CSUN Art 250: 

Photography I

Class Info

General Info:
Recommended Text:
Some Camera Options:
Some Materials Options:
Links:

Calendar

Week 01

Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst.

Henri Cartier-Bresson
Monday

Class Intro

SHOW ME YOUR CAMERA & FILM

Show me your camera, so that I can make sure it will work for the class.
(35mm Film, Manual Exposure, Manual or Auto Focus, lens, working battery)

Show me at least 2 rolls of 36 exposure Arista 400, Kodak Tri-X 400, Ilford HP5+ or another 400 speed, black and white, negative film.

Due: Wednesday, 6 Sept

Upload your favorite image to the Canvas discussion.

Due: Monday, 31 January
Wednesday

Review Favorite Images

Camera Basics

Aperture, Shutter Speed and ISO
Week 02

Photography is a way of feeling, of touching, of loving. What you have caught on film is captured forever… It remembers little things, long after you have forgotten everything.

Aaron Siskind
Monday

No School: Labor Day

Wednesday

Camera Check Day!

Using Your Camera

Camera Manuals

Camera Metering Modes Explained

PROJECT 1: FIRST IMAGES

  1. Balanced Subjects
  2. Fill the Frame (Cropping)
  3. Framing
  4. Leading Lines
  5. Negative Space
  6. Pattern & Repetition
  7. Rule of Thirds
  8. Subject to (Back)ground
  9. Symmetry
  10. Triangular Composition
  11. Viewpoint/Perspective
Week 03

In photography there is a reality so subtle that it becomes more real than reality.

Alfred Stieglitz
Monday

The Origins of Photography

Videos:

IMAGE DISCUSSION 1: SURFACE

Create & upload a digital image that elicits a strong emotional response, that is shown in an esthetically pleasing way. Make a new image, don't recycle images for this discussion.
Example

TED Talk: Ways of Seeing

Lab Orientation

Film Processing Demo

Film Processing Times

Wednesday

Proof/Contact Sheet Demo

Paper Processing Times

Contact/Proof Sheet Example

Ilford Contact Printing Guide

Week 04

What makes photography a strange invention is that its primary raw materials are time and light.

John Berger
Monday

Printing Demo

Wednesday

Lab Day - Process, Proof & Print

Week 05

To me, photography is an art of observation. It’s about finding something interesting in an ordinary place… I’ve found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them.

Elliott Erwitt
Monday & Wednesday

Lab Day - Process, Proof & Print

Week 06

It’s more important for a photographer to have very good shoes, than to have a very good camera.

Sebastiao Salgado
Monday

Project 1 Critique

Wednesday

PROJECT 2: BLUR & FOCUS

Basics:
Details:

Make sure each image strongly incorporates the requirement in a way that adds meaning/interest to the photo.

Turn in List:
Schedule:
Week 07

Every artist has a central story to tell, and the difficulty, the impossible task, is trying to present that story in pictures.

Gregory Crewdson
Monday

Quiz Review

Kahoot Quiz Review

Lab Lecture - Advanced Printing

Ilford on Dodging and Burning

Wednesday

Complete Quiz on Canvas, before midnight, tonight.

Lab Day - Process, Proof & Print

Week 08

Sharpness is a bourgeois concept.

Henri Cartier-Bresson
Monday

Lab Day - Process, Proof & Print

IMAGE DISCUSSION 2: MEANING

Upload one of your images that has strong meaning for you, maybe more meaningful than beautiful, but it can be both.

Lab Day - Process, Proof & Print

Wednesday

Lab Day - Process, Proof & Print

Week 09

Photography deals exquisitely with appearances, but nothing is what it appears to be.

Duane Michals
Monday

Lab Day - Process, Proof & Print

Wednesday

PROJECT 3: PORTRAITS

Basic Requirements:
Turn In Requirements:
Lighting Conditions:
  1. Just after sunrise or before sunset on a clear day (Outside, soft, directional light, long shadows)
  2. Midday on a clear day, no clouds (Outside, hard, directional light)
  3. Overcast (Outside, soft light, no shadows)
  4. Open shade (Outside, on a clear day, in complete shade)
  5. Mixed lighting, direct light vs shade, for subject and background (Backlighting is this, to an extreme) [Example]
  6. Window light (inside, natural, diffused light)
  7. Article: Natural Light Portraiture | Simple Portraits Using Window Light
  8. Article: How to Achieve Great Portraits with Window Light
  9. Nighttime (inside, artificial light, long exposure)
  10. Nighttime (outside, artificial light, long exposure)
Also turn in:
Due: Wednesday, 15 November

Portrait Videos:

Week 10

A portrait is not made in the camera but on either side of it.

Edward Steichen
Monday

Lab Day - Process, Proof & Print

Wednesday

Project 2 Critique

Print List:
  1. Shallow Depth of Field
  2. Deep Depth of Field
  3. Very Long Exposure
  4. Very Short Exposure
  5. Night time
Extra Credit Print:
Week 11

It’s one thing to make a picture of what a person looks like, it’s another thing to make a portrait of who they are.

Paul Caponigro
Monday & Wednesday

Lab Days - Process, Proof & Print

Week 12

It is an illusion that photos are made with the camera… they are made with the eye, heart and head.

Henri Cartier-Bresson
Monday

Lab Day - Process, Proof & Print

Wednesday

PROJECT 4: THE FINAL

Schedule:
Week 13

A camera is a tool for learning how to see without a camera.

Dorothea Lange
Monday

Project 3 Critique

Final Project Concepts

Wednesday

Modest Feast of Gratitude

Week 14

To me, photography is an art of observation. It’s about finding something interesting in an ordinary place… I’ve found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them.

Elliott Erwitt
Monday

Lab Day - Process, Proof & Print

Wednesday

Lab Day - Process, Proof & Print

Show me progress. Be sure to check in with something substantial.

Week 15
Monday

Lab Day - Process, Proof & Print

Wednesday

Lab Day - Print

Week 16
Monday

Final Critique

Finals Week
Monday, 16 December, 8:00p-10:00p

Last chance to turn anything in.