Advanced Photography Syllabus

SYLLABUS

ART 364/362 Advanced Photography/Documentary Photography
Southern Connecticut State University
Jerry Nevins, Lecturer
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773-8546, office
CALENDAR for Semester

Spring. 2010

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Course Overview:

ART 364 affords you further opportunity to refine and extend the skills of photographic seeing and fine printmaking begun in your previous photography course(s).

Portfolio work

This semester I am proposing a two track approach to your portfolio work.

Track 1. At the heart of the creative process is a desire to express an inner necessity... to realize a body of work that is important and vital to you. My role is to identify, clarify, enable and support you in that process. Early in the semester, you will choose a project to work on based on both an expansion of your technical skills and a refinement of your aestheic awareness of contemporary photographic practice. You will identify artists who are already working in the mode you want to explore in order to realize the strongest possible work you are capable of.

Track 2. Use the semeter to explore a variety of ways of working broken up into 3-4 week segments. This is a topical approach. One or more segments could explore a technical issues such as pinhole photography, the zone system, Holga 120 work, Large format photography, infra red photography, hand coloring, non silver. Work with me to establish a plan.

ART 364. Students who have completed the course should

• Have developed an historical understanding of documentary photography.
• Have acquired technical and conceptual skills to develop a visual photo essay about a variety of topics, ranging from a personal to a social theme.
• Have learned how to edit a documentary project, and to make decisions about the number and content of the images to include.
• Have acquired a critical vocabulary about the genre of documentary photography through readings and assignments.

ART 362: Students who have completed the course should

• Have refined their black and white printing skills applying advanced printing techniques and using
fiber paper and different toners.
• Have a better control of negative exposure using the zone system.
• Have acquired basic lighting skills, using natural and studio lighting.
• Have explored the relationship between images, creating sequences and cohesive photo projects.
• Have started developing an historical understanding and critical vocabulary about the medium.

Some possiblities you might explore:

-Street shooting... use of the accidental in a close urban environment using the 35 mm camera. Study the work of Henri Cartier Bresson.... understand the possibilities for shooting in an intuitive, quick and fluid way. Embrace the accidental, edit for the sublime. Also study the work of Bruce Davidson, Gary Winogrand, Lee Friedlander and Walker Evans.

"In photography, creation is a quick business — an instant, a gush, a response — putting the camera up to the eye's line of fire, snatching with that economical little box whatever it was that surprised you, catching it in midair, without tricks, without letting it get away. You make a painting at the same time that you take a photo." Henri Cartier Bresson

Subscribe to the Street Photo list serve. There are over 1,000 subscribers and about 30 messages a day... keep your email easier to read by subscribing to the digest version.

Start here for an excellent introduction to the genre at Luminous Landscape. Define a project that is limited by a specific theme. Fall is an excellent time to visit numerous fairs in Connecticut... take a look at this photo essay on the theme "The Midway" Browse through the list of art photography magazines at the left. Find a body of work that resonates with you... show it to me or send me the link.

The Metaphor...Doorways, passageways both literal and metaphoric...Other metaphors? What did Stieglitz mean by the term "Equivalents"? Study the portfolios of Minor White and Paul Caponigro.

Link: Paul Caponigro.. Numerous links here to his work.

BOOKS Minor White : Rites & Passages
Minor White : The Eye That Shapes Peter C. Bunnell, Paperback

Landscape as metaphor... as poetry

-Social -documentary photography... exploring political, environmental and social themes such as homelessness, aging, pollution and the environment, work etc. Study...
W. Eugene Smith,
Sebastião Salgado,
Robert Capa

-Large format photography: Using the 4"X5" camera

Uncommon Places: The Complete Works By Stephen Shore
Ansel Adams... numerous references.
Linda Conner
Joel Sternfeld, American Prospects
Eliot Porter... Color details from nature.
Edward Weston... defined the genre
Joel Meyerowitz... Cape Light

Pinhole photography

Martha Casanave

Intimate portraiture of family members...

Richard Avedon Numerous links to follow on Avedon.
Joyce Tenneson.. Intimate portraits of women.
William Wegman... Man Ray and other dogs.....
Chuck Close... Over sized segmented Polaroids

Formalism. Related to "The Constructed Photograph"

The Constructed Photography.

Cindy Sherman... staged tableaux
Olivia Parker. "For twenty years I have constructed what I photograph in the studio, combining objects and surfaces into new entities by the manipulation of light, space, and photographic materials." OP
Alexander Rodchenko Russian Constructivist early 20th Century
Gregory Crewdson

Explore the list of themes at http://jpgmagazine.com/themes Also take a look at the list of closed themes.

The list could go on and on... each student must commit to a theme early in the course and stay with it through to a coherent, strong portfolio. Each Monday, at the start of class, I will present a 20 minute show if images covering the above photographers and more.

Browse through the extensive list of gallery and museum links for photography located on my home page entitled "Essential links for Photo students. Find work you appreciate and talk to me about it. This is an excellent way to refine your thinking about your project. Do you have the technical resources to engage your project? Do you have the necessary time, money, etc? Have you bought new equipment that you'd really like to explore in depth?

Academic Expectations:

The grade for this course is based upon the care and attention you bring to your work in this class. The portfolio is the most tangible evidence of your progress and attention. Care about what you are doing, help others in the class to succeed, consult frequently with me about your inspirations and problems and most of all, work hard. The portfolio will consist of 12 matted, exhibition quality prints due at the end of the class. This work is edited down from approximatel 20 -25 finished prints. Attendence is crucial. A maximum of 3 absences is allowed, with or without a valid excuse. After that your grade will drop 1 level until 6 are reached. At that point, an automatic "F" will be recorded for the course.

Materials:

Students are responsible for providing their own film, cameras, paper, mat board and negative files. Southern provides darkroom chemistry, spot tone and other micellaneous tools.

Special Needs and Accommodations: Please advise the instructor of any special problems or needs at the beginning of the semester.. Those students seeking accommodation based on disabilities should provide documentation.

Suggested Reading:

Basic Techniques of Photography, John Schaefer, Little, Brown and Company, Boston, 1992

Beyond Basic Photography.- Henry Horenstein, Little, Brown and Company, Boston, 1977

On Photography, Susan Sontag, The Noonday Press, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York, 1977

Cape Light, Joel Meyerowitz, New York Graphic Society, Boston, 1978

American Prospects, Joel Sternfeld

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