One of my favorite classes so far this semester has to hands down be my Introduction to Fashion Photography class. It’s only been a month and I’ve already learned so much that it makes me really excited to see what the rest of the semester has in store!

I remember saving for months so that I could finally buy this beautiful Nikon DSLR camera with an LCD swivel screen. I did my research on this one and knew it was the best of the best. When I finally purchased it I was beyond thrilled. I just knew I was hot stuff, but It didn’t take me long to realize I had no idea how to even use it! I can count on one hand how many times I’ve actually tried to study and learn my new camera and it’s been two years since I got it! Fortunately, that all changed for me this semester.

Depth of field technique

The first week’s assignment was all about capturing street style. It was about putting yourself out there finding what you like and capturing it. This was a bit rough for me to say the least. As you can imagine, not too many people like it when you stop in the middle of the street and take their pictures and walk away. It was beyond awkward and the pictures came out in my opinion horrible. Nonetheless, my professor reassured me that that was not what the assignment was about. It was about progression, instinct, and getting an overall feel for your camera, which was happening even if I didn’t love the end result.

One of my first quick action images

Skipping ahead until today in my fourth photography class, I can honestly say I’ve learned so much about my camera and photography in general than I ever thought I would have in such a short period of time. It has been such an amazing journey seeing my progression with every class. This past week, we were able to shoot with a live model. It was such a surreal moment for me, because I didn’t think I’d be able to capture such tasteful images so early in my training. I was actually shooting with the techniques and skills from the first three lessons and my progression had become more and more evident. I definitely recommend this course to anyone who is a beginner or has an interest in photography in general. Because this is a fashion image focused course, it elevated the fun more so than what a basic Introduction to Photography class would have for me. I am fortunate enough to learn basic photography skills as well as fashion specific image creating skills. Win, Win!

One of many edited images

– Alaysha is a spring 2017 SAI Florence student from Virginia Commonwealth University.