My Journey with Photography

In elementary school, I remember how my school created a student program called GEMs which involved every student in 3rd grade taking part in different creative groups from learning a language to planting a garden, to darkroom photography. It was a very random program for third graders to expand each students' skills but it was the moment I really found an interest in photography. We would get into small groups for two different activities. At the time I picked Spanish learning and photography with the use of darkroom development for film images. To be honest it is a weird activity to integrate into nine-year-olds learning at a public school but I always look back to that time and it brings back a nice feeling. I can reimagine going to the park behind the school and taking pictures on the provided camera of random stuff like trees and swings. Then somehow downloading them into film which the teacher would take us to our makeshift darkroom which was filled with strange smells. If you don't know developing a film involves a few chemicals which you dip the image into. The chemicals smelt like fish and acid so nothing good. Being in that room made me realize how amazing how many steps go into creating photography art. It was an amazing thing to do at such a young age and it made me want to learn more about it. When it came to me being in middle school I wasn't too involved with things like photography but I was able to be part of my school's video news channel where I learned basic editing skills and how to prepare video ideas and complete them. As high school came close to hand the first class I decided to join was photojournalism which taught me the different types of photography and how to describe concepts. I got hands-on experience with taking pictures through yearbook and got to be creative with my friends during school. During my four years in high school, I got to explore multiple medians of art from basic art to ceramics to AP photography. I have always loved being able to be hands-on and learn new skills in a creative way. I took photography class all four years of high school and kept falling in love with the art form because it's so versatile and can have many meanings to the audience. Though today I am still learning new things and I find this art form more as a hobbit I want to work hard to understand it and find my own photography style. Below I will show the journey of my photography skills.