I finished the class I took in the Photographic Center North West (in Seattle), on a specific kind of social photography, and after ten weeks, I have not come away from it with a clearly defined new vision or path idea of an alternative possibility to the one I am currently languishing in. I know that there is the argument that life is what you make of it, but this is fuckin school we are talking about here, I paid money to be lead by the nose, to be given some definitive pointers and constructive criticism, but I walked wide-eyed into the airy-fairy world of American Education. A place of non discouragement, safe environments and positive encouragement, which seems to be the way for education as standard from what I gather.
I come from a different environment, where you are intersected from a more perpendicular rather than oblique or parallel angle. To be honest, the teachers approach really irritated me, especially because I knew him before I took his class. The guy is a very commercially successful photographer, and of course you will get that bent from him, which is fine, because thats ultimately what I wanted to use the class for. However I did not get the level of perceived intensity that this guy seemingly excels in in his everyday working life from the class. What I wanted was a set of instructions.
Im a grown up, I wanted to be treated like a grown up, I dont want to be in a class with university students who are in the class for a grade and subsequently drag the potency of potential down to a diluted level.
I paid good money which I saved hard to get, to do this too.