Response to my portfolio?

Well, I showed a slightly different version of this portfolio to the professor, the one and only Thomas Roma, who is no slouch-- founding contributor of DoubleTake, has had solo shows at MoMA, ICP, etc.

He has very strong personality-- I talked to a number of former students of his (unfortunately not beforehand), and he is the type who doesn't hold back criticism at all, and challenges everything you do just for the sake of challenging you. It's a "tough love" version of teaching photography, and many of his students appreciate it afterward (though not during, and not all his former students are fans).

He took my folder and speedily flipped through the 15 or so prints, looking at each one for about .33 seconds. He said he
"didn't see anything" there worth letting me into Photo II, and that "none of these would last 30 seconds in a Photo I critique." He admitted that some of the landscapes were "starting to get a little more complex," but he didn't let me into the class.

He did, however, let me sign up for Photo I-- which does not guarantee I'll get into the class. The first day of Photo I about 150 people show up, and he weeds people out so that by the end of the hour he has only the 28 people he'll let into the class left standing and with their egos intact (and sometimes not even then). He said I'll have a better chance than most of getting in, however, because of my sincere interest in photography-- he tries to weed out people who aren't serious, "the kind of people who are just the shutterbugs of their families."

It was quite the experience. I didn't take notes, but all the quotes above are as close to direct as I can remember.

I was a little miffed at the experience, seeing as he didn't take the time to look at my photos for even a second, or give me any opportunity to defend them. I gather that it's his philosophy that a good photograph should stand on its own, and not require any further context or explanation. While I don't completely agree with this idea, I can understand why as a teacher it's a useful philosophy to teach.

I wonder what you all think of my experience-- do you think he was fair? Any way I could have approached it differently? Thoughts on his philosophy (read the article linked above for additional material)?

Thanks,
--Josh

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