PHOT 150 | Introduction to Photography examines the nature of photography and visual literacy through the personal exploration and making of photographic images as well as the critical discourse of photography’s role and function in society and culture. Students will engage in photographic practice as a means to respond subjectively as well as objectively to the conceptual and aesthetic experiences of the photographic image as a visual document of creative expression and communication. Historical and contemporary photographic works from the contexts of the family album, art photography, commercial / advertising photography, photography and media, and cyberspace will be examined and discussed to further cultivate and refine each students’ visual literacy of the photographic image.  Digital camera required.  Satisfies GE – Area C and Area 3 (IGETC) requirements.

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PHOT 151 | Intermediate Photography builds on the foundations of photographic seeing, thought and analysis, and the advanced uses of analog and digital photographic materials and processes, including black and white, grayscale and color. Students will focus on developing a personal photographic vision through the use of photography’s aesthetic attributes and a refined sense of technical execution and craft.  Discussion and advanced practice with small format cameras, advanced image exposure methods, artificial lighting techniques, image optimization and use of the dynamic tonal range with advanced film processing and digital imaging techniques, and photographic printing practices in both darkroom and digital environments.  Prerequisite: “C” or “Pass” grade or higher in PHOT 150.

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PHOT 152 | Advanced Photography explores various advanced analog and digital photographic imaging systems, including medium- and large-format cameras as well as well emerging technologies, in further providing a foundation within the medium. Conceptual, aesthetic and technical principles, theories and strategies will be examined, including the application of one’s photographic vision with advanced digital capture and medium- / large-format camera systems, appropriate image exposure, processing and printing applications, and advanced natural and artificial lighting techniques.  Prerequisite: “C” or “Pass” grade or higher in PHOT 151.

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PHOT 154 | History of Photography A survey that examines the role and function of photography and its cultural history, including its relationship to art, science, social sciences, travel, fashion, and mass media.  Topics of discussion will focus on the important cultural, aesthetic and technical considerations in photography within the historical and contemporary contexts of works by photographers from the United States, Latin America, Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia.  Such topics will include Looking At and Understanding Photographs, The Origins and Development of Photography, A New Aesthetic – 19th Century Photography, Photography and Modernity, Lens Culture and Mass Media as well as The Globalization of Photography in the Digital Age.  Satisfies GE – Area C and Area 3 (IGETC) requirements.

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PHOT 166 | Image and Idea is an in-depth exploration of photographic imaging with an emphasis on relating the current technologies to traditional and historical processes while directing the students’ energies toward a balance of image and idea. Students will develop a language specific for the communication of meaning within their photographs, pushing the medium beyond its pictorial qualities and engaging it into the service of ideas. Lens- and time-based concepts will challenge students’ ongoing work developed in previous classes, as they further examine present day realities, the function of memory, our cultural history, gender identity and the new visceral nature of the medium through contemporary methods, technical strategies, and alternative approaches thus achieving a stronger personal vision.  Prerequisite: “C” or “Pass” grade or higher in PHOT 151.

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PHOT 167 | Lens Culture examines the nature of photography and culture as revealed by the camera lens in society, within the contexts of public, street and documentary photographic practices. Students will examine and engage in photographic practice that explores the photograph as a visual document of “evidence and truth,” the camera as a mechanical eye in the realm of surveillance, spectacle and propaganda, as well as the nature of “public” photography with camera phones, photo booths, and paparazzi practice.  Analog and digital cameras as well as emerging technologies (ie. cell phone cameras) can be used.  Various presentation possibilities will be explored, including photographic prints, the use of technology with the web and blogs as well as self-published digital photographic books and magazines.  Prerequisite: “C” or “Pass” grade or higher in PHOT 150.

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PHOT 168 | Media and the Photographic Profession is an introduction to the profession of photography, addressing the topics and skills associated with the demand for photography in such media fields as editorial and commercial. Primary technical emphasis will be on artificial lighting in the studio and on location, covering objectives inherent in advertising, portraiture, fashion, illustration and tableaux genres. Students will control and construct images for the camera with the purpose of persuasion, promotion and publicity, gaining invaluable insight as they investigate these traditions of images created for the various media outlets. Basic business practices will be introduced as students generate a model for self-promotion within the competitive practice of professional photography. Prerequisite: “C” or “Pass” grade or higher in PHOT 151.

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PHOT 252 | Photographer’s Portfolio examines the practice and process of becoming an active and working photographer with a heightened understanding of personal vision, aesthetic sensibility and refinement of technical skills. As one’s personal practice of photography continues to become more engaged and begins to evolve with a greater sense of maturity, it becomes necessary for the photographer to further develop insight into who they are as a photographer and their working process. Skillful control of modern technological options and clear understanding of historical and contemporary issues within the medium will be applied with a high degree of critical analysis in the production and interpretation of the student’s photographs. A final portfolio, including a print, portfolio book and/or website, will be produced describing the depth and scope of the student’s interest, craft ability and vision.  Prerequisite: “C” or “Pass” grade or higher in PHOT 151.

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Installation Views | Double-Click on Images to Enlarge

Suda House

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Paul Turounet

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Susan Richardson

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Craig Carlson

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Patricio Chavez

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Andy Cross

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Alison Elder

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Michele Iversen

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Michael Mulno

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Jim Noel

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Judith Preston

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Amanda Quintenz-Fiedler

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Jacqueline Ramirez

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Louise Russell

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Aaron Serafino

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Ryder Smith

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Video from Arizona Public Media

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Working process from installation mock-up through exhibition for The Border Project: Soundscapes, Landscapes, and Lifescapes at the University of Arizona Museum of Art, opening November 17, 2011 and running through March 18, 2012.

Installation from Estamos Buscando A – We’re Looking For.  Installation features 12 – 6′ long pieces of the U.S.-Mexico border wall salvaged from Border State Park to create a wall piece that is approximately 13′ wide x 11′ high with 11 – 16″ x 20″ aluminum pigment prints of the migrant experience in the Sonora Desert of Mexico.

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Proposal and Supporting Materials

Click on Image to Enlarge

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  Estamos Buscando A – We’re Looking For Proposal.pdf

  Estamos Buscando A – We’re Looking For Statement.pdf

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Installation Mock-Up

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Pre-Installation Setup and Crating

Crates | 2 @ 78″ x 11″ x 29″ inches at 550 lbs. each

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Announcement Card | Installation View

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Installation Details

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Paul Turounet, Washington D.C., 2009

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“It’s so easy it’s ridiculous. It’s so easy that I can’t even begin – I just don’t know where to start. After all, it’s just looking at things. We all do that. It’s simply a way of recording what you see – point the camera at it, and press a button. How hard is that? And what’s more, in this digital age, its free – doesn’t even cost you the price of film. It’s so simple and basic, it’s ridiculous.

It’s so difficult because it’s everywhere, every place, all the time, even right now. It’s the view of this pen in my hand as I write this, it’s an image of your hands holding this book, Drift your consciousness up and out of this text and see: it’s right there, across the room – there… and there. Then it’s gone. You didn’t photograph it, because you didn’t think it was worth it. And now it’s too late, that moment has evaporated. But another one has arrived, instantly. Now. Because life is flowing through and around us, rushing onwards and onwards, in every direction.

But if it’s everywhere and all the time, and so easy to make, then what’s of value? which pictures matter? Is it the hard won photograph, knowing, controlled, previsualised? Yes. Or are those contrived, dry and belabored? Sometimes. Is it the offhand snapshot made on a whim. For sure. Or is that just a lucky observation, some random moment caught by chance? Maybe. Is it an intuitive expression of liquid intelligence? Exactly. Or the distillation of years of looking seeing thinking photography. Definitely.”

– Paul Graham, from Photography Is Easy, Photography Is Difficult, 2009

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Assignment

After reading Paul Grahams’ Photography Is Easy, Photography Is Difficult, consider and respond to the following:

• What aspect of “photography is easy” for you and why?
• What aspect of “photography is difficult” for you and why?
• What considerations are you thinking about to challenge and address how “photography is difficult” for you?

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