Young photographer seeks wisdom

[TheoLeakas2005]

Hey folks! I am writing today in need of some advice about my next steps from you all.

I am 19 years old. 2 years ago, my art teacher complimented my polaroid shirt, and a hundred conversations and questions later, he gave me my first camera, an AE-1. Until then, I had never even thought about pursuing photography before, but I started playing with it until I took some pictures that I was proud of, landscapes, a few portraits, and some architectural stuff. In April, I thought it would be neat to interview and photograph these students at my local university who had set up a protest encampment. Before I knew it, it turned into a full scale event, cops showed up, 40+ student arrests were made, and I shot the entire thing on 4 rolls of TMax 400. On that day I was bitten by the conflict photography bug. It was the craziest feeling I have ever felt in my entire life. They were also the first photos I have ever showed people that made them say “Wow!” out loud. Obviously, this is not the type of photography that you can just go out and do, and so I started to feel stuck. I directed my attention towards other projects, and in doing that I made photos I was proud of, but I still felt like I was mostly just snapping aimlessly.

Recently I decided it would be a good idea to compile my photos into a website, mainly to try and one day sell prints, but in showing it to people I realized I was had a great problem on my hands, one that I was ignoring for awhile: that I have absolutely no idea what I’m doing. There is no consistent theme across any of my photos, and in trying to emulate photographers I like, I just end up straying from myself and my own authenticity.

Aside from documentary, I’m most interested in landscapes, but to be honest, I’m not very good. Sometimes I show them to people and they just say “oh”. It can be discouraging.

I guess my question is: what should I do to get “back on track?” Should I just mainly just focus on improving and taking landscapes that I know I could sell as prints, hopefully have enough for a series, and then network to try and one day have an exhibition? Should I just shoot documentary on the side whenever I get a chance? Should I walk up to people at political events, say something to offend them and take their photo with a big off-camera flash, a la Bruce Gildan?

I will forever keep taking photos and trying to put on paper scenes that carry very special emotions for me, but sometimes when I’m holed up in my dorm and just *need to go shoot*, I don’t know what to do.

Right now I just feel extremely stuck. Please help!

Attached are two of my proudest photos from the protest (AE-1, Tmax400) , my proudest landscape (F5, Ektar) , and my proudest overall photo (AE-1, ProImage).

 

[Daniela]

Hi and welcome!
There are lots of experienced people here who, I'm sure, will have great advice. I can only share something that has been helpful for me in times of doubt: trust only action. Go out and shoot and then shoot some more. Follow that voice. It can take you to unexpected places

 

[Romanko]

Welcome. This is the right forum for this post. Thank you for sharing. I am a software engineer not a professional photographer so I can't give you specific career advice. All I can tell is that feeling extremely stuck is quite normal and is an important part of personal and professional growth. Humans are weird species and this seems to be the way we operate.

When I get stuck I use the time to do simple but useful tasks, like working on my website, reading, experimenting with new techniques or organizing my archive. Or as Daniela said just go out and shoot. The key is not to push yourself, just have fun.

I like your protest images. They are strong and at the same time subtle. There is not much action and a lot of tension. Well done. The interior shot is also good in terms of composition and colors.

Landscapes are harder than most people think. A lot of beautiful nature scenes are very stubborn to become good images. A straight shot will rarely work.

Sorry if I was of little help. I would probably help if your share your circumstances. Are you studying photography and plan to make it your career? Do you gravitate towards journalism or fine arts?

 

[mshchem]

Do what you enjoy. I think your protest pictures are great. Shooting on Tmax 400 means you have an, almost, permanent record, that's pretty near impossible with electronic files.

WELCOME TO PHOTRIO!!! KEEP POSTING

 

[Romanko]

To my eye a slightly cropped version of the landscape looks better.



In my opinion the trees at the borders of the frame draw too much attention.

There is a bit of magenta cast in deep shadows. Are you giving Ektar enough exposure?

 

[TheoLeakas2005]

Welcome. This is the right forum for this post. Thank you for sharing. I am a software engineer not a professional photographer so I can't give you specific career advice. All I can tell is that feeling extremely stuck is quite normal and is an important part of personal and professional growth. Humans are weird species and this seems to be the way we operate.

When I get stuck I use the time to do simple but useful tasks, like working on my website, reading, experimenting with new techniques or organizing my archive. Or as Daniela said just go out and shoot. The key is not to push yourself, just have fun.

I like your protest images. They are strong and at the same time subtle. There is not much action and a lot of tension. Well done. The interior shot is also good in terms of composition and colors.

Landscapes are harder than most people think. A lot of beautiful nature scenes are very stubborn to become good images. A straight shot will rarely work.

Sorry if I was of little help. I would probably help if your share your circumstances. Are you studying photography and plan to make it your career? Do you gravitate towards journalism or fine arts?

Thank you so much, this was reassuring to hear.
The state school I'm starting at this fall has a very lackluster art department and an even worse photography department. I have registered for a photography class but may work with the instructor to try and get dedicated darkroom time. Regardless, I think I'm going to try and double major in something "practical" (business, finance, etc.) alongside art history, another interest of mine. I've found the best way to kill a passion is to try and turn it into a career, so with that sentiment I'll try and utilize my resources at university to make connections and relationships in the art scene, but mostly pursue photography non-professionally at this time. That being said, I could do journalism, keep finding scenes like the protest, and hope I can build an attractive enough portfolio, but this seems stressful and difficult

 

[TheoLeakas2005]

To my eye a slightly cropped version of the landscape looks better.

View attachment 374402

In my opinion the trees at the borders of the frame draw too much attention.

There is a bit of magenta cast in deep shadows. Are you giving Ektar enough exposure?

In the hours I have looked at this photo trying to figure out what was wrong with it, I never thought the crop might be an issue. This has been an enlightening thread for me so far! Thank you!
Attached is the scan straight out of my conversion software before I tried to "save" the highlights and the shadows with luminosity masks and color correction..overall trying to make the scene look more like how it did in real life. I rarely edit my scans this much, but I've always found Ektar to be unreasonably hard to scan with contrasty scenes. My worry was underexposing the shadows so I comp'd the exposure by +0.3 if I recall correctly, but I also didn't want to overexpose the highlights. My next thought was to use my 0.6 soft GND, but. without a hard horizon I feared the tops of the trees would be noticeably darker than the bottoms due to the entire foreground being in shadow, and decided against it.

 

[Romanko]

I found this video by James Popsys which might be of interest to you (skip the introduction):

I've always found Ektar to be unreasonably hard to scan with contrasty scenes.

Ektar has smaller latitude and a bit higher contrast and saturation compared to Portra. It requires careful exposure and could be tricky to work with. Many photographers recommend using a warm-up filter with it. There is a whole thread on how to shoot it on this forum. Ektar is a very nice film stock. I shoot it a lot. It is less expensive than most color negative film so bracketing important shots is always a good idea.

 

[MattKing]

It is a very good sign that you, as a 19 year old photographer, are in search of "wisdom". That is a real sign that you are open to listening and learning.
And some of the best work ever will come as a reaction to "stuckness".
I'm reluctant to give what would essentially be vocational advice - I spent a few years making money directly and indirectly through photography, while being around lots of people who did work as photographers, but as a result came to the realization that the way to keep the joy and wonderment in photography for me was to do something else to make a living. But I certainly have known of many who were happy with photography or photographic related work.
Don't discount what you can learn from emulating others - just be sure to use the experience to learn about yourself.
And try to come up with some ideas for photographic projects that will both challenge you and interest you for a period of time. Starting with a vision and then, through time and effort and growth, bringing something into fruition as a result of it, can be the most satisfying and surprising of experiences.

 

[4season]

Right now I just feel extremely stuck. Please help!

IMO, don't get too caught up in fussy little details such as film vs digital, b&w vs color, just shoot with whatever you've got. Think about your everyday reality, the people you encounter, the places you hang out. Realize that someday they will be gone: Will you wish that you had some souvenir to remember them by? In my 20s, I remember feeling kind of silly and self-conscious about photographing a grassy field and preschool located a block away from my mom's place. But today, they live on only in my memory and the few photos I took! Today, the space looks entirely different, and in time the housing that occupies the space will in turn give way to something else. And if you still live at home, you absolutely want to photograph your room, and all the stuff you consider precious, because there will come a time when those photos will feel like a glimpse into a bygone era. In this sense, your camera is your personal time machine.

Don't worry about being influenced by photographers that you admire! Anyhow, it's impossible to avoid. Go ahead and explore the very same themes if it pleases you and see where it leads you.

If possible, do take a photo class in which everyone is given an assignment, then gets together to do a group critique session.

As far as figuring out one's style and other mysteries of life: Long ago, I remember thinking that I'd have life pretty much figured out when I was a mature adult, say 25. Well here I am decades later, and only recently think I have a clue about what "my style" might be. I don't know if it's possible to take shortcuts here?

 

[RezaLoghme]

Welcome and special congrats on your protest photography! The first pic (two policemen and a girl) is very impressive - if you decide to ditch your new hobby and destroy all other photographs you took, that one pic is a masterpiece. Really great! And the second one is also cool. Big respect!!!!


You might find this thread interesting:

B/W film in summer for urban documentary project, and come kit critique please

Yeah ok. I have the Hasselblad and some digital gear and will use it, as I am not going to get into another system for the time being, I will have to work with what I have, thats a 60mm 80mm 150mm trio which should cover many situations, and shutter speeds up to 1/500, and the PME has TTL...

www.photrio.com

It is about my plan to document protests in Central Asia/Caucasus.

 

[Ivo Stunga]

Hi there! Really great protest compositions you have going on!

You seem to overly rely on feedback from others - that might not be the most fruitful path.
You also seem to be coming down from a powerful "high" due to that protest experience - maybe some time is needed to let that filter out of your system. Don't try to chase that or move to conflict zone to stay in it.

And may I suggest something along following lines?

I'll also assume that you enjoy the experience and workflow of shooting film and that maybe you are starting to notice a voice inside you... a bug urging you just to go out, to shoot and to explore. To practice in the field. Follow that voice and see where it takes you. And know this - it's completely fine just to enjoy the process alone - even if it yields no good images (as seen at the moment). Especially when it yields poor images as it means you're learning?! Don't torture yourself over it - nobody expects masterpieces from every single walk.

I've had months and months when I don't pick up the camera bag or even look at it - I just let that be and switch my attention elsewhere. And when feeling the urge to smell the film again, I usually find these vacations very useful and refreshing.
I experience this right now as my life is in some turmoil at the moment - but I know just to sit on it, it'll come back. And come back it did - yesterday I just figured out I'll practice BW Reversal for my friend and on his film to nail it down - enjoyed the technical process and fine-tuning challenge quite a lot.

You have all the time. Fun fact - in the last 5 years I've found of that time flows so much slower outside social networks and crap-toks

 

[Prest_400]

Welcome!
I joined the forum on my teens and, well, time passes quick! My best tip would be to pursue what you find virtuous in top of what the others find. Photography for me was initially a means to document, and it largely stays so following an individual vision. I am rather anarchic without the project based nature of most photographers' work. However for this and next year I will do a trip to Asia and that per se will spur some.
Gear is a bit like the money-happiness dilemma. In this day and age (phone cameras) the bases are covered. All in all, I tend to approach photography rather philosophically.

A quote I wrote in RFF in response as to why take pictures:

"Because people die"

It's a quote that I don't know who to attribute but I recall perhaps written in Mike Jonhston's TOP. While growing up, I saw photography as how older generations did, and eg. only have a bunch of pictures of grandpa. "People didn't use to take pictures then". My initiation to photograhpy was to document, and it largely stays so.
Discussing life with a friend, she mentioned that we have a "primal wound" or something similar if the term escapes me; While building ourselves there is something that we carry in deeply as we develop. For me it has been knowing that life is fleeting, people and things that are away do change and disappear.

And I wholeheartedly agree with Matt's opinion, sharing some of that experience. I have held my photography offline and shared in small circles. When you mention exhibition, I have a local photo club with good reach and possibilities to exhibit but I don't really exploit it much.
Used to have a friend that was adamant on commercializing his hobby and he asked what would I do. In my case, I do not really attempt to do it and get a profit. However, do try if you have the interest and possibility to do so!

It is a very good sign that you, as a 19 year old photographer, are in search of "wisdom". That is a real sign that you are open to listening and learning.
And some of the best work ever will come as a reaction to "stuckness".
I'm reluctant to give what would essentially be vocational advice - I spent a few years making money directly and indirectly through photography, while being around lots of people who did work as photographers, but as a result came to the realization that the way to keep the joy and wonderment in photography for me was to do something else to make a living. But I certainly have known of many who were happy with photography or photographic related work.
Don't discount what you can learn from emulating others - just be sure to use the experience to learn about yourself.
And try to come up with some ideas for photographic projects that will both challenge you and interest you for a period of time. Starting with a vision and then, through time and effort and growth, bringing something into fruition as a result of it, can be the most satisfying and surprising of experiences.

 

[Tel]

Theo,

Nice work there—the first shot with the masked-up cops and the masked protester is superb. You have a good eye for the human and the ironic that will serve you well. I’d reiterate Daniela’s advice (and recommend that you take a look at her work if you want inspiration): when you’re feeling down, grab a camera and head out the door. I don’t care where you are, there are nearly always things worth photographing if you can train your eye to see them. (And I think you’re most of the way there already.) Landscapes are difficult (mine usually suck): big dramatic rock formations look small on 35mm film and sweeping landscapes often lack a focal point of interest. An easy fix is to shoot them at magic hours (early or late when the sun’s angle is low) so you get dramatic and/or unusual shadows (for b&w) and dramatic colors for color film. Many famous landscape photographers (and cinematographers) knew this.

And don’t get hung up on academic degrees. I went to a crappy university for undergrad and an excellent one for grad school, and I learned useful things from both. But make liberal use of the free darkroom access….

Edit: so see a Photrio member’s work, click on their name and then click “media"

 

[RezaLoghme]

Have you tried printing that first pic on letter size or 2x? I think it is amazing. When you have it framed, with a passepartout, on the right wall, with the right light, you will be very proud of yourself.

 

[cliveh]

OK, here is my advice for you, which falls a bit in line with what Daniela alluded to in the first reply. First, don’t try and put yourself in a box of I’m a landscape photographer, or I’m a documentary photographer. Photograph anything you find interesting and no doubt you will experiment with a multitude of films, processes, cameras and lenses. You are someone who enjoys photography and at 19 years of age you have plenty of time the hone your photographic skills and eventually hone your skills to simplify what you wish to achieve. Good luck and don’t give up.

 

[grain elevator]

The photo if the arrested masked protester is great!
I've aged a few years since I joined the forum not much older than you are, but I don't think I've gained much in wisdom I could offer. Anyhow I wonder why you're not following up photographically on the people from the protest camp. Surely something is happening in their lives that's related. Maybe they're still politically active, maybe they've stopped, maybe they're in legal trouble. All worth investigating photographically, and a great opportunity to built some work with a continuity if you have a rapport with them.

 

[warden]

Welcome!

You've come to the right place for discussion about photographic gear, technique, and honing your vision. There are many talented photographers here to offer advice and encouragement. Enjoy.

 

[Alex Benjamin]

I am writing today in need of some advice about my next steps

In no particular order:

• Examine your failed photographs as much, as carefully and intensely as you examine the ones you like; ask yourself : why didn't this work? what did I do wrong? what should have I tried?
• For a time (a few days, a week, two weeks, a month), follow every rule in the book
• For a time (a few days, a week, two weeks, a month), brake every rule in the book
• For a time (a few days, a week, two weeks, a month) only shoot using the same lens, after a while, change lens and do the same
• Find a spot close to your home, on your way to school or to work, etc., select something that interests you there, shoot that same thing over and over again, but each time differently — sometimes close with a wide angle, sometime far with a telephoto, at different times of the days, under different weather conditions, different times of the year, etc. Examine everything, ask yourself what worked and what did, try to figure out why.
• Go out and shoot on grey, dull days
• Photograph ordinary, everyday stuff — dirty dishes in the sink, your sofa, stuff lying on the table, a lamp, a plant, stairs, etc. Examine the photos. if they failed, ask yourself if it's because you photographed ordinary stuff or because you photographed it ordinarily
• Ask friends to model for you; do formal portraits, environmental portraits, fashion-style portraits, have two of them pretend they're getting married
• Think of subject matter you'd like to document photographically; write it down, do research, don't photograph
• Don't post the photos you like expecting praise; post your failed photo that you wish you had done better: ask for advice, comments, ideas
• Go out without a camera, look at the light; observe how it changes things, your perceptions of things, your feelings about them, ask yourself what its quality is
• For a time (a few days, a week, two weeks, a month), only shoot at dawn
• For a time (a few days, a week, two weeks, a month), only shoot at dusk
• For a time (a few days, a week, two weeks, a month), only shoot at high noon or close
• For a time (a few days, a week, two weeks, a month), only shoot at night
• For a time (a few days, a week, two weeks, a month), only shoot from the hip
• For a time (a few days, a week, two weeks, a month), follow as strickly as you can the principles of the zone system
• For a time (a few days, a week, two weeks, a month), don't carry a meter, try to read the light and wing it
• Find a place nearby, a small store, a barbershop, a pizza place, a dance club. Go often, talk with the people who work there, get to know them, get them to trust you. After a while, ask them if you can come one day and spend it photographing them, the customers, etc.
• Find a small theater company, a small dance company, a garage band; go talk to them; ask them if you can shoot their rehearsals
• Carry two cameras, one with color film, one with black and white; shoot the same stuff with each; compare
• Find something you want to photograph. Look at it for at least 15 minutes before shooting.
• Go out for a long walk with your camera. Tell yourself "I'm only going to shoot one photo". Only shoot one photo.
• Overexpose on purpose
• Underexpose on purpose
• Don't just look at landscape photography books, read about landscape.
• For a time (a few days, a week, two weeks, a month), only shoot at f/4 or f/5.6; after a while, select another aperture and repeat; compare.
• Every time you think you are close enough, get closer, then shoot
• For a time (a few days, a week, two weeks, a month), pretend you're a photographer you admire. Try to imitate his style.
• Tell yourself no film is ever wasted.
• And finally, my favorite: Do not ask what you can do for photography, ask what photography can do for you.

This is the advice I wish I had received had someone given me a camera at 19.

Doing all this doesn't prevent you from going out in the courtyside and doing landscape, or shooting a protest if you run into one. But do all this stuff — and/or other similar stuff you'll think about yourself —, and I can assure you that in a few years you'll know photography well and will know exactly what you want to photograph, why you want to photograph it, and how you'll want to photograph it.

And I can assure you that you'll never get stuck. Because you'll have learned that first and foremost photography is about looking at the world and, ideally, having fun doing it.

Except in these numerous cases when the world you're looking at ain't fun. But that's another matter.

 

[RezaLoghme]

The photo if the arrested masked protester is great!
I've aged a few years since I joined the forum not much older than you are, but I don't think I've gained much in wisdom I could offer. Anyhow I wonder why you're not following up photographically on the people from the protest camp. Surely something is happening in their lives that's related. Maybe they're still politically active, maybe they've stopped, maybe they're in legal trouble. All worth investigating photographically, and a great opportunity to built some work with a continuity if you have a rapport with them.

Wonderful idea!

 

[grahamp]

If a business qualification is something you feel comfortable doing, it won't do you any harm if you do commercial photography in the future.

My taught photography background was in support of my technical (non-photographic) studies. I like doing landscapes, which may have a core in my geology background. Art often stems from non-art experiences.

As far as subjects go:

Things you like [Things you and others like] What others like

There is often an overlap between what you really like, and others like. That overlap is frequently not for the same reasons! And what others like is often down to a varied and incompatible set of reasons.

Initially you can only make what works for you. With practice and experience you can produce something to appeal to a target audience.

Look at other people's work, and try to understand what it is that gives you a reaction. It could be the subject, the style, or just a personal experience that resonates. Sometimes you won't react at all.

 

[Hassasin]

• It takes a rather long time to develop own style, or to put it differently, become sufficiently confident in evaluating own images, why they are keepers and worth showing / marketing
• being humble goes farther than anything else, set expectations low and slow, there is no miracle advice to get good and satisfied fast, but aim to value own opinion more than from others,
• look at published photographs and find reasons why they appeal to you
• don’t get wowed by … wow reactions, as that is hardly an indicator of actual aesthetic or content quality, same goes for opposite feeds
• while being at a right place at a right time brings opportunities, great photography can be done at seemingly unimportant places or moments, wand events of potentially historic value carry an often fake sense of inherent value to what otherwise is average or worse, in this context try to separate the implied visual power of say a public event vs. one of something that would require lots of explaining of what it is and where / when it was.

it appears you have developed an interest in pursuing photography, which is great. i think you are at a beginning of finding out what will ultimately be the main genre of these pursuits.

Public events may be it, getting camera in everyone’s face perhaps not so much.

Shooting trees and rocks may appeal as rather mundane, but if you look deeper, these are just small parts of what makes a photograph whole.

Photography is a rewarding hobby. if it is to bring in profit, it’s just another job, even if it can be both.

 

[TheoLeakas2005]

In no particular order:

• Examine your failed photographs as much, as carefully and intensely as you examine the ones you like; ask yourself : why didn't this work? what did I do wrong? what should have I tried?
• For a time (a few days, a week, two weeks, a month), follow every rule in the book
• For a time (a few days, a week, two weeks, a month), brake every rule in the book
• For a time (a few days, a week, two weeks, a month) only shoot using the same lens, after a while, change lens and do the same
• Find a spot close to your home, on your way to school or to work, etc., select something that interests you there, shoot that same thing over and over again, but each time differently — sometimes close with a wide angle, sometime far with a telephoto, at different times of the days, under different weather conditions, different times of the year, etc. Examine everything, ask yourself what worked and what did, try to figure out why.
• Go out and shoot on grey, dull days
• Photograph ordinary, everyday stuff — dirty dishes in the sink, your sofa, stuff lying on the table, a lamp, a plant, stairs, etc. Examine the photos. if they failed, ask yourself if it's because you photographed ordinary stuff or because you photographed it ordinarily
• Ask friends to model for you; do formal portraits, environmental portraits, fashion-style portraits, have two of them pretend they're getting married
• Think of subject matter you'd like to document photographically; write it down, do research, don't photograph
• Don't post the photos you like expecting praise; post your failed photo that you wish you had done better: ask for advice, comments, ideas
• Go out without a camera, look at the light; observe how it changes things, your perceptions of things, your feelings about them, ask yourself what its quality is
• For a time (a few days, a week, two weeks, a month), only shoot at dawn
• For a time (a few days, a week, two weeks, a month), only shoot at dusk
• For a time (a few days, a week, two weeks, a month), only shoot at high noon or close
• For a time (a few days, a week, two weeks, a month), only shoot at night
• For a time (a few days, a week, two weeks, a month), only shoot from the hip
• For a time (a few days, a week, two weeks, a month), follow as strickly as you can the principles of the zone system
• For a time (a few days, a week, two weeks, a month), don't carry a meter, try to read the light and wing it
• Find a place nearby, a small store, a barbershop, a pizza place, a dance club. Go often, talk with the people who work there, get to know them, get them to trust you. After a while, ask them if you can come one day and spend it photographing them, the customers, etc.
• Find a small theater company, a small dance company, a garage band; go talk to them; ask them if you can shoot their rehearsals
• Carry two cameras, one with color film, one with black and white; shoot the same stuff with each; compare
• Find something you want to photograph. Look at it for at least 15 minutes before shooting.
• Go out for a long walk with your camera. Tell yourself "I'm only going to shoot one photo". Only shoot one photo.
• Overexpose on purpose
• Underexpose on purpose
• Don't just look at landscape photography books, read about landscape.
• For a time (a few days, a week, two weeks, a month), only shoot at f/4 or f/5.6; after a while, select another aperture and repeat; compare.
• Every time you think you are close enough, get closer, then shoot
• For a time (a few days, a week, two weeks, a month), pretend you're a photographer you admire. Try to imitate his style.
• Tell yourself no film is ever wasted.
• And finally, my favorite: Do not ask what you can do for photography, ask what photography can do for you.

This is the advice I wish I had received had someone given me a camera at 19.

Doing all this doesn't prevent you from going out in the courtyside and doing landscape, or shooting a protest if you run into one. But do all this stuff — and/or other similar stuff you'll think about yourself —, and I can assure you that in a few years you'll know photography well and will know exactly what you want to photograph, why you want to photograph it, and how you'll want to photograph it.

And I can assure you that you'll never get stuck. Because you'll have learned that first and foremost photography is about looking at the world and, ideally, having fun doing it.

Except in these numerous cases when the world you're looking at ain't fun. But that's another matter.

Alex... this is the great advice. A thought that looms over me constantly is "this color photo is gonna cost me almost a dollar, so it *has* to be good, it *has* to be a wow photo." and in that I am getting caught up in freaking out over producing something I'm excited with every single time. This method of constant experimentation will not only help me get over that fear, but put myself in certain boxes to guide me towards making images I am proud of. Thank you so much for this.

 

[TheoLeakas2005]

The photo if the arrested masked protester is great!
I've aged a few years since I joined the forum not much older than you are, but I don't think I've gained much in wisdom I could offer. Anyhow I wonder why you're not following up photographically on the people from the protest camp. Surely something is happening in their lives that's related. Maybe they're still politically active, maybe they've stopped, maybe they're in legal trouble. All worth investigating photographically, and a great opportunity to built some work with a continuity if you have a rapport with them.

Thank you so much!
I actually did try to do this but ran into a host of problems that eventually made me step away. For one, the demonstrators were released the next day and I returned to the camp to interview them, but (understandably) none of them agreed to an interview or consented to have their photos taken for "legal purposes". They directed me to talk to the organizers who were already being interviewed by Channel 2. I was able to snag one who was quickly escorted away just after I turned on my audio recorder. I tried again the next day with similar results. The social media page of the organizers was swamped with "come to the camp now! we are being attacked!" and when I would race over there it ended up just being untrue. Like literally false in order to get people to show up. Eventually I think people realized this and the whole thing fizzled out a little over a week later.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

Thank you so much, this was reassuring to hear.
The state school I'm starting at this fall has a very lackluster art department and an even worse photography department. I have registered for a photography class but may work with the instructor to try and get dedicated darkroom time. Regardless, I think I'm going to try and double major in something "practical" (business, finance, etc.) alongside art history, another interest of mine. I've found the best way to kill a passion is to try and turn it into a career, so with that sentiment I'll try and utilize my resources at university to make connections and relationships in the art scene, but mostly pursue photography non-professionally at this time. That being said, I could do journalism, keep finding scenes like the protest, and hope I can build an attractive enough portfolio, but this seems stressful and difficult

That's a good plan. Good luck.