assignment #1

Black & White photography is different from color photography from both an obvious visual approach but also from a more conceptual understanding. With the exception of a few who are color blind, we all see and understand the world in color. To make black & white images requires that you make the translation in your head as your shooting.

For this assignment shoot one roll of 36 exposure HP-5 or similar film with the goal of making images where it matters that the image is mono toned and not in color. As part of this assignment, you should bracket all your images, one stop over, one exposed what you believe to be the correct exposure and one stop under exposed.

Bring the exposed film to class for in class processing January 20.

Field Trip!

The Fine Print

Prof. Stan Strembicki

Black and White Photography I ART1186 sec 01

SP 2016 V1.4

Tuesday & Thursday 1:00-4:00

01/19/16          class intro; exposure and development; assignment #1 Black & White Image

01/21/16          film processing demo; students bring exposed roll to class from Assignment #1

01/26/16          contact printing & enlarging demo; students bring developed film to class

01/28/16          slides for assignment #2 (“Photograms”); lab time for film processing

02/02/16          Crit assignment #1-The Black and White Image

02/04/16          No Stan- Contrast control & Burning and Dodging demo -work day

02/09/16          Fat Tuesday-No Stan- Crit for Assignment #2 Photograms

02/11/16          slides for assignment #3 Street Photography-Decisive Moment

02/16/16          Stan’s Life In Art lecture

02/18/16          Slide lecture for #4 “Environmental portrait”

02/23/16          Fiber print demo/lecture; lab day

02/25/16          Crit for assignment #3- Street Photography/Decisive Moment assignment

03/01/16          slides for assignment #6 Studio portrait

03/03/16          Studio lighting demo

03/08/16          Crit for # 4 Environmental Portrait

03/11/16          possible field trip

03/13-19          Spring Break, no classes, lab closed

03/22/16          Lecture and give assignment # 5 (Eric)

03/24/16          crit  # 6 Studio portrait

03/29/16          Slides for studio assignment  #7 Studio nude

03/31/16          TBA

04/05/16          nude model in class

04/07/16          Slides for Self portrait #8

04/12/16          Crit for #5 (Eric Assignment)

04/14/16          crit for assignment  #7 studio nude

04/19/16          presentation, mounting and matting

04/21/16          crit for assignment #8 Self Portrait

04/26/16          Crit for # 9 Self Directed Project

04/28/16          last day to submit assignments for grades

04/29/16          Last Day of WU classes

04/03/16          final portfolio due today                                 

04/05/16          final exams begin                   

04/10/16          portfolios returned

Last Week !

All assignments and portfolios have been graded and returned with a comment sheet inside the portfolio. Grades will be submitted on line next week. Please try to pick up your final portfolios before May 19th.

Have a great summer!

Assignment #7 Studio Nude

The female nude – magical, erotic, aesthetic – has been modeled and painted since prehistory. Appearing rarely and awkwardly in the earliest art, she attained fulfillment and glory in ancient Greece. In their idealized treatment of the nude, The Greeks established a standard that only the asceticism of the Middle Ages ignored. The artists of the Renaissance and their successors of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries revived the nude, and by the 1930’s she was again a conventional form. It was inevitable that she should become a favorite subject of photography. - Peter Lacey

Amy Schumer, by Annie Leibowitz 2015

Bring one print to class for critique on April 14, 2016

Model will be supplied during in class shoot on April 5, students may of course photograph a model of their own choosing.

Assignment #6 Studio portrait

Photography can be an additive practice as we have discussed in class, but no where is this more evident than the lighting studio. You begin with a black room, add a back ground, set lights, determine  camera angle and lastly choose a subject.

In this assignment you will enlist the help of a human subject, no younger than 14 years old and photograph them under controlled lighting conditions in the lighting studio. Pay attention to direction of main and fill lights and ratio between each source. In the studio, everything matters.

Richard Avedon

Artists to research are: Karsh, Avedon, Halsman, Leibovitz, Scavullo and Penn.

Assignment/critique March 24

Assignment #4 Environmental Portrait

“The subject must be thought of in terms of the 20th century, of houses he lives in and places he works, in terms of the kind of light the windows in these places let through and by which we see him every day.”

Arnold Newman

                                       "Willie The Lion Smith"  by Arnold Newman 1960

 Simply put, an environmental portrait is a portrait of a person that includes enough of the environment around that person to provide context that helps the viewer understand more about the defining characteristics of the subject.  One of the keys to a successful environmental portrait is that the portion of the scene included in the frame should be "representative" of the environment or context you want the viewer to associate with the subject.  The relative importance of the subject to the environment is also important in defining an "environmental portrait."  The subject should be the most prominent element in the scene, with the surrounding elements providing strong supporting context.  If you are too close to your subject to include enough of the environment, then the image simply becomes a normal portrait.  On the other hand, if the subject is so small in the frame that other elements become more prominent, or viewers cannot discern the defining characteristics of the subject, then the image would be better classified as something other than an environmental portrait.

"Baker" August Sander

Shoot a minimum of 50 images/frames. You can shoot this assignment at a number of locations and even on different days. The subject must be part of the process and may include others, no candid photos of random people you have not met however! No animals or no humans under the age of 14 year as primary subject matter.

Submit one print, any size for in class critique on March 8