Reflection on Gained Writing Skills Throughout the Course Essay

Reflection on Gained Writing Skills Throughout the Course - Essay Example Since my childhood, I have always had affection towards linguistics. I loved writing differently about topics. I wrote for fun and not specifically following any procedures since I was not addressing an audience. I always preferred writing when I was alone to avoid disturbance and interference. Although I enjoyed writing, I never thought that I was good at it so most of the times I never allowed anyone to read my work. Initially, my writing depicted numerous grammatical errors, wrong formats, redundancy, and lack of logical flow. However, with time and practice, I have perfected my writing. Learning is a process and right now, I am proud of my writings. I am amazed when I look back at what I used to write. I have realized that writing will always be part of me and knowing the fact that it can be a source of income makes it even more interesting. Before writing any given topic, I always go through the topic I intend to write about which helps me to get an idea of what I should write. After getting the concept, I write a rough draft and after that, I get to revise the draft. This helps me to get rid of the simple mistakes in my writing. Finally, I always proofread my work to be sure that my final document is perfect. This routine has really improved my self-esteem as a person since I have realized that everything in life must systematic. This has helped me to be always thorough with what I do since the final product is always what matters. Peer review has really had a positive effect on me as a writer since it always provides me with an opportunity to learn from my peers and get to improve on my weaknesses, it also gives me a chance share my views and experiences to my peers and this has really been motivating.  

Histories of Photography Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Histories of Photography - Essay Example The thesis of this paper is that, modern day photography draws its insights from Szarkowski’s principle of photography as an art, since it teaches photographers to be not only creative, but imaginative. Analysis The Thing Itself Szarkowski believed that photography deals with the actual; the photographer has to accept the fact that he had no control of nature, and on in accepting and treasuring this notion would he manage photography. The photographer had to learn that the world was a unique and creative artist in itself. Szarkowski believed that though photographs were factual and convincing, they also differed from reality. The photographer had to see the filtered elements of reality and visualize the photograph before taking it, in order to capture these filtered element of reality on the photograph. The ability to do this was not only artistic; but also a way of showing truth, which the naked eye could not see. Szarkowski quotes from Hawthorne’s book, The House of t he Seven Gables. Holgrave, a fictional character in the story, describes his camera as showing the truth despite trying his attempts to hide reality. In this case, the image survives reality and became the remembered reality. William M. Evans states that, â€Å"people in the nineteenth century believed that what was reasonable was true but in the end, they began believing that what they saw in a photograph was true† (Szarkowski8). The photograph below illustrates this phenomenon: Archaeologia Mundi (40, 55, 82, 108, 133, 135) (2011) by Hagar Schmidhalter. The Detail According to Szarkowski (p. 9), the photographer cannot pose the truth; the truth appears the photographer in fragments, therefore, the photographer is only able to capture fragments of this facts. A photograph cannot tell a story of fact; it can only depict fragments of this fact. However, Szarkowski adds to say that though photographs do not tell stories, they can be read as symbols. People can draw meaning from a sequence of fragmented photographs. Szakowski states that photographs are not meant to tell stories, rather, they are meant to make the story real; he believes narratives to be shallow, and that only photography possesses the power to show symbolic meaning (Szarkowski 42). A picture of a Soccer match does not show the results of the match, but it does capture a moment of happiness or otherwise, that has symbolic meaning to the end result of the game. E.g. Cardiff vs. Manchester United by Stu Foster (1/12/2013). The Frame According to Szarkowski (p. 9), the subject of a photographer is never self-contained; it is part of a bigger picture. The photographer, therefore, decides to isolate what it important (the subject), from its environment using the photographic edges. This frame concentrates on the edges – the line that separates the subject from its environment. In the case of the football match above, the subject is separated from its surrounding by the edges of the photo graph. This defines what the photographer deemed important, but does not tell the whole story since the subject is part of a bigger surrounding. Time Photographs are not instantaneous, but rather exposure of the scene over a period of time result to real image. Photographs always capture the present, never the future; they can allude to the past through its surviving relics or foresight of the future based on