“Risk failure; leap and the net will appear.”

We had just finished our first assignment—depth of field—in my high school Intro to Photography class, and our prints were tacked haphazardly to the wall. Ms. de Lemos assessed each one, eyes squinted and fingers pinching her chin, before telling us we were wasting her time trying to make “artsy” photos we thought she’d like instead of learning the technique. “These are the only notes I’ll make you take in this class. Get out your notebooks, and write this down…”