My Story, My Photos: VCU Freshman Year

Freshman Year at VCU was a tough one. I got stuck somewhere between loving to be able to do exactly what I wanted to when I wanted to and being lonely in a new place where I didn’t know anyone. I wanted to do everything I was invited to do and enjoyed being part of a new group of friends. I ended up failing two classes my first semester from lack of attendance (I retook them both and got an A). I also had a horrible photography teacher who was constantly putting me down and telling me I was going to fail my first ever college photography class. I was devastated. I was also in a lot of art foundation classes that (at the time) seemed to be completely useless to me as a photographer. Some of those teachers drove me insane as well. I remember one teacher that made me redo my color wheel three times because several of my colors looked exactly the same (the ones I remember the most are red-orange and orange-red…. yes apparently they are two different colors). I also tried a lot of different photography styles ranging from artistic to storytelling to documentary. It was a year of finding myself and learning that believing in myself and loving what I do was the only way to get through if this is what I really wanted to do…. and I did. By the end of freshman year, I discovered that I did need art foundation to be a photographer because I learned a lot about myself, my “eye”, and how every artist is different (it wasn’t until years later when I really got into color photography and digital photography that I realized just how beneficial that color wheel exercise really was).

My final project for that photography class is one that I will never forget. The teacher was a documentary photographer who was completing his final thesis for his masters. Our final project was…a documentary. Now hearing the sentence “you need an A on the next project to pass this course” all semester long did not give me high hopes of passing this class. We had to run our idea by him and get it approved before we started shooting. My first two ideas were shut down completely and he told me to keep searching for the right thing for me…it had to be “really good for me to pass”. I finally came across a poster for the Woman’s March in Washington DC. I felt inspired by the idea and ran it by my teacher just to be told he had already told a guy in the class he could use it for his final project and therefore I couldn’t. I left that day in complete shock that a guy was given permission to cover the WOMAN”S march, and I couldn’t. I spent the next week trying to come up with another idea, with time running out to get the project done, but couldn’t come up with anything. The night before the march, I told my boyfriend at the time that I wanted to do it anyway. Go to DC, document the march, and risk failing because I felt that no matter what I did, I had that chance anyway so why not do what I want. It was an amazing day and experience. I knew I like photographing people so I started walking around and taking photos of all the interesting people I met. As the march started, I stood on the side and photographed the marchers, but it didn’t feel right. I wanted to be a part of it, not a spectator (even though that’s what a documentary photographer really is). I joined the march and found that where I was showed me a lot more than from the side. I started turning around and photographing the people around me as well as the protestors on the sides. I felt amazing and inspired. When I got back to school and started looking at the negatives trying to decide which 10 to print for my project and found I had problems choosing. One of the photography teachers, T.D. (Thomas Daniel, feel free to check him out at http://www.thomasadaniel.com) sat down next to me and asked about my project. I remember him saying, “Who’s your teacher? X? Oh. I know him. Let me take a look”. He took my negative sheets (prints of all the negatives so you can see them all at a glance without a light table) and started circling photos. He gave it back when he was done and said, “Print those. Those are the ones he will like”. I had never met this guy before and didn’t see him many times after, but he helped me more than he would ever know. I printed the ones he told me and passed with flying colors. My teacher even came to me after the critique (and I went last) and told me I “totally kicked {the other guy}’s ass with this project” and I was getting an A on it. I passed the class overall with a B (barely). My biggest lessons in photography came from this experience. 1. I love photographing people. They inspire me and I love the stories they tell. 2. Not everyone will like my work and I just have to keep doing what makes me happy. 3. Art school is all objective. Grades are based on your teacher’s opinion and not to take any grade too seriously. And 4. Do what you love. Love what you do.