It's Because of the Students
I recently came across this piece I wrote a while back for a colleague of mine. He has written several books and one of them was on Teaching Photography. He asked me and some other compatriots of mine to write a brief piece about teaching and I wrote this one . That class was an amazing class. Several of the students in that class have gone on to do amazing things - winning competitions, getting published, starting up their own businesses in San Francisco and New York. It was truly an inspiration class. And they're rare. I had one like that last semester, as well, and it was so amazing I am still regularly emailing several of the students about their work, their inspirations, and flat out asking them questions to help me make my classes stronger. This is why I do what I do. For them. And as I start a new semester I am looking forward to having these types of classes again, though I have no idea how or when I will be that lucky. I had an amazing workshop class at UCSD E