Wilfredo Castano - De Anza College, Cupertino, CA

Professor: Wilfredo Castano

Department: Photography

College: De Anza College, Cupertino, CA

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: PHOTO007
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: No
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

This dude really will tell you that your project is good and worth of an A grade, but when you turn it in, you receive it back with a C. He was cool at times, but a joke as a professor. Showed up to his Santa Cruz field trip, never even saw him. Unreachable outside of class.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: PHOTO001
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: No
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

This class is not a class were you can just wing being good at taking photos. very picky on the result of you projects. He tries to be funny but really isn't. His style of teaching is very dry and boring.

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: PHOTO7
• Grade Received: Not sure yet
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: No
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

He's okay. If you have a decent camera and can hold it steady, you will get a good grade on the photo projects. His lectures are part lecture and part video most of the time. It was not very informative on actual camera usage. It was more about the impact and history of photography. Some of it was pretty cool. Oh, if you can get prints of your work

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: PHOTO007
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

Highly recommend not taking this class. Probably one of the boringest class's ive ever taken. He tries to be funny but really isn't. Lectures on board for a little then puts boring photo films on every class. Puts you to sleep. Very unclear. Couple finals and have to go to museum. Takes attendance after class. Take different GE class, not an easy A

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: PHOTO7
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

Good instructor, gives good feedback for projects; I would take a class with this instructor again. He also has a sense of humor.

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: PHOTO7
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

Good instructor, gives good feedback for projects. I would take a class with this instructor again.

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: PHOTO001
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

good

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: PHTG1
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Castano is a great resource for all things photography. He provides a wealth of information and cracks some corny jokes. You develop negatives and produce prints in the labs, which is time consuming, but rewarding when complete. He is always available for feedback during the labs, and his analog lab techniques translate well to digital editing.

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: PHTG001
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Kept going on and on about certain photographers, but wasn't clear on the practical side.He is a nice guy. Ask for feedback, he loves it. Some of his lectures though, seem identical to Wikipedia. I still got an A in his class, he tells you what will be on the final prior to it. Make sure to attend class, he docks off points

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: PHTG007
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

He is really nice, and helpful and funny. He will tell you what you need to work on and what you are doing great. He takes your creativity in considerations.

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: PHTG7
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Took his PHTG & class and no longer which to take a PHTG class again. Basically learning about how PHTG evolved and came to be. Really boring. Lectures and videos. No homework. If you want to actually do PHTG don't take his class. He just lectures. Nice teacher but boring.

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: PHOTO1
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Very nice guy. Helpful if you show interest. Clear instructions, fairly patient. Extremely knowledgable.

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: PHOTO2
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

If you want a good grade, cater to his tastes. If you want to become a photographer, cater to yours. Take this class if you need to use a dark room.

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: PHTG1
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

He does not teach, or ever showed anyone how to properly use or set a film camera. Yet he expects the the project turned in to be perfect. He will kill your passion for photography as he did to mines.

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: PHTG1
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

He thinks he's funny--he isn't. Moody: you never know what to expect and he can turn snarky on a dime. Relies heavily on videos to teach (probably doesn't know pwr pt and too lazy to load up a slide machine or use an overhead projector). We had a textbook which was rarely used. In the lab, his explanations aren't terribly detailed.

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: PHTGPHTG
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Boring...useless...dropped the class because I didn't want to waste my time on the class that is not interesting at all, and listen non-funny jokes. Too bad cannot get my money back - it's not worth $.

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: PHTG7
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

just to add to my below comment: Prof. doesn't give any outlines or Ppts. for lectures, which are very info heavy. You have to write a lot of notes old fashioned way. Esp. with the history [names, dates], this is a pain. I've gotten maybe too used to working with Profs. who use ppt. and handouts so this felt draining at first.

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: PHTG7
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Prof. is very knowledgeable (has MFA). Likes to make jokes that aren't really funny, but yeah, expects you to laugh. I like this kind of class- it's an everything kind of class. You learn visual aesthetics and history of photography, but it's not a Technical photo class. That's Photo 1,2,4 seq. Easy grading on projects, harder on paper and final.

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: PHOTO10
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Great guy and a fun class. I learned a lot and got an A.

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: PHOTO007
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

This was the worst class I've taken. I HAD a great passion for photography but it seems like he killed it. you learn just about nothing on how to use a camera or how to take pictures. You watch a video every class that takes two hours and boring (nothing you couldn't look up on the internet). He also says dumb jokes and expects everybody to laugh.