Post 8 The Future of Literacy

Visual and technical literacies are the main focus of my post high school education. Classes and hours of slaving away on a computer just "winging it" with photoshop have taught me how to create images that can effectively communicate my point of view or image. I did not have much formal schooling in photography or photoshop in high school, so mostly anything I did was on my own, or found on the internet. I thought I had a good enough grip on photography to give it a go and try it as my career. Once I was accepted to Ohio for photography (after an extensive interview and portfolio review), I realized that I knew nothing about the real language of visual literacy. Art History classes mainly educated me formally on the "language" of visual literacy, and how to recognize and create pieces with meaning or messages. For me this is most important in visual literacy or literacies of the future. People must be able to recognize the artists or creators intended meaning in a visual piece, or there is no point in creating art in the first place. My higher level photography courses including fashion, studio techniques, and still life gave me an even greater "visual vocabulary" for crating pieces of visual literature. At this point in my life, I believe I am finally "literate" in photography and am ready to enter the real world and start composing and sharing my work.