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231 intro lecture.08.24.17
- 1. Art 231/191 Introduction toPhotography
- 2. Baldwin Lee, ProfessorEmeritus Office: Hodges Library 604c, [email protected] Darkroom: Room 239, 974-4889 ART 231/ART 191 Photography I Introduction to Photography We will learn how to look at a photograph, take a photograph, make a photograph, talk about a photograph and think about things photographers think about. Unlike the study of other subjects, you come to this class with a wealth of experience– direct and indirect. You have made thousands of photographs and looked at billions of others. This experience you bring to photography will be utilized to make photographs that do more than preserve memories–our goal is to define meaning. This class has no prerequisites. No prior experience in the use of the camera or the darkroom is required. This is a class where students will work on both class and individual assignments requiring shooting, developing, and printing utilizing silver-based processes as well as digital technology. The first objective of this class is to attain the skill and knowledge to confidently use the camera and to make prints in the darkroom. The second objective of this class is to acquire a basic knowledge about the history and theory of photography. The third objective of this class is to begin to develop the ability to interpret, evaluate and criticize photographs. These objectives will be accomplished through class lectures, demonstrations, darkroom exercises and critique sessions.
- 3. You will makephotographs in response to a series of class projects based on ideas and issues presented in lectures. These photographs will be discussed and evaluated during class critiques. The critique sessions will be the most important class meetings. These are the equivalent of examinations conducted in academic classes. This is a studio art class. Studio classes differ from lecture classes in that your active participation is required. Learning is accomplished through action and cannot occur through passive observation. Missed classes cannot be made-up; your attendance is essential. The assumption is made that a student enrolling in this class is expressing a strong interest in photography. It is expected that he or she will devote a minimum of three additional hours each week beyond the time spent in class. Initiative and self-motivation are important. Three unexcused absences jeopardize course credit. Lateness to class is not appreciated.
- 4. Grades Your grade willbe based on the following: • Attendance and punctuality• Seriousness of effort expended • Quality of the work produced in response to assignments • Understanding of the concepts presented in lectures, demonstrations and critiques • Participation in class discussions • Demonstration of self-initiative and motivation
- 5. Costs, Equipment andSupplies Students enrolled in School of Art photography classes are charged a lab fee of $125.00. This fee entitles you unlimited access to the photolab facility and its equipment that will be available 24/7. All the chemistry required for the completion of class assignments is provided by the lab fee. You will need both a film and digital camera for photography class. The film camera must be a 35mm single lens reflex camera. Each camera should have shutter speeds and apertures that can be adjusted. It is your responsibility to provide film and photo paper for silver-based photo projects and memory card(s) for digital projects. In an effort to minimize your costs, you will be able to acquire some of the expendable photographic supplies from the instructor. You will start the semester with (2) Ilford Multigrade IV MGD.1M Black & White Variable Contrast RC (Resin Coated) Glossy Paper 8x10"-25 Sheets Value Pack (with 2 Rolls of Film). The cost of these is $50, payable to the instructor. An additional 4-6 rolls of film and another package of paper may be necessary.
- 6. Attendance Lecture classes onTuesday mornings will start at 9:40 and end at 10:55. Lab classes on Thursdays meet 9:40-12:25. The School of Art policy on absences is that three unexcused absences results in the grade of “F”. Attendance in Studio art classes is critical to the cumulative learning experience. Unlike academic lecture-based classes, it is not possible to make up the material and discussions presented during class time. Therefore after two absences, each absence thereafter will result in the lowering of your final grade by half a letter grade. If an absence is unavoidable, it is your obligation to contact the instructor in order for you to avoid a penalty. Punctuality is a courtesy you owe the class.
- 7. Learning Outcomes • Abilityto effectively utilize the equipment and processes necessary to produce a photograph. • Understanding of the issues that distinguish photographic description from other forms of description • Understanding of the visual principals of two-dimensional composition • Familiarity with the history of photography • Ability to analyze and criticize photographs • Instill the fundamental understanding and appreciation of photography in preparation for continued education and practice.
- 8. Keys to aSuccessful Class Experience This is an important class and it is your responsibility to be committed to being a good student. There are no textbooks or exams in this class. Your fullest effort is required both in and out-of-class. Attendance is mandatory. In the event of an unavoidable circumstance that necessitates missing a class, it is required that you email me describing the cause of absence. The most important work of this class is in your effort expended in taking pictures. There is a direct correlation between the quality of the effort expended in taking pictures with what you will learn. Come to class and take pictures.
- 12. Appointments with Instructor Yourtuition and fees provides for individual meetings with your instructor. You will be assigned an appointment with the instructor at midterm to review your progress and to give you an opportunity to discuss class related matters. Individual meetings with the instructor, at any time during the semester, are encouraged because it will not always be possible to address all issues sufficiently during class. Email ([email protected]) for an appointment. Office: Hodges Library 604c
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- 14. Nicéphore Niépce's earliestsurviving photograph of a scene from nature taken with camera obscura, View from the Window at Le Gras (1826)
- 15. William Henry FoxTalbot Flowers, Leaves, and Stem c. 1838
- 16. Buzz Aldrin poseson the Moon allowing Neil Armstrong to photograph both of them using the visor's reflection. 1969
- 18. President John Quincy Adams,1843 Phillip Haas
- 19. Carleton E. Watkins,1867, Albumensilver print 15 15/16 x 20 9/16 in. No. 830. Sentinel Rock, Yosemite, California Watkins, Carleton E., 1829-1916 1878-1881 b&w, mammoth plates approx. 38.5 x 54 cm
- 27. tripod-mounted, large-format woodencamera perched on my left shoulder. I had long since discovered that walking is by far the most useful way to increase your chances of encountering interesting people and situations. I was making my way along a street in a dilapidated commercial area on the outskirts of downtown Augusta, Georgia, when a beater van slowed as it passed. A slowing vehicle usually means one of two things. Either it is a random innocent event, or you are being checked out, perhaps out of curiosity. It is not every day that people see an Asian man in the black section of town carrying a big camera. You may be checked out with an opportunistic possibility in mind, or for reasons unimaginable. I caught up with the van as I continued to walk. The passenger window rolled down, and a man stuck his head out and asked if I was a photographer. When I’m confronted with a question or remark that seems gratuitous, one potential response is to say gruffly, “What’s it to you?” for the purpose of asserting machismo. Another response is to answer simply in order to start a conversation. I walked up to the van and saw the driver was a woman and answered, “Yes.” The passenger asked if I could make a photograph for him. I said, “Yes. What do you want me to photograph?” The man asked me to get into the
- 29. the requisite demandsof determining point of view, arriving at framing decisions and adjusting exposure. I was stunned, embarrassed and honored to have been asked to take a funereal photograph. The parents told me that their baby had died from suffocation. She had been asleep in their bed, (there was no crib), and while tossing and turning had gotten caught in the sheets and rolled off the edge of the bed. Before my trip to Augusta my mother paid my wife, Maureen, and me a visit because we were about to have our first child. She was excited by our joy and she generously offered to buy furniture for the nursery. My wife was interested in an antique crib. Subsequent research ruled this out, as we discovered that the Consumer Product Safety Commission mandates that the space between crib slats be no more that two and three-eights inches, a width sufficiently narrow to prevent a baby’s head from being trapped. Antique cribs, which were designed to be aesthetically pleasing,
- 31. tradition that hadits beginnings in the nineteenth century. Commercial photographers could count on the rituals of life—births, christenings, weddings and funerals—as the underpinnings of their livelihood. Photographs of the deceased were not only used for obituary announcements but sent to relatives and kept in family albums. Today’s photo albums assiduously omit photographs of anything unpleasant. The great black photographer James Van Der Zee (1886-1992), made wonderful photographs of prominent blacks as well as everyday life in Harlem. Among his best work were his highly artistic photographs of the deceased. Van Der Zee employed negative retouching and multiple exposure techniques
- 32. I followed thecouple into the funeral home and made a dozen photographs of the baby. Several were solely of her in the coffin; the others included the mother. I was invited to their home for an iced tea after the pictures were taken. It was there that I saw the bed where the death had occurred.
- 33. What is thereto learn? I already know how to take pictures.
- 42. Typical Weekly Schedule Tuesdays-Lectures Thursdays-Lab Sessions/Demonstrations
- 43. 4 Mandatory ReviewSessions Your photographs will be discussed/evaluated
- 44. Initial Supplies 1 packageof Ilford photo paper plus 4 rolls of film Please reimburse instructor $25
- 45. Obtain a locker. ArtOffice room 213
- 46. Media Pool A&A 343 checkout 35mm camera
Editor's Notes
- #16 William Henry Fox Talbot Flowers, Leaves, and Stem c. 1838
- #19 Alexander Gardner AbrahamLincoln glass plate negative, 8 november 1863
- #20 Carleton E. Watkins was a clerk in a San Francisco department store when he was hired in 1854 by the daguerreotypist R. H. Vance to tend his gallery in San Jose', whose operator had unexpectedly quit. It was expected that Watkins would serve as little more than temporary caretaker, but within a week he had learned the rudiments of the craft and was kept on. Fourteen years later he was awarded the first prize for photographic landscapes at the Paris International Exposition. He remained an active photographer for half a century. In 1906, while he was negotiating for the sale of his life's work to Stanford University, his studio and collection were destroyed by the fire that followed the San Francisco earthquake. Most ambitious photographers of the time moved freely from one promising subject to another, but Watkins did not travel far from California, where he spent summer after summer photographing Yosemite and the great trees of the Mariposa Grove on glass plates ranging in size up to 18 x 22 inches. On his early trips into Yosemite, a twelve mule train was required to carry Watkins's equipment.