Sweat and Tears

By Christina Watts

We are just beginning the final semester of our digital photography program, and it is quite a bitter-sweet feeling. The sweet: four months from now, we will have completed the mountain of assignments, presentations, tests, and exams required of us to complete the program. We will be festooning our flags proudly upon the summit, knowing that we made it and that the climb is finally over. No more homework stress, no more all-nighters, no more image challenge jitters, no more sweat and tears. The bitter: we will no longer be spending as much time with our teachers and fellow classmates with whom we have grown so close to over the past two years. We will no longer have access to the photography lab that has helped us hone our photography skills, and the place where we have spent most of our time learning. 

Instructor David Chidley uses an egg to teach Lambton Digital Photography students about creative lighting during one of the first classes of the last semester on January 12, 2016 in the Digital Photography Studio at Lambton College in Sarnia, Ontario. (Christina Watts)

I imagine having to go out into the real world will be bitter for some and sweet for others, but a mix for most. During the first three semesters, we have learned the essential photography skills that we need for the real world. The final semester appears to be a time where we will be chiselled into our final product through some fine-tuning and finishing touches. We will be learning about establishing businesses, creating a social media presence, and producing portfolios that will, we hope, impress when we are turned out into the masses. One of our final projects, and one of our biggest, will be a self-co-ordinated gallery. What an amazing experience to send us off with into the real world. Having a gallery show where we can display our work, our talents, and our efforts to the crowds: This is me! This is what I have worked so hard for! 

Students busy at work in the Digital Photography Studio at Lambton College on Monday, January 23, 2016 in Sarnia, Ontario.  Being hands-on in the studio is a large part of the curriculum of the Digital Photography Program. (Christina Watts)

I cannot say enough about the professors we have in our program. Our professors, five in all, know us all by name, know our styles, know our strengths and our weaknesses. Them knowing us so well has been an essential component to our success and what makes each of us feel like a superstar in our program. And even though our professors are all superstars in their own field, they are all down-to-earth, incredibly kind people that I feel privileged just to have known, let alone learned from—how lucky am I?

A photo illustrating stop-motion photography, which is taught in the first semester in the Digital Photography Program at Lambton College in Sarnia, Ontario. (Christina Watts)

The final semester will fly by I’m sure, as we still have the steepest last quarter of that summit to conquer, but I will cherish the time I have left and try to slow it down just a bit if I can. And I know when I’m finished I will look back at the two years I spent in the Digital Photography Program and feel so proud that I was a part of it. And hopefully, the last semester will be the best one yet!

A photo from a commercial food shoot.  Commercial shooting is taught in all semesters of the Digital Photography Program at Lambton College in Sarnia, Ontario. (Christina Watts)