Learning is sharing

    What am I doing in Norway? All these beautiful photographs around me: advertising, editorial, artistic, portfolios... all of them are an outcome of, first of all - theory. One has to know what he is doing and how he handles the photographing gear, otherwise the end-result is dissatisfying and visually unattractive.
   That is what I am doing in Norway - studying theory of photography, history of photography and photojournalism, camera handling and many others. All of these are contained within the bounds of theoretical aspects and practical tasks/assignments.
   Since not all of the students joining this course had prior background in photography, our course started with the basics of a camera components and a brief introduction to the history of photography.
   Before starting to dig deeper into the theory, we have to consider the fact that I am one of the students who had no prior knowledge in camera handling, but merely into composition rules that I have been learning during my bachelor in the Netherlands.

What do you need to know?
   First, let's start with a short introduction to history of photography and how it evolved in time. It all started as early as the 15th century, with the apparition of the camera obscura.
   It is interesting how the first photography was taken in 1827, but the actual photography was introduced for commercial use though in 1839, together with the first photographic process called "daguerreotype". Despite flaws such as not being able to capture moving objects (because of too long exposure times - I will explain later what that is), the daguerreotype was used for almost 20 years. Interesting is that one can compare this process to a Polaroid of that time - all photos were originals.
   Later, photography took different courses and was undertook by various photographers, also as early as mid 1800's. Take, for example - photojournalism. Mathew B. Brady is considered the father of photojournalism. He spent over $100 K to create over 10 K plates, having high hopes that the US government would buy it, but he ended up having to sell his studio in NYC and became bankrupt because the government did not buy any. Brady died in a hospital penniless. Since printing was very expensive at that time, newspapers would rarely use photos in their articles, so that is why in 1905, xylography printing was developed.

Who are some of the renowned photojournalists of the history?
Jacob Riis (1849-1914): he is known as being a "muckraker" journalist - he revealed through photographs and brought attention on the darker sides of society;
Lewis Hine (1874-1940): American photojournalist who used his camera as a tool for social reform, photographing child labor in the US;
Margaret Bourke White (1904-1971): she became one of the first four staff photographers for Life magazine and, her photos helped to establish the new field of photojournalism;
Robert Capa (1913-1954; born as Endre Friedman): greatest war photographer of all times; he was present in the D-day on Omaha Beach, during the invasion of Normandy in France - 1944 (WW2). He died in 1954 in Vietnam, killed by a land mine;
Henri Cartier-Bresson (1908-2004): French humanist photographer, he was considered a master of candid photography. He pioneered the genre of street photography and contended as photography as capturing "the decisive moment";
Joe Rosenthal (1911-2006): his iconic photography of WW2, Raising The Flag on Iwo Jima got him a Pulitzer Prize and, later, this photo was used on many magazines covers and further illustrated differently for public publishing;
W. Eugene Smith (1918-1978): famous for his dedication and uncompromising professional and ethical standards. He owns brutal WW2 photographs and other important works, such as illustration of pollution in Japan or the city of Pittsburgh;



Digital cameras - what, how, where, when ,why

   From my own heretofore experience, I have learned that a digital camera has many components and more than enough settings and functions, but the most important ones (the ones one needs to know when having no background) are mentioned:

1. body: all the components are placed inside the body;
2. lens: here is where the light comes in and the photo process starts. It can vary in focal length, aperture, etc.
3. viewfinder: this is the main visual source, where you can see the picture you take;
4. aperture: it works in the same way as an iris: when there is much light the iris is small and, conversely, too little light causes the iris to grow. 
5. shutter release: button used to initiate the photography; mechanism that releases the shutter
6. image sensor: it sends an electronic signal to the memory card, signal that is converted from the optical image. There are two different types of image sensors: CCD and CMOS.
7. flash: used to provide additional light in low-light situations;
8. LCD screen: used to viewing photos after shooting or adjusting settings from the menu;
9. memory card: external storage where all images are stored. 

What do I take from this period abroad, studying photography?

   Since I had no former experience in the field of photography before my semester in Volda University College (VUC), I have to admit that my final results are surprisingly good. My final oral examination contained four aspects:

1. Photo portfolio with 25 pictures taken by me during the semester;
2. Knowledge of history photography;
3. Taking a photo under the teacher and the censor's supervision;
4. Correcting a photo in Adobe Photoshop.

   They were both extremely satisfied with my defense and my overall presentation, so my final grade was an A in all its glory. Norwegian grading system starts from A to F, where F is Fail and A is awesome. I am leaving VUC with a solid ground for my possible future in photography, knowing that I have what it takes to be professional. It was a pleasure to have Gaute Hareide as a teacher.

   In the end, I feel like my mission in VUC was accomplished and that I got the insight needed to further progress... Pieces of feedback I could give are only positive:

• the syllabus is well-organized and compact, it encompasses plenty of interesting areas of photography that beginners ought to know;
• I highly value that at the beginning of every class, the teacher would verify our homework and critically comment on it for further improvement;
• having more time to retake our photos is definitely advantageous. especially for the first assignments when I had no idea what I am doing;
• "Fronter" was a good online platform which provided all the slides from class, plus additional facilities, such as being the main communication channel between teacher and students;
• nonetheless, VUC provided us with cameras - plus flash units, lenses, tripods.

   As the international office continuously mentioned, "Volda is the place you'll never forget!" and I entirely agree... I felt very welcomed, appreciated and had plenty of amazing, jaw-dropping experiences here or around - some that I could never have anywhere else. So, thank you, Norway!