A Photo Teacher |

© Paul Turounet, detail from contact sheet #1995_583 and print from the series Cancer Alley | Louisiana and New York, 1995

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Overview

Putting a Working Process to Practice assignment is an opportunity to demonstrate your knowledge, comprehension and application of photography’s basic principles of vision and craft as a means of creative expression in preparation of the final project.  The exercise will consist of making photographic images, editing contact sheets, printing and presenting a photographic  print and writing an artist statement.

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Preparation

Initially, it is strongly recommended that you review your contact sheets and edit your selection to one image that is visually engaging, reveals interpretive possibilities and meaning, and reflects command of camera aesthetics and technical craft. For review materials, click on Beyond The Surface | Thinking About Photographs and Seeing Photographs. It is suggested that you consider images that demonstrate the following:

Vision

Light

The role and use of light, including direction of light (front lighting, side lighting, diffused lighting and backlighting) and how light shapes the subject being photographed, emphasizing or diminishing description, texture and volume.

Compositional Organization

The use of organization framing strategies and techniques, including compositional balance (rule of thirds, symmetrical and asymmetrical balance), considerations of visual space (depth of field with foreground-to-background relationships and use of frame edges), the placement and level of the horizon line.

Photographic Description

The ability to describe what is in front of the camera, including various vantage point strategies to reveal a point of view, figure-field relationships through separations of tone, shape, and pattern as well as the use of scale and perspective.

Emphasis and Moments of Exposure

The use of the camera’s controls, including the aperture and shutter, to reveal visual content as controlled by the literal use of selective lens focus, depth of field and shutter speeds to reveal a deliberate moment of time.

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Technical Craftsmanship

Image Quality

The use of camera controls and light-metering techniques for optimum image exposure as well as employing proper laboratory procedures for producing images that reveal a full-range of tonal and descriptive information.

Print Quality

The use of proper laboratory procedures and image optimization techniques for producing photographic prints of optimum technical craftsmanship, including the use of primary controls (exposure and contrast) and secondary controls (burning and dodging).

Presentation

The ability to employ controls for optimum print presentation, including cleanliness, retouching and window-matting/mounting.

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Assignment

The Contact Sheet and The Photograph

Review and edit your work from contact sheets made during the semester thus far and produce a final print that demonstrates optimum use of photographic vision and the necessary procedures and controls for producing a well-crafted photographic print. Your instructor will not be able to assist you with editing.

The Artist Statement

Write an artist statement no longer than one page that discusses your inspiration for making the series of images on the contact sheet, your working process in determining which image to print, how you utilized your photographic vision and use of materials to reveal and articulate your conceptual concern(s) and intentions, as well as the interpretive possibilities you want the viewer to consider.  You are encouraged to write drafts of the artist statement for content and grammatical review before the assignment due date.

For review materials on writing about your photograph, click on Writing About Your Photographs as well as the discussion in the textbook, Photography (London & Upton), to consider how to write about your photograph. Include the following as part of  your discussion:

Description of the image with particular attention on the use of light, compositional organization, photographic description, emphasis and the moment of exposure. How do these visual concerns provide an understanding of the content visually and suggest interpretive possibilities?

Interpretation of the image for the photographer and audience. What is the photograph about? What concerns, ideas, and/or curiosities does the photograph reveal (emotional, psychological, sociological, cultural)?

Evaluation of the photograph in terms of communicating your intentions. What was the experience like when you made the photograph? What were your intentions and how does the photograph suggest that photographic meaning?

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Requirements

For evaluation (see Course Calendar for Due Date), please complete the following requirements:

Contact Sheet

Window-Matted / Mounted Photographic Print

• The photographic image is required to be printed with an image size of 6″ x 9.”
• The final print is required to be retouched, window-matted / mounted on 11″ x 14″ matt board and sleeved in a protective plastic bag.

Artist statement

• Required to be typed, no longer than 1 to 2 pages, and turned-in with print.

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