to follow in the career path of my mentor, which is photography. Although I want to have a focus on sport photography, I would still need to take certain steps to get me to that position. My plan is first learn how to  market myself and products. Even if I had the best work out there, I need to know how to get people to look and buy my work and service. So I plan to major in marketing and business. This will give me knowledge I need to efficiently and effectively market myself. The main task I would have to do is really hone my skills and practice a lot. Going to events, whether it be festivals, games, concerts, etc. The experience is what will make me a wanted photographer.

As far as the mentorship goes with Jim Haynes, there have been activities where I really enjoy the time I spend there. My favorite is working on and completing collages for sport teams for the seniors. They are fun because we create them in photoshop and Iv'e come to get a knack for projects in photoshop .On the other end of the scale, the most boring tasks are usually the required ones. This includes sorting pictures and organizing folders in the NikonView program. It's tedious but without doing it, everything would be scattered. So everything usually balances out at the end of the day.

2/2

With the big presentation coming up, a lot is to be prepared to make it a success. For myself, I am researching a lot of magazines. The Outdoor Photographer, National Geographic, Shutterbug, etc. All of these Iv'e flipped through to find information and advice on how to create great images. They offer a range of information from Photoshop techniques, common knowledge that every photographer needs to know, as well as stories by professional photographers that have had their life changed because of photography.
With all the researching still going full head, I am also sorting my own pictures I would like to use for the presentation to do a compare and contrast module. These will display my work and display how I have grown over the year being involved in the HM program. Still though, a lot of work needs to be done, but the planning and researching is taking shape.

1/5

My question is, what's the difference between a good photo and a great one? Earlier my essential question was more narrow and didn't offer much wiggle worm. Now my question is broader in hopes I can find multiple answers. I want to know what are the key elements to create a great photo, than just a good photo that gets a thumbs up.

Asking this questions offers many answers, all which can be different. Because each person has their own idea what a great photo is. Being an aspiring photographer, I want to appease the majority. I want my work to reach all those it can. So asking this question is a way I can improve my photography skills by hearing the variety of answers from a range of people.

To showcase my project I want to show my own work but showcase the difference between my 'good' photos, and my 'great' photos.

For my real inquiry, I plan to conduct a couple surveys that ask what makes a great photo with several categories that can be voted by most important. I as well want to conduct a couple interviews with different people. My mentor, of course, but to others who have different views on photography.

My Essential Question:When taking an action shot, does it depend more on the camera or the photograpaher?

My essential question is when taking an action shot, for a good quality photo, does it depend more on the camera or me as the photographer?

Sports photography is my passion, my goal. So to get a good-high quality photo, do you need a really good camera, or just be a good photographer? Whenever I take on a photo opp (opportunity) of a sports events I sometimes see professional photographers as well. You can easily spot them, carrying big bags, with giant cameras with foot-long camera lenses. Snapping pictures at 5.3 frames per second and capturing a leaping player for the dunk, they look like freeze frames from a video. But the photographer is what makes the shot not the camera, right?

I chose this as my essential question because it has always been a question I wondered and am able to argue both ways. A photographer who is in a studio, I believe is what makes great shots. However, they do so because they can manipulate what is seen in the picture. How the subject is posing, the light, the colors, the background, etc. But it's different in sports photography. As a photographer in a sports environment, there is only so much I can manipulate. So then do the shots depend on the camera? That's is what I want to know. Where the silver lining between the job of the photographer and the camera lies.

Finding the answer is exciting to me because I want to know if there really can be an answer sense the two together are in a gray area where the camera and photographer go hand in hand.

 As I said in the beginning, this has been a question that I have struggled with for quite some time now. It's only natural for me to have a desire to research more on the topic and read different articles about other photographer's thoughts on the matter.

11/10

During this last month of my mentorship with Jim Haynes, I have learned many new things and have been enjoying what we do. However,  everyday is not the same. While what most may think small, I find very different in our day-to-day work. We switch from sorting through pictures of softball, to pulling out the seniors of the football team. However same the activities may be, you learn that each activity requires a different mode of focus. I've noticed this over time and have enjoyed using my trained eye to find which photos we are looking for. Whether it be for a poster, pamphlet, or for yearbook to use. But throughout our work we discuss topics of ways to be more efficient, new ideas to better market our product, and new prop ideas. There is a lot that goes into running a photography business and working with him has equipped me with new found skills to better my photography, photoshop abilities, management, and marketing capabilities.

In my high school career, being on the Yearbook Staff is what I believe best prepared me for the mentorship. In yearbook I learned a lot about photography and designing pages. I especially gained skills in dealing with deadlines and time management. These have been most beneficial for working with Jim. We deal with many deadlines and we have to learn to manage our time. Often times we can get sucked in the editing stage of photoshop and can lose a lot of valuable time. Being on the Yearbook staff however has helped me real in the reigns when it comes to editing and focus on the big picture.

11/3

 http://growingleaders.com/blog/first-soft-skill-develop-students/
It's sad to say that what this article discusses, about teens and young adults, is true to most. Being a teenager myself, I can understand the struggle that we face as well the employer.

In the workforce, youth are going to face many challenges. The biggest one I think is most challenging is adapting to the workforce atmosphere. Where you must come in looking professional, on time, and knowing how to present yourself and respond to your employer and coworkers. As a teenager I understand this is hard for us because we come from a hustled and casual background of high school and college. In high school, we have a strict schedule and grades are everything. So our look didn't have as much importance. In college, the young adults have a more lax schedule and have less importance of dress (unless involved in a certain class), but have an importance of grades. For most of the young adults live's, they live having to hold up their grades, so naturally, the other aspects ( dress, cooperation, etc.)  of the workforce lose some meaning. So adapting to the workforce and upholding these new aspects is the big switch to learn the ways of the workforce. There's more to it than just grades. You need to be dressed nice, know how to cooperate with your co-workers, and do what's best for the company, not yourself.

What was mainly discussed in this article was social intelligence. According to the article, the definition of social intelligence is "the capacity to effectively negotiate complex social relationships and environments." Basically, being in the workforce requires you to know what to say, what to do, and how to do/say it when with other coworkers or your superiors in certain situations. For example,   there was a dispute about the printer being broken and their is a rule that the last to see it broken or breaks it is the one to fix it. However, no one knows who was the last. So your co-workers have been looking for whose to blame, pointing fingers. Instead of proving your innocence, communicate to them that we only need to fix it. Looking for the culprit wastes time, and decreases production time. This way, the immediate problem is solved and time is saved. You used your social intelligence to bring your co-workers together instead of avoiding the situation by protecting yourself. One person's problem is everyone's problem.

I enjoyed this article very much, especially the section  about the neurological breakdown of social intelligence. It makes the topic easier to understand and put it into facts and simple context.
It discusses how the social relationships we have with others can have a direct effect on our health. Like if your around your crush, your temperature may increase or have a faster heartbeat. So it makes sense that to have a healthy relationship with others means a healthier you. This also applies vis versa. The reason I enjoy this section so much is that I know so many of us can relate to this. Last year I was given a task by a friend of mine, and I held this person in very high respect. They were my role model. However, I failed to it. My friend was very disappointed and lost some respect for me. I was very much effected by it, not just mentally but physically. The next few days I was in poor health because of our relationship. Until the end of the week, we finally made up and as our relationship got better, I got better.

So having a strong relationship with others is one important step to better your social intelligence. As well as yourself.