Tuesday, January 15, 2008

NYIP Award of Merit Winner

Several years ago I decided to explore photography education possibilities, beyond a couple of community college courses I had taken. Up until that point anything I knew about photography was primarily self-taught. Those classes were fun and I learned several things, including the now ancient art of darkroom processing and printing, but the classes were limited in scope.

After some research I determined that the New York Institute of Photography would be a good choice. The self-paced, NYI Complete Course in Professional Photography seemed to provide what I was looking for, and as luck would have it, NYI was offering an enticing discount at the time. So in 2005 I became an NYI student.

I was immediately impressed with the amount of material NYIP sent me. Since I opted to pay for the entire course in one lump sum, not only did I receive an additional discount, I also soon found on my porch, a couple of boxes filled with course materials, DVDs, audio tapes, CDs, books, photographic umbrella, 5-in-1 reflector disc and more. I dived into the material and then completed and submitted the first photo project.

Fast forward to October 2007 and the first project is the only one that I had completed. Life, kids, chronic procrastination and starting my own photography business put NYI on the back burner. I found myself saying ‘I’ll get to that next week’ for about two years.

I am the reason why they provide three years to complete the course. I will inadvertently utilize all of that time by the time I’m done, and I do plan to finish. Back in October I completed and submitted the next two assignments, realizing I could have improved my current skills if I had been reading the NYIP material up to that point.

Recently I received the critiqued projects back in the mail along with notification that both projects had received the NYI Award of Merit. NYI also purchased the rights to those photos for their Student Archives and website. This was a pleasant surprise and provides me with additional motivation to complete the course. I’ve included the four awarded images in this post, and thank NYI for recognizing my work. Even prior to receiving this distinction, I would recommend the New York Institute of Photography to any beginning or advanced amateur photographer looking to improve their technique and knowledge of the photography business.


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