
My photo inspired by Modernist photographer Karl Blossfeldt.
This class kicked my ass. I kicked it back harder.
I’ve now taken 5 courses as AAU. Two classes last semester (Fall ’09) and three courses this semester (Spring’10). This is my first GS class. It was tough and challenging and fun and I learned a lot. I learned a lot about history and re-learned and greatly improved my ability to write papers at a Master’s level.
The course is a comprehensive review of the history of photography from the early pre-photography developments that led to photography to both technological and historical influences that drove photography and photographic movements from the 1800’s to modern day. There are papers due almost every week, plus a midterm and final project and papers also due during those times as well. If you suck at footnoting get the “Documenting Sources in MLA style: 2009 Update – A Hacker Handbooks Supplement, you should be able to find a copy online. Also use a citation service. I found http://www.bibme.org/ to be very useful. Using the citations/references features in Word ‘07 and greater is also highly useful. I found myself spending almost as much time on citations as I did writing the body of the papers.
This is a required class and when you take it you should take David Arnold as your instructor.
I’m sure there are other qualified instructors at AAU. My experience in almost all the undergraduate and graduate courses, workshops and other seminars is the teacher makes the class. Online is different from in-person and this professor made me want to constantly participate and do additional non-required research and deepen my understanding of history and related photographers and subjects. I wanted to read more, buy more books, study more artists and other photographers. I started this course thinking “ oh well…this is required and I’ll have to read and can probably work hard enough to get an A”. I ended this course with “wow! What great material, look at how much more I don’t know now that I’ve learned something about the history of photography, what an excellent course!
In my review of the course to the department I said something like, ‘when I teach I want to teach like this class is taught’.
As I strongly believe that instructors are the critical link between material and learning I am taking a course this Fall ’10 in PH645 Experimental Contemporary Photography being taught by David Arnold. This is so outside my normal and fairly wide comfort zone. I’m really looking forward to playing and learning a lot in that class this Fall!
BTW: I earned an A in this class, but it was a lot of work. I probably spent 15-25 hours a week just on this course.

No Summer School
July 21st, 2010A tilled bean field shot while I was NOT enrolled in Summer classes.
I’m so happy I didn’t take Summer courses. I may take some next year and I may still do one of those wacky 15-day intersession courses.
There are few things I’m happy about.
Being able to travel and shoot for myself. This included starting up a workshop and scouting locations in the beautiful Northern Nevada high plains.
Saving up money for Fall tuition is important.
Not having to constantly switch between being a student and being a pro-photographer as I do when I’m working and attending classes.
I have to go back to my days in grad school where my friends and I would look forward to starting the next year of school. The break makes me a bit nostalgic for going back to school. If I had taken Summer courses I would still be excited about the classes I’m heading for this Fall semester but it might also be some continuation of the grind of schoolwork.
There is some unneeded rationalization here that follows the line of taking it slower makes me learn more and learn it deeper – that may be true, or not.
I will not be qualified as soon as I originally planned (as I need 18 hours in my subject field to teach at a collegiate level), but for me, plans are just that and subject to change.
Overall, it’s a good thing to take a little more time for me, save up a little cash, spend a little more time with friends (which actually means spending more time working as most of my friends are out of town on vacations) and get excited about Fall courses at AAU.
No comments »
Posted in General Comments
Tags: attachment caption collegiate level Fall fall tuition field going back to school high plains Northern Nevada school schoolwork scouting locations summer time year