Photography 1A & 1B
Course Description: The Photography 1 class provides a comprehensive study of photography as an art form. The course will expose the student to fundamental issues unique to the medium through the study of the history of photography. The students will experience a variety of approaches to the medium of black and white photography beginning with photograms and also including pinhole photography and 35 mm cameras. Students will create their own photograms, use pinhole cameras to get negatives and make positive images, learn how to process black and white film and enlarge. Portrait and still life are a two major aspects of the Photography 1 program. The work of portrait photographers such as Arnold Newman, Irving Penn, Richard Avedon, Annie Leibovitz, Yousuf Karsh will be presented in class. For still-life, images from the following artists will be presented: Edward Weston, Renger-Patzsch, Minor White and Aaron Siskind. Students will end the year working on a final project consisting of one of the following: portrait, self-portrait or still-life. In addition to creating original work, students will do research on the biography and style of a photographer who has made important aesthetic advances in history.
Course outline for Photography 1A & 1B
- Unit 1. Safety procedures in the darkroom.
- Unit 2. Photograms.
- Unit 3. Pinhole photography.
- Unit 4. Introduction to the History of Photography in Europe and the United States.
- Unit 5. The camera and lenses.
- Unit 6. The Film.
- Unit 7. The enlarger.
- Unit 8. Self-Portrait.
- Unit 9. Portrait Photography.
- Unit 10. Introduction to Color Photography.
- Unit 11. Basic Composition Principles.
- Unit 12. Still Life.
- Unit 13. Final Project and Examination.
Photography 2A & 2B
Course Description: The Photography 2 class is an advanced class where students learn new darkroom techniques to obtain better results when processing film and printing images. Students will learn how to control the contrast while processing black and white film, and will also learn how to use a variety of photographic papers, including variable contrast papers. Some of the photography disciplines that will be presented are: landscape, photography at night, documentary and photojournalism, photography as a fine art and digital photography. The work of photographers such as Edward Weston, Ansel Adams, Cartier-Bresson, Robert Doisneau, Robert Frank, Duane Michals and many others will be presented. For the final project, the student will be required to work on a photography project which demonstrates that the student understands this medium and has mastered its technique, including a research of others artists who have worked on similar projects.
Course Outline for Photography 2A & 2B
- Unit 1. Controlling the contrast in black and white photography.
- Unit 2. Double and multiple exposures. Solarizations.
- Unit 3. Landscape photography.
- Unit 4. Using flash.
- Unit 5. Photography at night.
- Unit 6. Photojournalism and documentary photography.
- Unit 7. Color photography.
- Unit 8. Photography as a Fine Art.
- Unit 9. Digital Photography.
- Unit 10. Retouching, mounting and proper storage. Framing and displays.
- Unit 11. Final project.