1-Annotation: Economics of the European Union was the class which originally got me

interested in international economics. It was Economics 475 that helped push me to pursue a
certificate in international economics in addition to the major; Id always liked
macroeconomics more than microeconomics but international economics tied together
financial economics and inter-state macroeconomics which immediately captured my
attention. It is because of this class that I proceeded to take International trade Economics and
model-based econometrics. I chose to include economics of the European union in my
portfolio because in a lot of ways it was the catalyst and primary influence in my choice of
economics classes over my four years here.
Artifact write-up: I chose to include my the final draft of my midterm paper for economics
475 not because I felt that it summed up my experience in the course; I chose to include the
paper because it was what got my professor to notice me as a student. I have formed what is
the best relationship I have with any professor here at UW with professor Turnovsky in the
Economics department. She pushed me to do the certificate of international economics, Im
currently the grader for one of her courses, and she kept me interested in the major and I owe
a lot to her and this class for that.
2-Artifact write-up: This Cover Letter for my final English Composition project (which was
the basis of my entire course grade) represents a huge amount of work and my own growth as
a writer. I'm so glad I took this course during my first quarter at UW because this course
taught me not only how to become a more sophisticated writer, but how to argue my points in
a more thought-out manner and analyse my own writing for weaknesses as well. My cover
letter is an in depth self-analysis of not only my writing at the time, but my progression as a
university calibre writer throughout the duration of the course. It is because of this course that
I am able to construct the supported and calculated arguments that are required of me in my
current coursework.
Annotation: I wrote the above description at the end of my freshman year at UW. Looking
back on this description reminds me of how meaningful that class was to me. Even though I
have always considered myself a decent writer, that course really helped me refine my
understanding of proper construction and structuring in argumentative writing pieces. I still
rely on the skills taught to me during that course and often find myself thinking about my
those same principles in my current English class almost three and a half years later.
3-Annotation: The most fun I had during any of my photo shoots was during my pinhole
camera project shoot. As a class we constructed pinhole cameras using everyday household
objects; I chose a Quaker Oats container and after a little bit of black spray paint, duct tape,
and a metallic sheet with a "pinhole" in it I had my camera. The pictures were obtained by
putting light-sensitive photo paper in the pinhole camera and exposing the pinhole to light for
a varying amount of time (depends on how bright the environment was). The process was
extremely slow at the start as it took quite a bit of experimentation to get the timing right and
in order to check one's progress the photos needed to be developed in the Art Building's dark
room. After a picture with the correct exposure and composition was obtained we inverted the
colors (the photo-paper reacted with light and therefore the black&white needed to be
inverted) and then did any additional editing to the photos as we saw fit. This project
demanded a lot of patience and time and really made me think critically about all my shots
before I decided to take them because of how much of a time investment each photo

represented. It was a great project, extremely rewarding, and during the project I was able to
apply many of the techniques and effects that I had been learning about throughout the
quarter. I would recommend pinhole photography to anyone interested in photography!
Artifact: The effects seen in the photos above are characteristic of pinhole photography. For
example, due to the slow "shutter speed" of the pinhole camera, objects that move may blur
or even become non-existent in the photo as seen in the photo on the left. Also, the shape of
the pinhole camera dictates the amount of skew photos will have and since I used a
cylindrical Quaker Oats box the building seen on the right appears to have a bend or curve in
it when it is in fact straight! Pinhole photography was the most fun I had experienced with
photography up to that point in time and it was from that moment on that I was enthusiastic
about photography.
Closing Thoughts: Reflecting back on my progress as a photographer this course is handsdown the biggest influence in where I now find myself as a photographer. It is because of this
class that I bought my first DSLR, became enamoured with taking photos while abroad, and
eventually became a photographer for the UW Daily Newspaper. While I admittedly did not
always see eye to eye with my instructor Erin, I did learn a lot from this course and ended up
being interested in photography as both a past time and part time job.