Foundations of Photography: Digital Practice
Course Description
Summary
This course will discuss practices and ethics around digital photography and experiment with foundational tools and techniques, aiming to create space for students to develop their own interests within the possibilities of the medium. Classes will combine practical exercises, discussions mostly around the work of contemporary LGBTQIA+ and BIPOC photographers, and readings on the development of digital photography and its impact on society. Materials will intersect photography theory, interview with artists, current debates on photography technology, and ethics. We will address photography in manual mode, experiment with composition and light, organize, develop, and manipulate digital image files using Lightroom and Photoshop, and experiment with finalizing work for the screen and for inkjet prints. Students will practice analyzing, creating, discussing, and writing about photography through in-class and weekly practical assignments, feedback rounds with their peers, self-directed final projects, readings, and journaling.
Digital SLR cameras will be available from the college for students to use throughout the term. Photoshop and Lightroom will be available on all 12 workstations in the Photo Digital Lab.
Students will be required to have a Mac-compatible external hard drive and inkjet photo paper to complete assignments.
Learning Outcomes
- Develop/improve skills in shooting, editing, printing, and managing digital
photographs. - Create new work within short time periods in response to prompts and
develop, and revise a sustained independent project. - Practice contributing to critiques with peers and receiving feedback on
creative work. - Build awareness of historical and contemporary artists and the breadth of
possibilities for the medium. - Make observations, think critically, speak and write about photography,
enhancing your ability to present work. - Actively reflect on your own questions and relationship to the ideas in the
course, and on your creative and learning processes, and make connections
to other areas of interest.