Reimundo Garcia Jr.

So the eight-week class I took at BetterPhoto.com is now complete. And here’s what I thought.

First, I am quite happy with the class format. The online system allows users to upload pictures fairly easily to the website. It keeps track of what equipment was used to take the picture, reads the metadata for the pictures, and has a nice forum for students to interact with the instructor. The design of the site itself is not completely up to date, but the functionality works as it should, although I did have to use Safari instead of Firefox on the Mac in order to upload my pictures.

Second, the class itself was very well run. There were eight exercises given, each with 10 days time to complete them. The exercises were well described and the time to execute them always included two weekends to complete, which is great for anyone with a busy schedule. The exercises ranged from technical ones during which you practiced certain techniques to more open-ended ones, so you could be more creative. The students in the class interacted a lot with one another and the instructor and had lots of great questions. The nicest thing about the class was the ability to review the instructor’s critiques from the different exercises as well as the instructor’s critiques of other students’ work. Critiques are the best way to learn what you did well and what you didn’t. The ability to review them again after the fact is great, especially if you don’t remember all of the details of the critique. (Students were also allowed to critique one another.)

Third, did the class motivate me? That is tough to say overall. It was definitely motivating to have weekly goals. I had my camera with me most of the time and took some great pictures. I was also able to get to some particular places I wanted to (near my office) to take pictures that I had wanted to take for quite a while. I will be taking a break from taking photos after the end of the class, but I do feel a bit more energized to make some more art.

Here is a slideshow of my best pictures from the class.