A Walk on Campus... Thinking Back to Photography School



OSU Library on our tour,my little college
could fit in the attic of it.


 Last Saturday I got to go to the OSU vs. IL football game with some friends, Go Bucks! For the most part only one of the friends in the group went to The Ohio State University, I am not counting the three Continuing Ed classes I took once, so only one graduated from OSU. It was a cool but nice fall day on campus, we got there early and decided to take a walk around the campus, most in the group hadn't seen the ins and outs of it before. The cool part is we got Dan's Historical education tour, when he went to school there he took the time to learn all kinds of cool facts and history of the campus. As we walked past the many buildings once again I thought back to my days in college and how I didn't experience the "campus life" when I went to college and I sometimes think "should I have done it different?".

Before I answer that let me go back and give a little of my school history... in the ninth grade I took a photography class in high school, I already had a strong interest in photography from taking it as a 4-H project. One day in that photography class the teacher, Mrs. Hixon, showed a video of a photography school in Dayton, Ohio and I thought that is where I want to go to college. Four years later I was a senior and looking at colleges, I thought I should look at more then one before deciding, I looked at three. I looked at two art schools that offered photography and then that school from the video four years back. There was no doubt in my mind where I wanted to go, the photography school. The Ohio Institute of Photography and Technology (OIP&T), it was small, but had everything you could think of for photography. It had portrait studios, commercial studios, dark rooms, a camera and equipment check out... yeah the equipment check out really had me hooked, I could use, try and learn on all different kinds of photo equipment with out buying it first, how cool was that!

OIP&T the building I went to college in.

I spent the next two years going to college there, yes it is only a two year school, but I felt I didn't needed more then an associate degree to do what I wanted and still feel that way today! The school was about 45 minutes to and hour from my parents house and you could work out a schedule to go only two or three days a week. There was no housing for such a small school, so my parents and I didn't see the point in me moving to Dayton, I lived at home and commuted to school a few days a week. This is why I sometimes regret not having that "campus life", I didn't walk to classes, I never lived in a dorm, I never had the opportunity to be in sorority, or go to sports events, etc. I made friends at school, but not being there all the time I didn't make those life long best friends from college, you know the ones that hold your dress for you at your wedding when you got to pee. Even with missing all those things, I wouldn't change a thing!

I do not feel I should have done it different, because of what I learned when I was there, I don't think I could have learned as much about photography and portraits any where else. I have heard comments before like, "why would someone need to go to school to be a photographer?", why because there is A LOT to learn. When I started school I thought I knew a lot and that I was a good photographer already, yeah I was a good hobby photographer, but I was not a professional photographer. The first quarter of my college life I realized there was a lot about photography I didn't know! Did you ever ask your math teach in high school, "when will I ever use this in real life?" I did, thinking I would never us algebra as a photographer... Ha ha, learned other wise real quick, you need to know math and formulas to get good lighting and exposure.

I am by no means the greatest photographer out there, but I think I am good photographer. Two of the biggest things I learned in college was lighting and posing and those are key things that can set apart a professional portrait to a hobby photograph! With what I learned in school I will never regret my decision almost 15 years ago to go to a small two year school rather then a big campus.

I did go back a few years ago to college, but I think I will wait and tell you about that another day... if you want to see some of work you can check out my website www.cindysportriats.com Thanks.