After years of being a TTOC in the New Westminster school district, I was able to get a contract teacher at the POWER Program, an alternate school for youth aged 16 – 19. Here I teach a variety of subjects; Applications & Workplace Mathematics 10 & 11, Science 10, Earth Science 11, Science & Technology 11, Photography 11/12, and Physical Education 10-12.
In school my favourite subjects were Science, Physics, and Mathematics. My fondest memories of learning through situated learning and hands on experience. Spending hours walking around taking photographs of everything that caught my eye. And spending even more time in the darkroom developing my film and bringing my photographs to life.
I am also a graduate student in the Master of Educational Technology program offered through the University of British Columbia. It is my goal to develop a Personal Learning Network to continue her personal development as a teacher. I believe that as educators we should model what we hope for our students, a desire to engage in life long learning by continuously challenging ourselves to pursue greater knowledge.
In school my favourite subjects were Science, Physics, and Mathematics. My fondest memories of learning through situated learning and hands on experience. Spending hours walking around taking photographs of everything that caught my eye. And spending even more time in the darkroom developing my film and bringing my photographs to life.
I am also a graduate student in the Master of Educational Technology program offered through the University of British Columbia. It is my goal to develop a Personal Learning Network to continue her personal development as a teacher. I believe that as educators we should model what we hope for our students, a desire to engage in life long learning by continuously challenging ourselves to pursue greater knowledge.
My PASSION For Photography
Growing up I was enthralled with photography! It was my New Year's Resolution in 2013 to continue to develop my photography skills and to keep my DLSR with me whenever possible, if not a point-and-shoot, and at the least my iPhone. I wanted (I want to) to develop my artistic eye and to capture the objects, the subjects that tug at me.
My dad, although he had a regular full-time job, was a professional photographer. On weekends, and weeknights during the long summer days, he’d be off taking family portraits or wedding portraits. I of course wasn’t allowed to accompany him to the wedding sessions, but would often go as his assistant to shoot family portraits. I’d be the “sit-in” before the clients arrived. He was great! I’d sit there in awe, especially when it came time to developing in the dark-room and retouching by hand.
For himself personally though, he’d prefer the abstract concepts of photographing everyday items found in unusual places, or landscapes. I’ll have to dig out a copy of my favorite piece; it’s a close up of a doll he’d found laying on the ground with runny make-up. He traditionally shot everything in black and white.
For my 16th birthday he bought me my first film camera, a Nikon D50. I was so super excited by it! I had been taking photography classes at school and was spending all my spare time using one of my mom’s old cameras. Throughout the next couple of years I’d play with the camera, never spending lots of time to perfect the skill. You know how busy highschool can get in your senior years (I was taking advanced classes and lots of extra time went into homework, and I began playing more sports). Photography went by the wayside for a while. Then something happened, I’d lost my mentor when my dad passed away. I’d played with the camera and in the darkroom for a while. Until the chemicals that were on-hand expired. There was no sense spending the money on the chemicals when I was living 50 minutes from the family home, in which the darkroom was located.
I continued to take photographs when travelling with my film camera, some photos I loved, some were okay, others (most) I was frustrated with that they were “noisy.” Getting good film, with decent ISO, in South East Asia was apparently hard. So that was it…the D50 was put away and the small digital point-and-shoot was bought. I’d lived with the point-and-shoot for nearly a decade before I decided it was time to buy a DSLR. Last spring I began to realize that I was missing something, and now that I had time to spend on my own hobbies I wanted to get back into photography.
In the spring of 2012 before heading off on another trip to Europe in the summer, I was adamant that I was going to get a DSLR for a birthday gift to self. I didn’t get the camera I ultimately wanted, the Nikon D7000. I just didn’t have the money to buy it nor could I justify spending the money on a camera I knew I wouldn’t need while I was learning to photography all over again. Instead I bought myself the older version, the Nikon D90. My choice was between these two cameras so I could continue to use my old lenses, without having to start my collection from scratch again.
In the fall of 2012 I enrolled myself in a ten-week Beginner’s Introduction to Digital SLR course with Vancouver Photo Workshops, a great place to learn. Throughout those ten weeks I reviewed some concepts I was familiar with, and learned many that I was not familiar with. It is with this course that my passion for photography was re-ignited.
A passion I hope to share with you throughout this course.
My dad, although he had a regular full-time job, was a professional photographer. On weekends, and weeknights during the long summer days, he’d be off taking family portraits or wedding portraits. I of course wasn’t allowed to accompany him to the wedding sessions, but would often go as his assistant to shoot family portraits. I’d be the “sit-in” before the clients arrived. He was great! I’d sit there in awe, especially when it came time to developing in the dark-room and retouching by hand.
For himself personally though, he’d prefer the abstract concepts of photographing everyday items found in unusual places, or landscapes. I’ll have to dig out a copy of my favorite piece; it’s a close up of a doll he’d found laying on the ground with runny make-up. He traditionally shot everything in black and white.
For my 16th birthday he bought me my first film camera, a Nikon D50. I was so super excited by it! I had been taking photography classes at school and was spending all my spare time using one of my mom’s old cameras. Throughout the next couple of years I’d play with the camera, never spending lots of time to perfect the skill. You know how busy highschool can get in your senior years (I was taking advanced classes and lots of extra time went into homework, and I began playing more sports). Photography went by the wayside for a while. Then something happened, I’d lost my mentor when my dad passed away. I’d played with the camera and in the darkroom for a while. Until the chemicals that were on-hand expired. There was no sense spending the money on the chemicals when I was living 50 minutes from the family home, in which the darkroom was located.
I continued to take photographs when travelling with my film camera, some photos I loved, some were okay, others (most) I was frustrated with that they were “noisy.” Getting good film, with decent ISO, in South East Asia was apparently hard. So that was it…the D50 was put away and the small digital point-and-shoot was bought. I’d lived with the point-and-shoot for nearly a decade before I decided it was time to buy a DSLR. Last spring I began to realize that I was missing something, and now that I had time to spend on my own hobbies I wanted to get back into photography.
In the spring of 2012 before heading off on another trip to Europe in the summer, I was adamant that I was going to get a DSLR for a birthday gift to self. I didn’t get the camera I ultimately wanted, the Nikon D7000. I just didn’t have the money to buy it nor could I justify spending the money on a camera I knew I wouldn’t need while I was learning to photography all over again. Instead I bought myself the older version, the Nikon D90. My choice was between these two cameras so I could continue to use my old lenses, without having to start my collection from scratch again.
In the fall of 2012 I enrolled myself in a ten-week Beginner’s Introduction to Digital SLR course with Vancouver Photo Workshops, a great place to learn. Throughout those ten weeks I reviewed some concepts I was familiar with, and learned many that I was not familiar with. It is with this course that my passion for photography was re-ignited.
A passion I hope to share with you throughout this course.