School is off and running. The beginning classes are working on photograms. They are learning how to use the darkroom and print using objects, magazine images, transparencies and enlargements of tiny objects. We will be making and shooting with pinhole cameras in the next couple of weeks. Students will need their film cameras by October 7.
In Advanced Photography, students are working on a body of work around the idea of multiple perspectives and repetition. I read an interesting book this summer called Photography and The Art of Seeing by Freeman Patterson. It had some great exercises to stretch our creativity. I used his Thinking Sideways exercise for a beginning assignment. Students used both digital cameras and cell phones to take photos of the first things they see in the morning from a position of laying in their beds, sitting on the sides, and then walking to wherever they first go when they wake up. They also shot 15 photos in the span of 20 minutes from their bathroom. Some very interesting pieces came out of this. My hope was that everybody realizes they don't have to travel far to get interesting shots. It really is all about how you see what is in front of you. Here are some of the images that came out of that assignment.
