I thoroughly enjoyed my time in our evolution through photography independent study. I learned so much about making and managing a blog, taking photos, editing them, and making a series of photos with an overarching theme that expresses something (in our case evolution). This blog really helped me to look at my photos a lot differently. It also helped me to see how my photos, taken at different times, can relate to one another.

Managing a blog was probably the biggest thing I learned from doing this class. Starting one was kind of tricky, but once we got it going, everything went smoothly. I really like the idea that our photos are reaching a wider audience than just the people in our classroom. I blogging is a great way of sharing what you have to offer the world wide web. I am most definitely keeping the link to our blog for future reference. It will be interesting to look at it again in like 10 years. 

Another thing I really liked about this class was, obviously, the photos. I loved looking through my photo library and finding photos that I could use to post. What I loved even more was to take new photos throughout the trimester. As I got farther into the class it occupied my mind more and more. A lot of my series included photos that I had taken very spontaneously. I loved just looking outside or passing by an object and thinking "oh! that would make a great picture!" It made me think of nature and beauty in a different way. Beauty can be found anywhere and everywhere.

I also really enjoyed editing the photos. I had experimented with editing photos before, but after doing this class, which really forced me to explore my editing software, I found that I could do so much more with iPhoto. I love seeing how a decent photo can be altered into a great photo. What I love even more is seeing how a great photo can become even better with some editing. Experimenting with contrast, saturation, and exposure is my fave.

Another part of photography that I liked was making the series. I loved putting photos together from different times and locations and putting them together to make a succinct series. I also loved seeing Ben, Abby, and Makaylaa's photos and seeing their personal styles. Ben has a very unique style. He really experiments with different angles and is a fan of taking pictures of very small things. Ben also edits his pictures in dramatic ways. Makaylaa has a very artistic eye and sees the art in everyday things in everyday life. She also doesn't like to edit her photos and simply lets them stay as they were taken. Abby really likes shadow and darkness in her photos. She also has a very matter of fact way of taking pictures. I found (after looking through her photos) that she likes taking pictures of bleak natural settings.

My three favorite photos:

Greenhouse - Minneapolis, Minnesota

 Sunset Backwater Tour - Kerala, India

Scrubs - Venice Beach, California