November News

The beginning photography students finished up 1st quarter with some very nice portfolios overall.  Most students are starting to get the feel for the darkroom and working with film.  Now they can concentrate on the content and creativity of their images more.  They will start doing that with our first assignment of 2nd quarter which is working with motion.  This is always a challenging assignment but one of my favorites.  We will then quickly move into the other half of the creative controls when we explore depth of field.  For that assignment, students will be using the still life and objects to explore abstraction.
Advanced students turned in their 1st independent projects and a body of self portrait works.  Some really amazing pieces came out of these assignments.  Many students were really drawn to transfers onto wood, sculptural elements, an working in multiples.  For second quarter, we will be exploring the idea of multiple perspectives and repetition more plus each student takes on another independent project.

INSPIRATION
I was just in New York City attending the opening of the Alternative Process Competition show at SoHo Photo Gallery.  I was one of the participants of the show.  My friend and colleague, Lilly Windle, came with and we spent a fabulous weekend going to museums and galleries and seeing tons of art.  One of my favorite shows was Gabriel Orozco's installation, "Asterisms" in one of the galleries at the Guggenheim.  This is a body of work that addresses how human waste affects ecosystems.  Orozco and some assistants visited various sites and collected, categorized and photographed litter. Here are some photos of the show.

October News

The students in Beginning Photography have finished up their first projects. Some wonderful cyanotypes, pinhole cameras and images, and photograms were created. They are now starting to learn to develop film. The first shooting assignment is all about composition. Here is a slideshow about that assignment. The Advanced Photography students just learned a couple of transfer techniques using the two different Daylab processors and Fuji Instant film. They are working on their independent projects based on their interest in either a subject, a new technique, or another's work. They are also working on their self portrait projects. Check out their blogs to see research and ideas about what they are thinking about. Here are some interesting self portraits done by French photographer Laurence Demaison.

Some more inspiration from Radiohead. Oh Ed. And More Inspiration-thanks Cole Elsasser and Emily Sheldon-former students who both turned me on to this cool video. I took a wet plate class this summer with artist Jody Ake. It is a great process.

Welcome Back

Welcome back to a new school year.  If you are like me at all, you may not be ready to leave the ease of summer yet.  But, the calendar says we must.  I have posted all the needed documents for both the beginning and advanced classes.  We will be starting to work right away in both beginning and advanced photography.  In the beginning class students will be learning to work in the darkroom through making photograms.  They will also be building and shooting with pinhole cameras and if the sunshine holds for September, making lumens and cyanotypes.   Advanced students will be heading back to the darkroom to make some Darn Good Prints-that I really want to be Spectacular Prints!  They will then be starting Self Portraits-always a favorite-NOT!  Also, something new-this year, all advanced students will make their own blog that will be linked on this site.  Let's have a GREAT year of making imagery!  Here is a slideshow of past beginning student's work.  Most of these images are from the 1st two assignments-photograms and framing.




 I am very interested in where and how artists get inspiration.  It is something we talk about in my classes quite a bit.  One of the places many people find a kind of inspiration is through music.  As many of my students know, I am a huge Radiohead fan.  Here is a video of them playing one of my favorite songs.  It was an out of body experience when they played this in Seattle.  Enjoy.

May News

Students in Beginning Photography are working on urban landscape including street photography, natural landscape and seniors are getting their portfolios together.  It is a very busy time.  The Advanced Photography students are getting ready for the big show.  The Senior Show (featuring and honoring those students in advanced visual arts classes) opens on May 24th from 5:30 to 7:00.  The show will be up in the main hallway and gallery until May 31st.  The opening coincides with the spring concert featuring all of Lincoln's musical ensembles.  Hope everyone can join us at the opening!

Ansel Adams

Wynn Bullock

Dean Brown

Joel Meyerwitz

Mitch Dobrowner

Neil Folberg

Olivier Meriel

Beginning Photography Portraits

TED talk on James Nachtwey

In the Beginning Photography classes, students are going to watch the excellent film, War Photographer, about James Nachtwey.  They will then be writing a short essay based on one of the questions posed in the Questions to Ponder assignment.  Some students will not be able to see the bulk of the film because of leaving on spring break early.  Here is a TED talk given by Nachtwey that summarizes his cause and the film.  Students can watch this as a source for their essays.

March News

   Found Film Phantasmagorium-A creative exercise for the Advanced Photo class.

  

Happy Spring!! We are very busy in the photography classes right now.  Beginning students are working on the portrait assignment.  There is exceptional work being done.  This tends to be one of the favorite assignments.  Right before spring break, beginning students will get the photo essay assignment.  This is another favorite.  They will choose a theme  and make a small body of work on that.  There are options for digital, alternative processes, and analog techniques to be used for this.  The slideshow posted here is from a new project I did with my advanced students.  They were to take any prints and film that had been left in the darkroom and make something new with them.  The only requirement was that they could not just print the negative.  It was a project all about creativity.  The work that came out of this was terrific.  Jewelry, sculpture, lamps, and books were just some of the things done.  Students used transfer techniques, alternative processes as well as digital manipulations.  It was also so much fun.  Definitely a keeper to try again.

February News

First semester ended with students showing their best 10 pieces in Beginning Photography and self directed final projects in Advanced Photo.  The work was very good all around.  The work from this years advanced class is absolutely fabulous!  In addition to applying to colleges and finishing all their semester work, the following students from my advanced photo class entered and won awards at the Regional Scholastic Art Awards.  Serena Smith's triptych won the American Vision award (Best of Show in Photography).  I am so proud of all the students who both entered and won.   I am in the process of putting together a slideshow of all the work entered.  Here is the list of students who were recognized:
Serena Smith-4 Gold Keys, American Vision Award
Gaby Segura-1 Gold Key, 1 Silver Key, and Honorable Mention
Molly Walls-4 Gold Key, 2 Honorable Mention
Felicia Montejano-1 Gold Key
Fynn Peterson-1 Silver Key
Lauren Fields-2 Honorable Mention
Kaia Austin-3 Honorable Mention

January 2012

In the beginning photo classes students are preparing their semester portfolios and working on the light, shadow and reflection assignment.  The work that I have been seeing in the darkroom is looking very good.  Students are getting to be better printers, are understanding their cameras more, are looking at the nature of light, and are making much more interesting images.  We are also studying the history of photography during the 1920's through 1940's.  With the wild winter weather we had some students missed the slide presentation.  Below is that slideshow.  There will be a quiz on the information in this.


Here are some photographs showing the types of lighting situations students are working with.

An My Le

Brett Weston

Chuck Davis

John Chakeres