How to Approach the Assignments
This is a very important part of this process.
You are assigned an image to do every week, but you will have two weeks to produce the image. Our first assignment comes out on September 4, 2016, and it will not be reviewed for two weeks. The following weekend will be for our first get together chat and meeting.
So you will have two weekends and two weeks to produce the image assigned.
Do Not:
- Wait until the day it is due to ‘throw something together”- that sort of defeats the purpose of the assignment idea.
- Pull something out of your archives just to have something to be shown. The assignment is what is important.
- Worry too much about it. There will be time to get caught up.
- Not come to the class. You will learn far more by listening to the review than by not showing up.
Do:
- Start planning your shot the day you get the assignment.
- Use your sketch pad and workbook to make sure you are on the right track.
- Find examples for inspiration, but do not copy.
- Shoot as soon as you can so you can post in the FB group for suggestions on making it better.
- Use your peers at the FB group to help you see possibilities.
- Turn it in ON TIME. Please.
Look. Stuff happens. Life can be very complicated, and we are looking to do the best work possible here. Plan as far ahead as you can, and make contingencies.
Start now to locate talent (models, actors, friends, relatives… anyone who can give you an hour or so when you are ready to shoot a person.
Start now to get your gear in shape for instant work. Keep the gear ready as though this was your job. Dead batteries, broken tripods, stands that don’t work… nope. Get rid of all that and make sure you do not have those kinds of problems on set.
The assignments will vary from week to week. Just as a real photographer working today would get. Some of them will be outside your comfort zone, and some will be right up your alley. Put 100% into each assignment you get. If you are a food shooter, and the assignment is an editorial portrait – use a chef. If you are a people shooter and the assignment is food, treat it as an additional tool for your toolkit. Because of the nature of this class, we will be approaching commercial photography as an all-around approach. You will be able to learn from everything and take it into your specialty areas.
You may even find you like other genres.
Hey… it happens.
“You may even find you like other genres.” Yup…like shooting people. That scared me before. Now, I really enjoy it!!
I am at a stage now where two weeks isn’t long enough for me. To get to the quality of work I want to pursue, I need longer. Also, I am at a stage where I need to do things relevant to my long term goal. So this year I am not sure what you have planned for the advanced group, but I am going to be less about quantity and more about quality, more picky because I am simply unable to pump out one image a week at the standard I am now aiming for. The previous two years where I got to try lots of things were unvaluable and hold me in good stead, I have learned so much about lighting and technique. Now I need to hone in on specifics more.
Sam Breach , I absolutely love and admire how much you weigh all your options and demand the best of the best out of your ability to do so in reaching your GOALS ! I’m so aiming one day to bin all my work tools (knives and the entire collections of 21 years working in the kitchen ) and grab my camera bag for GOOD .
Yes, the advanced group will be more focused on personal projects, marketing, and portfolio building, Sam. The weekly assignments are optional for those who may not have found their space yet.
More on the advanced class coming.
I am with you Sam, I would come up with an idea, but could not pull everything together to get it done, then I would do something just to do the assignment. While I always learned something, I just felt like I didn’t complete it because it was not my first vision. I would rather skip one week and create an image that means something to me.
exactly Janice. I couldn’t have said it better.
I’m currently a bit worried that I’ll be missing the first two weeks as I’ll be flying to Iceland on the 4th. I hope missing my first ever classes doesn’t throw me too far behind.
You will be fine.
I’ve been concerned, too, as I will be out of town for several days mid-September (although I will be in Phoenix and hope to meet you, Don) and probably again late September/early October (family issue). I don’t like beginning class this way and will do my best to keep up.
You will be fine, Terri.
Actually you will have time to catch up at the Holidays.