After my first conference for my first project, Mat pointed out that I need to contribute my perspective a little bit more. On the part where I discussed everyone’s perspective of the NHS ceremony, he pointed out that I needed to elaborate my point of view. I had discussed it briefly, but I needed to go into more detail for my final draft. He also pointed out that my last paragraph was too fluffy. In the end, I discussed how even though the page we had made was terrible, I looked back on it with fondness. He asked me if that was really true, and honestly, it wasn’t. I was pissed that the page looked terrible and did not go in my directions. So, in the revision for my final paper, this is what I will talk about. Instead of tying it all up with a fancy bow, I will be honest about how the page actually kind of sucked.

            After I turned in project 2, Mat pointed out that there were some serious issues. I had not gone through and cited a lot of the information in my paper. I was not trying to plagiarize, I honestly just did not know that you had to cite EVERYTHING. But now I know, so I went through it with a fine-toothed comb and cited EVERYTHING. Mat also pointed out that the structure of my paper did not really lead the reader to a conclusion. I had given my summary basically up front, so the new information came at the end. He advised that I essentially reverse the entire order of the paper.

            After completing my final portfolio, I looked back on the progress I have made throughout the semester. In my first project, I used a lot of flowy and creative language to tell a story. Although I struggled through my second project, I believe the end result was a well-written and well-researched paper about a community that is very close to my heart. I tried to take creative approaches to all of my projects, using lots of pictures, fun words, and even making like a movie trailer type thing for my pitch for project three.

            I really enjoyed making my pitch. The way I thought about it while I was creating it, was that it was going to be half movie trailer, half shark tank pitch. I also wanted to incorporate a little bit of humor into it. I was really happy with the result! I think it was fun and funny and it hit all the points it was supposed to for the pitch.

My first genre, the email, included some of the photos I had taken on outings for my photography club. I sent this too the Honor’s Student’s Association newsletter. I think this genre was a really good way to incorporate my own experiences (in TWO aspects of my life really – honors association and photography) into the three-genre project. My second genre, the pictochart, was my way of trying to contribute some ideas to other photographers. I myself am not super experienced, but I used aspects of pictures I liked to try and give out some cool tips. However, the best photos are one that reflect both the subject accurately and the creativity of the photographer. My last genre, the exhibition submission, was my favorite because it contained some of my actual work that will be displayed in the exhibition in January. I took a lot of time writing my artist statement, and I think it accuratly reflects the goals I was trying to accomplish when taking the pictures.

         What I have learned about genres from this class is that they benefit from creativity. A genre can be a lot of different things. I tried to incorporate this idea and my crave for creativity in all aspects of all three projects. In the first I used lots of fun and creative language to take my reader on a journey, and Mat helped me cut out the fluff. On my second project, I included pictures as my text to analyze. On my third project I used three different and creative approaches to get the message of Phocus out to the world. In my overall portfolio, I laid out the pages like a blog, instead of just attaching word documents. It was important to me that the page reflected my endeavor to incorporate creativity into the projects this year.