I'd missed the last two weeks. I knew an assignment was due but I hadn't had the chance to do it. The only requirements were to shoot a photo on campus somewhere and to focus on it being properly exposed and composed. There was nothing really interesting around, so I shot this:
(Pentax *ist DS2, 1/8s at ISO 200, F/5.6 with a reversed 50mm lens)
We had to e-mail our photos to the instructor (the class is in a computer lab) and he put them all up and we critiqued them together. Mine was far and away the best shot, and lots of people including the instructor said so.
This guy's not a National Geographic photographer. He doesn't make six figures shooting photos. I mean, he's teaching Intro Photo at a community college. But he is a professional photographer - it's what he does for a living, and to be validated by a guy with a little bit of credibility was a nice shot in the ego. :-)