A process paper should be about the process, right? Well, here is more “process”. I spent most of today setting up my desktop in several ways: I installed a number of applications (the Adobe Design Collection, and Macromedia Studio MX, both of which had been on my laptop for about a month), updated the software I’d just installed, plus the updates to other utilities necessary to perform the updates, as well as the software I’d already had installed on it (Bryce, Painter, et cetera). On top of all that, I bought a new printer on Sunday, which I installed as well. It prints phenomenally — I plan to bring several prints with me to the residency, so you can see. If I’m particularly ambitious, I’ll even mount and frame them, and put some of them into the art show.

Enough of that, more on my thoughts of the semester as a whole. Overall, I’d say it was relatively successful, as I said earlier about enriching my knowledge of photography and art (though, to reiterate, I do feel I’m still a bit lacking in the actual technical ability).

My general goal with this semester was to get a better understanding of photography, and how the digital medium is affecting it. The other side of that was gaining a better understanding of the philosophy of photography. I wouldn’t call it an exact relation, but there is a similarity between a “warrior’s code”, and the “ethics of the photographer”. Though you might not believe it from the actions of some professionals, and a great number of amatuer photographers, there is a methodology to good photography, a mental outlook that really helps in the creation of “good images”. There are times where one must put away the camera, whether because of moral need, or some other reason. Regardless of “livelihood”, regardless of strength of the image, sometimes it is just NOT APPROPRIATE to take the photograph. What separates the “warrior” (great photographer) and the “thug” (bad photographer) is understanding this concept and adhering to it.

Enough of that. I HAVE definitely learned a great deal in the past six months. My packets were sporadic and late, but they did come in, and what I learned in them was useful and “real.”