Course Title: 240 - Photo II
Term: Spring
Course Description
This course focuses on the exploration of advanced photographic techniques including conceptual series-related works, digital applications, liquid emulsions, and experimental forms of presentation, as
as well as the creation of a print-on-demand book (or printed ephemera) featuring the student’s portfolio.
Course Learning Objectives:
1. Introduce the students to appropriate terminology in medium format (120mm/2 1⁄4”) and digital photography by examining professional examples via online resources.
2. Offer hands-on technical demonstrations that will give student’s safe, working knowledge of each process and the know-how to operate digital equipment.
3. Initiate a semester-long, personal P.O.D book project resultant in a finished product.
4. Engage the class in critical dialogue by conducting open lines of communication during critiques that analyze historical and contemporary sources in visual problem solving.
5. Initiate beginning use of Mac computers/Adobe software/Epson printers as they apply to each project by offering hands-on demonstrations with software and output systems.
6. Introduce the students to the necessary procedures on applying for juried shows and publications by directing them to online resources.
Course Learning Outcomes:
1. Students will be proficient in delivering photo-related vocabulary and will be able to offer references that provide them and their peers with process and conceptual influence.
2. Students will be able to safely execute wet-printing processes in the darkroom, as well as implement the use of Mac/Epson printing labs.
3. Students will be able to document and collate images, provide appropriate written statements, and design the layout for their Print on Demand publications.
4. Students will be able to critically examine their own work, as well as their peers in a positively uplifting manner during critiques and presentations.
5. Students will begin to have a better understanding of Adobe Photoshop and will be proficient in the use of archival, large format Epson printers.
Final Digital Portfolio
ART 240 students are required to maintain a Digital Portfolio documenting all photography projects created in the course. Documentation/scanning techniques will be covered in the class. The work and digital portfolio will be reviewed and graded for accuracy and quality. High resolution images should be utilized for personal websites, social media, as well as the shared ART 240 Google Drive folder.
Digital Presentation/Paper
All Art 240 students are required to present one Digital Presentation via either Powerpoint or Google Slides. At the beginning of the semester, students are randomly chosen into two groups to present either the week before midterm or the week prior to final critique. One 1.5 page paper, which also includes a formal title page and works cited, is to be accompanied by a 7-10 minute digital presentation. Students are timed for the duration, which should include a grouping of at least twelve high-res images by a contemporary photographer whose work is no older than the year 2010. Items are to be saved via Google Docs and all hardcopies must be honor-pledged by hand. Students can also choose to imbed videos no longer than one minute in duration for their peers to view any studio-related processes, on site/on situ photo shoots, as well as interactions with photographers and their subjects/subject matter.
Skill Building Exercises
Semimonthly Reading References/Resources: Students are provided a variance of articles found in the shared Google Drive that supplement each project. Twice a month, pertinent links are updated to promote dialogue during class and beyond. Topics include: idea generation, theoretical concepts that prompt imagery, technical proficiency, and critical procedures and processes. Students are encouraged to submit articles of interest by emailing the faculty.
Exposure Log/Photo Binders: Students are required to collate an archival three-ringed binder or an archival containment system of storage in order to keep a chronological history of their digital +/or film negatives, test exposures and working/trial prints. This practice leads to a more sequential understanding, allowing for early and continued success and a thorough grasp of the dual nature of this semester’s analog/digital hybrid photo offering.
Portfolio - Students are to first protect all working/final prints/projects inside of clear print sleeves then placed inside of an archival Safe-T binder. Each final print must be accurately labeled with printing information, including: F-stop, exposure times, use of any filters, and detailed information on post-exposure techniques such as dodging/burning/toning.
Final Presentation: Students enrolled in ART 240 are required to mat one photographic print from each of their main projects 1-5 for final critique/presentation. A thorough demonstration provides students with instructions on how to construct an industry standard classic, hinged window mat. The resultant grade will be based on proper construction and craftsmanship that entails clean, sharp beveled cuts, and accurately measured borders without smudges, construction lines, or fingerprints. Archival/acid free materials are required, utilizing white mat board and white or black foam core for backing. Various opportunities throughout the academic year also provide students with optional how-to framing demonstrations. For archival purposes, students are encouraged to purchase acid-free Lineco drop-front museum boxes prior for proper storage. Due to the conceptual nature of this course, students are also allowed to archivally mount photoworks to varied substrates, including but not limited to cradled panels and pre-prepared surfaces. Students must propose alternative mounting options prior to the last workday.
Professional Practices: Students are provided instructional methodology on the application to national juried show opportunities, as well as the procedures to apply to publications. Digital, device, and scanning based image capturing is covered along with Photoshop post production techniques in documentation. Students are required to upload all printed projects to Google Drive as well as any call-for-entry applications.
Course Projects
Project #1: Make, Not Take (Deconstructive process)
This project is meant to analyze how we, as imagists, build then break down related or disparate parts to visually communicate. By utilizing any number of deconstructive processes, students are tasked to recontexualize a diptych that documents ideas, concepts, objects, +/or subjects at odds with one another. Photographic images, of their choosing, are to be deconstructed in order to piece together new, alternate visual outcomes. By working in pairs, two photoworks must be taken apart at least twice. There must be one new image and one recycled image. The incorporation of scans, digital/film photographs, or even Xeroxes. One additional non-photo-related bit of ephemera is allowed. Each of the two in this diptych must work in conjunction with one other.
Additional requirements/skills: A blend of two types of visual output is learned during this project: experimentation in digital Epson Archival pigment printing and transferring from clear inkjet film onto archival printmaking paper (large scale Epson 7890 output coupled with Intaglio press method). Students compare the same imagery, one from a predictable source juxtaposed with the unexpected. As this is a photo-based collage, students are to utilize the scanner to document thumbnails of various compositions prior to mounting on Arches Platine paper as finalized photoworks. Whether cut and/or torn apart, students must uphold clean craftsmanship while keeping intentionality in mind.
Project 2: Out of and In (Reconstructive process)
This project is meant to analyze one’s field of clarity. In opposition to Project 1, the second assignment of the semester deals with the mending of ideas as well as objects +/or subjects in order to repair conceptual and visual perception. By forcing one to make diffusion, disillusionment, and perception key ingredients in building their imagery, students must address soft v/s hard edges by documenting the same subject matter in focus as well as deliberately taken in a blurred fashion. Each of the two in this diptych must work in conjunction with one other. If arranged and cut by hand, all items must follow the rigor of craftsmanship and archival preservation. To further heighten the relationship between clarity and perception, students are allowed one image as an anchor/focal point to act as a descriptive device for conceptual integrity.
Additional requirements/skills: Students are allowed to either work in Adobe Photoshop to build the final image or they can make archival prints, physically cut/paste them onto Arches Platine photo-printmaking paper in separate segments for the final visual outcome. Students are tasked with utilizing the newer medium format Epson p5000 printer to become familiar with archival inkjet output.
Project 3: Release The Shutter ( Solarplate )
By continuing to approach image making with a hybridized duo of analog and digital processes, this project incorporates tactility in both the manner in which the chosen device documents as well as the printing process. Students are challenged to utilize an image capturing device yet to be used this semester that allows for a curious method of releasing the shutter (button). No fingers can release the shutter; it must be another implement, tool, device, or digit. In doing so, the allowance of mishap and user-error are to be great influencers from one image to the next. As with each ART 240 project, students have control over their chosen subject matter as long as it can be defined by way of their GEP studies/research. A duo of images must complete this small-scaled diptych.
Additional requirements/skills: After making digital positive films, students must expose their visuals to thin, photo-sensitive metal plates (Solar Plate Intaglio style matrixes). Small editions of three must be achieved, along with several trial prints. Demonstrations prepare the students to utilize the etching press, exposure unit, appropriate inking/buffing techniques, and paper handling methods. Students are required to print in black and white on archival paper, and have the option to tint the ink’s hue, split tone, and/or Chine Collé.
Project 4: Mise-en-Scène (Kallitype)
This prompt is in the “Alt Photo” realm, of which is classified by way of the Kallitype liquid emulsion process. Project 4 involves being one’s own model, though by no means is a self portrait. Students must either adopt a fictional character that is transfigurative in a cinematic manner or to embody/impersonate a recognizable persona. This project calls for one to arrange/design/build/ each aspect of the entire composition; lighting, garb/costume, prop/setting, as well as action/activity.
Additional requirements/skills: A trio of images must be made; each detailing the subject’s placement within the fictional set/scene/world amongst the configured visual environment. Think triptych in the stage-like sense: three photographs that tells the tale of the portrayed narrative. Students work together to mix the alt-photo liquid chemistry, in which then they coatc, expose, and develop in a series of chemicals prior to being light-safe, archival finished prints.
Project 5: Knolling (The Refined Still Life)
This project entails a sequential arrangement of subject matter of which order and repetition play just as strong as a role as color, size, and the Gestalt theory. A large contingency of either personally attached or found objects must be placed into an organized, aesthetically inclined collection to create the final, refined visual.
Additional requirements/skills: By distributing the chosen subjects into an overall collective, student’s must also be mindful of meticulous fine-tuning, keen lighting specific to shallow depth of space, and the distribution of subtle nuances offset by bold decisions. Students are required to arrange and document at least six varied trial arrangements prior to the final presentation. Though students are allowed to shoot in any format/photo media, this will be the largest scale Epson Archival pigment print of which is required to be in color. This project must be photo-mounted on archival foam core or gator board.
POD (Print on Demand) Photobook:
This project entails an on-demand, hand-held physical text by way of a third party printer in wihch a cohesive series of related photographic images results in book form. Students are to visually collate a body of work that consists of series-related imagery meant to either tell a story (narative) or relay a collection of singularly focused visuals that warrant multiplicitous arrangement. Either used as an advertising/marketing tool or a portable portfolio, this project is nearly a semester long endeavour that is to be accompanied by one large-scale print when shown in critique.
Additional requirements/skills: Students are required to seek out a collaborator who can supply supplemental text by way of an essay, Q+A, article excerpt, or similar content. This portion of the book is to engage cross-discplinary activity in order for the student’s text to be user-friendly. Each of these inclusions must be accompanied by a permission-of-use form or contractual consent, as are any models/subjects within the photobook. Additional details such as typeface, layout and kerning, and image arrangement are all addressed in multiple in-progress critiques throughout the semester. Literary stylistic devices such as epilogues, forwards, and the postface are also mentioned, as are an array of third-party publishing options.
