CLC 12 - Final Capstone Proposal and Reflection

Name: Brendan Tang

Topic:
Focus Area:
Inquiry Question:
Presentation Method:
Presentation Time & Date:
Photobook
Product
How can I improve individual photos and include them in a physical
collection?
Slides presentation + demonstration of product
January 23rd, 1:55pm

1) Capstone Project Summary:

In the box below, please type out a 200 – 300-word summary highlighting the key points and
information that you plan to present during your Capstone Project presentation.

For my capstone project, I plan to present the physical copy of my photo album which I will bring on the
day of my presentation. I also will provide the digital slideshow version of the album projected from a
laptop to the TV screen. During my presentation, I plan to talk about the different types of photography
tricks and methods I have researched about while in the making of this project and show which photos I
have used them in. I will also talk about some of the things I wanted to but couldn’t include into the album
due to unavoidable issues. I will bring the cameras I have used to take the photos for the project and
maybe explain how I learned to use each one and some tricks I picked up as well. I could also talk about my
experience using the Shutterfly website and how I was able to incorporate design into my slides. If I have
time, I could also talk about the details behind the photos and my experiences while taking them. Overall,
I’m pretty sure I will have enough information for the presentation to last 10-15 minutes and I will also
figure out elements to add into it in the days leading up to my presentation day.

2) Core Competencies:
In the boxes below, explain how your project or the work we’ve done in CLC 12 Class demonstrates
your abilities and skills from each section of the Core Competencies. (You must choose at least two
points from each skill area of the core competencies.) *This was also done in your Capstone Draft
Proposal, so if the skills and abilities still apply and have not changed, then you can copy and paste
your answers in the Final Capstone Proposal*

Core Competency: How you demonstrate it in Capstone Project:

Personal Awareness & Strengths:
Responsibility
1. I can express my needs and seek help when needed.

I’ve never been embarrassed about having a problem with something and I
often feel comfortable asking for assistance when I need to. I tend to ask for
help a lot when I’m on job sites with my dad. Since I’m new to the electrician
business, I’m unsure in how a lot of things work and I depend on my dad and
coworkers to teach me how to use most tools. This is a skill I’ll be able to use
throughout my life without even noticing and will probably help me through a
lot of problems.
 2. I can set goals, regulate my emotions and persevere in difficult
situations.

Last year, my family planned a 3-week trip to japan in the middle of the school
year, and I planned to do all the schoolwork I would miss during spring break. I
set a goal to finish everything I needed to before leaving on the trip and it was
difficult since while my friends were enjoying their spring break, I had to do a
bunch of schoolwork. However, I was able to persevere and work hard which
led me to achieve my goal of finishing everything, and the trip never ended up
affecting my grades.

Weaknesses

1. I understand learning takes patience and time.

Throughout my life I was always able to pick up newly learned topics very easily
and quickly, because of that, I am not used to being patient and learning a topic
slowly. I often get very anxious and annoyed if I don’t understand a topic
immediately as its being taught. Recently, in my Physics 12 class, I expected
everything to be easy since I found physics 11 very simple. However, when the
teacher began to introduce a topic that I found confusing, I became very
frustrated and thought I was going to fail the course. But I realized I was
overreacting since as I spent more time reviewing the lesson, the more I came
to understand it. Despite this realization, I still think this is still an area in my life
that I need to pay more attention to and grow out of in the future.

Social Responsibility Strengths

1. I can identify and appreciate different perspectives on issues and use

and evaluate strategies to resolve problems.

I’ve always done quite well in understanding different perspectives and

opinions of different people and using that to figure out why the problem
happened and how it can be resolved. I am usually the person in my family and
friend groups that resolves conflict when I can.

2. I have positive peer and intergenerational relationships.

Making and maintaining positive relationships with peers is something that

comes easy to me, and I’m also on very good terms with my close family. I often
make time to see my grandparents as much as I can, and I show a lot of respect
to them as well as other family members in older generations. As for my peers,
I’m able to work well and have a good relationship with most of my peers in my
classes.

Weaknesses

1. I value diversity, defend human rights, advocate for others, and act
ethically in all my interactions, including online.

I’m not really the type of person to step in and actively defend others who I
 have no relations to, especially online. I just never really regard it as my issue,
and I don’t see myself as some social justice superhero. In addition to this, I’m
someone who wants to avoid conflict and arguing altogether, and I would
rather walk away from it and not get involved whenever possible. Thankfully,
I’ve never witnessed a situation of conflict that would need another person to
advocate for them.
Critical Thinking Strengths

1. I can analyze and make defensive judgements, draw conclusions and

consider a variety of perspectives.

I consider this one of my strengths since I’m quite experienced in topics I know
about and I’m able to stand my defence when I’m confident in my judgement. I
also know and talk to a lot of people of different cultures and generations, so I
can consider their opinions and perspectives when thinking critically. I often use
the perspectives I learn from them when thinking about long term decisions as
well as future careers.

2. I can ask good quality questions, gather information, and come up with
well-developed conclusions.

Having this skill is directly linked to how well I’m able to analyze and report a
chemistry lab. Asking quality questions, gathering information and coming up
with conclusions ties in with doing a hypothesis, collecting research data, and
writing up a lab report conclusion. I’ve shown this strength many times with the
amount of good marks I have gotten on multiple chemistry labs, and I could
probably apply the skill I learned from doing that to other activities.

Weaknesses

1. I can assess my progress.

This isn’t a very big weakness of mine, but I put it as a weakness because I do
pretty good in all the other competencies compared to this one. I’m still able to
do well in this area, I just find assessment of my progress to be a little tedious
and difficult to reflect on. I don’t really like to reflect back on a topic when I’m
finished with it and I think of it as quite draining. I also sometimes forget
elements in my progress when I go back to assess them, and this shows when I
have to do a write up on a book in english class and end up missing some points
that would improve my mark on the write.
Creative Thinking Strengths

1. I can create new and unique ideas that may provide new perspectives
that influence how people think about new topics.

I love thinking about fresh ideas and topics, especially ones that carve paths to
success. Even though most of the ideas I come up with are crude and aren’t
very impactful, it sometimes gives others new topics think about and branch
off of. Earlier this year I took place in a business case competition where
competitors had to come up with ways to advertise and grow certain
companies. While my teammates had a little trouble coming up with methods, I
was able to generate some creative ideas that we were able to brainstorm
about as a team and use in the competition.
 2. I can use the environment around me, including others, and my
unconscious mind to generate new ideas.

I’m often good at storing random topics I learn about deep in my memory so
that I’m able to put them to use later in life. I’m able to remember information
given to me by past experiences, family, friends and even strangers to creatively
generate new ideas. I’ve shown this skill a lot in school projects that involved
creative thinking, since I was able to use the advice and ideas from others and
implement them into my own project.

Weaknesses

1. I can persevere and understand that failure can be productive.

Failure is something that negatively impacts me a lot mentally and emotionally.

I’ve never been able to accept failure especially in the classroom. I often even
get disheartened at grades lower than an A, and I let it affect my mood quite a
bit. In grade 8, I was pushed by my teacher to write a “challenge” math test
instead of a regular one, and I ended up failing it because it had topics that I
hadn’t learned yet. It was the only school test that I’ve ever failed, and I still
blame the teacher for it to this day. Most people would think they should get
used to failure so that they can get used to it and turn it into something
productive, however instead of that, I want to work hard so that I won't ever
fail in the first place.
Communication Strengths

1. I can listen, learn to contribute meaningfully to discussions and debate,

consider different perspectives, and build consensus.

I’m generally someone who’s quite understanding and lenient in discussions,

and I try to understand the opinions and perspectives of everyone included. I
also tend to offer some of my knowledge and experience to the conversation as
well to help everyone to come to an agreement. I’ve shown this strength when I
was working in a group to solve math problems. I would always step up and
give my solution to the problem when nobody else could, and I would also
teach others how I got my solution if they didn’t get it. I also would listen and
learn from others if they said and proved my answer was wrong.

2. I can work with other students to plan, inquire, and solve problems.

I’ve always been someone who has been able to work with others. I’ve shown
this strength even just recently this year when I had to work with my table
group to come up with research questions for capstones. I was able to come up
with a lot of research questions and would also help my group mates turn the
ideas they had into research questions as well.

Weakness

1. I can reflect on the processes of learning and share what I have learned.
 I often have trouble finding the right words to share my learning progress with
others and most of the time I just don’t know how to explain what I learned.
This is most likely because of my tendency to quickly pick up topics without
spending much time trying to learn them.

Personal & Cultural Identity Strengths

3. I understand what is important to me.

I value my religion, my family and my friends the most in my life. I’ve been very
confident in what my top values were for most of my time alive, and they will
probably remain the same for most, if not all my life.

4. I understand how what I value has and will shape my choices.

My values have influenced a lot of choices in my life and will continue to affect
them in the future. I also understand that I should be prepared to sacrifice
some things to keep my values a top priority. I value my family a ton and
spending bonding moments together is very meaningful to me. Recently I
showed this by sacrificing my spring break to work on the schoolwork I would
miss instead of relaxing like I wanted to, so that I would be able to spend time
with my family in Japan.

Weaknesses

2. I know what my strengths are and what makes me unique.

I’ve always been a little lost on what I excel on more than others, since being
“good” at something is subjective to everybody and there is always someone
who will be better than me at the subject I think I’m strong in. Being a little
unsure of my strengths has caused me a little bit of trouble deciding for my
future careers, making decisions in school, and even on this reflection. Later on
in life, learning more about what I excel in should be something that comes
naturally, and I’ll be able to make decisions that cater more to my strengths.

3) Presentation preparation:
In the boxes below, answer the following questions: What will you require from your teacher, what will
you need to bring and what still needs to be completed between now and your Capstone presentation
day?
a) What will you require from your teacher in order to do your Capstone presentation? (Ex: Laptop,
table, poster paper, projector, etc…)

I need a laptop to present the slides of the photobook, and also the projector.

b) What will you need to bring in order to do your Capstone presentation?

For now, I only plan to bring my physical copy of my photobook, however as I start preparing for my
presentation day, that may change, and I might bring additional items.

c) What still needs to be completed between now and your Capstone presentation day?

My photobook still needs to arrive from Shutterfly, and I need to prepare and plan how my presentation will
go.

4) References and explanation of sources:

Please paste all your current list of sources along with a brief explanation of what you used them for in
your research. All these sources should also be listed on your website on your References page.

Britannica. (n.d.). History of Photography.

https://www.britannica.com/technology/photography

CreativeLive. (n.d.). 25 Photography Careers You Can Make Money With.

https://www.creativelive.com/blog/25-photography-careers-you-can-make-money-with/

Depositphotos Blog. (n.d.). Back to Basics: 10 Composition Rules in Photography.

https://blog.depositphotos.com/back-to-basics-10-composition-rules-in-photography.html

PhotoGuard. (n.d.). Mental Health & Photography.

https://www.photoguard.co.uk/mental-health-photography

Shutterfly Canada. (n.d.). Home. Shutterfly Canada.

https://www.shutterflycanada.ca/en/home

I used most of these links for research purposes to learn some photography basics and information to help me
excel in creating this project. Shutterfly Canada is the website I used to create and order the photo book.

Final Capstone Project Reflection Questions

(Please give specific detailed answers.)
 1. In the process of completing your Capstone Project, what did you learn about your subject? What did
you learn about your skill set? What did you learn about yourself?
I learned a lot about photography in the process of my capstone completion and I have also learned quite a bit
about myself as well. I was able to do research in some of the rules of photography, like the rule of thirds, and
some editing tricks that can make photos appear more vibrant. What I learned about myself is that I actually
really like taking pictures of just normal objects, despite having only taken pictures of scenery. I also learned
that it's more complex and tougher than I thought to come up with meaningful and nice-looking placements
for each photo in the book, since I found myself not liking a lot of page layouts that I came up with or got
suggested by Shutterfly.
2. How is your project relevant to you? How is it relevant to the school? How is it relevant to the
community?
My project is relevant to me because it encompasses some important memories of my past travels and
experiences. I also really enjoy taking photos of places or things I find interesting or cool looking. It has also
allowed me to improve my photography skills as well as learn new knowledge and techniques for taking
pictures. I feel like my photo album can have the potential to inspire other people to make photo books and to
also be encouraged to take more pictures.
3. What impact did your Capstone have on you?
It allowed me to take further interest in my photography hobby and allowed me to express myself through the
photos that I have taken and creativity of each of their placements.
4. What aspects of your project are you most proud of?
I’m proud of the learning that I have taught myself for the usage of the DLSR camera, and the creative ability I
have shown by organizing the placement of each photo in the book.
5. What was a difficulty you encountered while researching your Capstone project? How were you able to
overcome those obstacles?
A difficulty would be that while taking photos with my DLSR camera, I would’ve liked to have taken photos
with more camera presets, but I ended up using only a couple since most of the presets didn’t suit the style of
photo I was taking. I also realized midway through making the book, I was using the wrong the American
version of the website and had to restart on the Canadian one. I was able to overcome this easily though since
I just pasted the pictures in the layout that I had it in before.
6. What is the one thing you would have changed about your project if you could?
If I had more time and money, I would have liked to add more slides and go out to more places to take more
photos for this book. However, the cost to put excessive amounts of pages in a photobook is quite expensive
and greatly exceeds the budget of this project.
7. What advice would you offer to future Capstone students to help them with their Capstone journey?

Don’t rush things, and also don’t take too much time to do it either. Just make goal that you can reasonably
achieve in the time given and work on it little by little consistently