Tag: university of baltimore

Grad School

One semester down…

Jessica Smith

Yesterday evening was my last class of my first semester of grad school — woohoo! Six credits down, 30 more to go. Next semester I am taking a 6-credit class that is a prereq for pretty much everything else in the program, and then I’m able to take a whole slew of awesome classes (Magazine design, Creative concepts, Book design, Typography II). I’m pretty excited about it.

I really enjoyed both of my classes this semester. Typography I was fascinating to me. Our final project was to typeset the Constitution, which was a fun challenge. And my photography class taught me the ins and out of my camera, how to use Lightroom, shoot in camera RAW, and all sorts of other super useful things.

For our final projects, we had to shoot a series of photos that all fit together. I opted to drive all over the area taking photos of water towers. Yes, water towers. Odd, I know. But I’ve always had a strange fascination with water towers, so it worked well for the project. The final product was six creepy photos showcasing water towers in Howard, Anne Arundel and Prince George’s counties.

ASmithofAllTrades_WaterTower_PBDS638-4ASmithofAllTrades_WaterTower_PBDS638-5ASmithofAllTrades_WaterTower_PBDS638ASmithofAllTrades_WaterTower_PBDS638-3ASmithofAllTrades_WaterTower_PBDS638-6ASmithofAllTrades_WaterTower_PBDS638-2

I’m quite proud of how they turned out. Plus, now I know the location of about 12 different water towers…. that’s useful, right?

Anyway… one semester down, at least five more to go! Now I just need to make it through a bit more work, then it’s CHRISTMASTIME.

Grad School

Life as a grad student

Jessica Smith

Smith_lines3

I’ve been in classes at the University of Baltimore for a little over a month now, and so far I’m loving it. My classes (typography & photography) are very interesting and I can already put some of what I’ve been learning to use at work. Plus, I’ve been getting to know the city, albeit a small section of it, which has been exciting for me.

My photography class has been quite fascinating. I never knew how much went into taking and editing photos — it has given me such a respect for professional photographers. I’ve taken photo classes before, but neither of the classes went into as much details as this class has. I guess that’s grad school for ya. I think the most helpful things I’ve learned so far have been metering, bracketing and editing in camera RAW. I ❤ camera RAW (I should make that into a T-shirt) — it’s incredible the difference in editing the uncompressed versus compressed files.

This week, our assignment is to shoot landscapes and turn them into Black and White images. It’s been a challenge to brainstorm cool places to go to take photos that will be interesting each week. I see things all the time as I drive that I file away in my mind to revisit when it fits for an assignment. The power lines, for example, I’ve driven by many times. When we were assigned our Converging/Intersecting Lines assignment, I knew exactly where to go. I’ve taken my camera all sorts of places, and each week the photos get better and better.

Here are some of my favorite images from class so far, and the topic we covered:

Short Depth of Field

Smith_short-dof1 Smith_short-dof

Long Shutter Speed

Smith_long-shutter

Bracketing

Smith_bracketing

Something I Love

Smith_something-I-love

Where I Work/Study

Smitih_Where-I-study

Framing

Smith_framing1 Smith_framing2 Smith_framing3

Positive/Negative Space

Smith_positive-negative

Converging and Intersecting Lines

Smith_lines3 Smith_lines4 Smith_lines2 Smith_lines1

Inclusion/Exclusion

Smith_inclusion-exclusion

Texture

Smith_texture3 Smith_texture2 Smith_texture1

Spacial Relationship

Smith_Spacial

Life is really busy right now. Grad school, work full time, family visits, bridal shower planning, other life activities — it’s tough to juggle everything. But, I don’t regret for a second taking on all of it. It’s been a great experience so far.