FALL '08 WEEK 8

Oded Balilty of the Associated Press won a Pulitzer Prize for his photograph of a lone settler woman defying Israeli security forces.

AGENDA
1. Let's look, ASSIGNMENT #7; Using Flash
2. Lesson; Assignment categories, Documentary vs. Non-Documentary.
3. RESEARCH ASSIGNMENT: Who was Dorothea Lange and Walker Evans?
What large photographic project were they part of?
4. ASSIGNMENT #8 Documentary
5. Photo essays & take a look at Photo Essays by former students.
6. Discuss your Final Project ideas
7. Lauren Greenfield's Girl Culture

Upcoming dates of importance
11/3/08 Photojournalist Paper. Remember, due next week.
11/10/08 Final Project Proposal due
11/24/08 EXAM
12/15/08 Final Project due, last Class

DOROTHEA LANGE'S Migrant Mother

DOROTHEA LANGE
Migrant Mother, 1936

In 1960, Lange spoke about her experience taking the photograph:

“I saw and approached the hungry and desperate mother, as if drawn by a magnet. I do not remember how I explained my presence or my camera to her, but I do remember she asked me no questions. I made five exposures, working closer and closer from the same direction. I did not ask her name or her history. She told me her age, that she was thirty-two. She said that they had been living on frozen vegetables from the surrounding fields, and birds that the children killed. She had just sold the tires from her car to buy food. There she sat in that lean-to tent with her children huddled around her, and seemed to know that my pictures might help her, and so she helped me. There was a sort of equality about it.” -Wikipedia

Click here to read more.

An excerpt from
No Caption Needed; Iconic Photographs, Public Culture, and Liberal Democracy Robert Hariman and John Louis Lucaites

As was the custom among RA/FSA photographers who were trying to adhere to scientific method, her notes record no names but they do feature socioeconomic categories such as “destitute pea pickers” and “mother of seven children.” The picture itself needs no such help to draw on the prior decades of documentary photography. Direct exposure of ordinary, anonymous, working-class people engaged in the basic tasks of everyday life amidst degraded circumstances was the template of the social reform photography established by Lewis Hine and others in the early part of the twentieth century. The connection between photographic documentary and collective action was a well-established line of response, available as long as the photographer did not include the signs of other genres such as the focus on dramatic events of ordinary photojournalism or the obvious manipulation of art photography. Many other photos also met this standard, however, while the “Migrant Mother” quickly achieved critical acclaim as a model of documentary photography, becoming the preeminent photo among the hundreds of thousands of images being produced by RA/FSA photographers and used to promote New Deal policies. Roy Stryker, the head of the RA/FSA photography section, dubbed Lange’s photo the symbol for the whole project: “She has all the suffering of mankind in her but all of the perseverance too. A restraint and a strange courage. You can see anything you want to in her. She is immortal.” According to a manager at the Library of Congress, where the image remains one of the most requested items in the photography collection, “It’s the most striking image we have; it hits the heart.… an American icon.” Read more.

FALL '08 ASSIGNMENT #08; Documentary photos

ASSIGNMENT #08
(Due Monday November 3rd)
PART I
Documentary photos (Multiple Pictures)

Make pictures in a documentary style of a social situation.
Become invisible; make pictures.

Shoot in a candid style, with a fly-on-the wall-approach, to make images of real people living their lives. Can be at home, among friends, socializing, nightlife, in public, at school, etc.
BUT, DO NOT attempt this assignment at your job or at work.
At least 50 images should be shot for this assignment, hopefully much more.
This should not be a careless snapshot. Work the subject hard. Get your subject comfortable with the camera being out, so they can forget you are there. This often can take some time.
DO NOT SOCIALIZE with your subject while you are working. Know your purpose; to make images and document. Become invisible. Study examples discussed in class. Do not submit non-documentary style images.
Submit (3) images of different situations but of the same subject. DO NOT submit variations of the same image. Carefully edit your take, looking for images of visual interest, and candor.
Be prepared to use your flash if necessary. Keep in mind some of the elements of good composition, avoiding; cluttered and distracting backgrounds, objects appearing behind heads, dead space, etc.
-CAPTION: be sure to get subject’s names and brief description of what they are doing,; who, what, when, where, why.
*Students must complete:

1. Select (3) best photos.
2. SLUG PHOTO AS FOLLOWS:
Last name_ documentary01.jpg, Last name_ documentary02.jpg, etc.
EXAMPLE: franklin_ documentary01.jpg
3. Place images in the “drop folder.”

PART II
Research Project:
1. What was Life Magazine known for?
2. When was it published?
3. Select (1) Life staff photographer of importance and be prepared to talk to the class about your selection.
4. Have online link to sample of photographer’s work, or bring in a back-copy of the former magazine. Hint: Ask your parents or Grandparents.

PART III
Read this essay and interactive page.
http://chnm.gmu.edu/fsa/index.html

FALL '08 FINAL PROJECT ASSIGNMENT

FINAL PROJECT
Due during final class Monday December 15th
The Final Project is a 4-5 week project that requires each student to spend significant time with a chosen subject, to produce a well-crafted, in-depth photo essay.
Each student must submit a written proposal; which must meet the requirements of the assignment and approval by the instructor.
The Final Project is NOT a single event or photo shoot. It should be a subject of social importance and thus worthy of a 4-5 week essay. The essay should tell a story.
Each student must develop their essay on a week-to-week basis, and bring photos in each week for critique. The final essay will consist of an 8-10 image slideshow.
The Final Project makes 25% of your grade and is due the final week.
REMEMBER: The Photo Essay is equivalent to a Final Exam.

Due Monday November 10th
WRITTEN PROPOSAL FOR FINAL PROJECT / Photo Essay
Each student must submit a well-written, thoroughly planned proposal (250 words or 3-4 paragraphs). The proposal must be an examined, well-planned, and strongly supported idea.
Your proposal will be evaluated and part pf your grade.
Select a story idea, theme, or subject that will be both interesting and visual. You will need to photograph this subject in various stages over the final 4-5 weeks, so make it something good! Something you can spend time with and revisit multiple times.
It should be a subject worthy of a photo essay. Think of some of the work we have reviewed in class. It must also be accessible to you. Don’t select a subject that you can’t get to each week, select an idea that is do-able.
Do NOT select an uninteresting and simplistic subject, such as; my roommate, my dog, or my girlfriend/boyfriend. Select something that has substance, something complex that can be revisited many times and in different ways.

The proposal should outline in detail 4-5 different aspects that you can document, not just one thing repeated each week. This how real photojournalists get their work published. They pitch story ideas to editors. Each story proposal usually has to be approved by a series of editors, and a poorly throughout proposal will quickly dismissed by an editor.
PROPOSAL IS PART OF YOUR GRADE.

REQUIREMENTS:
The Final Project is due Monday December 15th during FINAL CLASS.
Attendance required. No exceptions
-Each project must consist of at least 8 different images, no more than 10.
-Project should include at least one: vertical, detail, and overall.
-At least (5) photos must contain people.
-Each image must be captioned properly in File Info.
-The first image in your series MUST have a brief summary of your project, in addition to the caption. 2-3 sentences, be brief and concise.
-Each image must be slugged properly
(lastname_final 01.jpg, lastname_final 02.jpg, etc
-Each image must be cropped, toned, sized, etc in Photoshop
-Each image should be sized to 10 inches at longest side, 200dpi
-Each image should be less than 2MGS. Save it at a lower compression if too big.
-Sequence your images in the best story telling manner

-YOU WILL BE GRADED ON WELL YOU MEET THESE REQUIREMENTS, AS WELL AS THE OVERALL IMPACT OF YOUR PHOTOS.

-PROJECT SHOULD REFLECT 4-5 WEEKS OF WORK.

PLEASE FOLLOW INSTRUCTIONS CAREFULLY!

FINAL PROJECT CHECKLIST:
1. be sure you submitted to the DROP updated final proposal, if you changed topics.
Slug: franklin_finalproposal.doc
2. make sure all photos are captioned.
3. sequence photos, take special care to put photos in order.
4. slug photos properly.
5. Photoshop & size each image properly.
6. submit 8-10 final photos to the DROP when you are done
Slug: lastname_final01.jpg, lastname_final02.jpg, etc.

FALL '08 WEEK 7

MAKE NOTE:
Exam: November 24th. No exceptions.
Start thinking about a Final Project subject, be prepared to discuss (3) idea's next week.

TODAY'S AGENDA
1. Photos of the Week
2. Let's look, ASSIGNMENT #6; Live Event
3. Lesson; LIGHT part II; More Flash Use
4. ASSIGNMENT, Photojournalist Paper. Made contact yet?
5. Roger Fenton and Matthew Brady
6. Early Photographic Processes
7. ASSIGNMENT #7; Using Flash, & other

FALL '08 ASSIGNMENT #07 FLASH USE & other

ASSIGNMENT #07
(Due 10/27/08)
Flash Usage (2 parts) Rock Star

Find a musician(s) to photograph, or an actor(s) to play a musician, and make an album/CD cover shots USING YOUR FLASH both indoors and outdoors.

PART1. Photograph your musician indoors using a camera flash.
Be creative, and make personality driven images, highlighted by excellent lighting. Make well-composed and expressive photos of a person using your flash. Must be taken indoors.
***You will be graded on your creativity and use of flash.***
-Flash use should be executed perfectly.
-Set proper white balance setting be sure to have correct white balance usage.
-Use bounce flash whenever possible.
-AVOID: red eye, shadows behind heads, and other forms of sloppy flash use.

Keep in mind some of the elements of good composition, avoiding; cluttered and distracting backgrounds, objects appearing behind heads, dead space, etc. Fill the frame, making interesting, personality-filled photos, that have impact. Composition, positioning, background, lighting, and lens selection should all be taken into consideration. -consider the various flash techniques, such as: bounce flash, fill-flash, diffused flash.

PART 2. Photograph your musician outdoors using a camera flash.
This should be a different set-up than the indoor images.
Can be taken during daytime, night-time, or twilight.
Be creative, and make personality driven images. Make well-composed and expressive photos of a person using your flash. Must be taken indoors.
***You will be graded on your creativity and use of flash.***
-Flash use should be executed perfectly.
-Set proper white balance setting, be sure to have correct white balance usage.
-Use bounce flash whenever possible.
-AVOID: red eye, shadows behind heads, and other forms of sloppy flash use.

Keep in mind some of the elements of good composition, avoiding; cluttered and distracting backgrounds, objects appearing behind heads, dead space, etc. Fill the frame, making interesting, personality-filled photos, that have impact. Composition, positioning, background, lighting, and lens selection should all be taken into consideration. -consider the various flash techniques, such as: bounce flash, fill-flash, diffused flash.
****Study methods discussed in class and in reading material.

Students must complete:
1. Select (1) best photo for each part. (2) total.
2. SLUG PHOTO AS FOLLOWS:
Last name_flash00.jpg
EXAMPLE: franklin_ flash01.jpg franklin_ flash02.jpg
3. Place images in the “drop folder.”

PART 3
READING:
National Geographic Field Guide
By Peter k. Burian & Robert Caputo
Read pages 76-111

Guide to Photojournalism
By Brian Horton
Read pages 79-101“Features and Portraits; Seeing the World Around Us.”

Visual Journalism
By Christopher R. Harris & Paul Martin Lester
Read pages 63-86“Technical Considerations.”

PART 4. Research assignment:
Who was Dorothea Lange and Walker Evans and what large photographic project were they part of?
PART 5. Bring your camera to class next week, ready to use.
PART 6. Bring (3) Final Project subject ideas, be prepared to discuss next week.

FALL '08 MATHEW BRADY

MATHEW B. BRADY
(1822 -1896)


Mathew Brady arrived in New York City at the age of sixteen. Soon after taking a job as a department store clerk, he started his own small business manufacturing jewelry cases. In his spare time, Brady studied photography under a number of teachers, including Samuel F. B. Morse, the man who had recently introduced photography to America. Brady quickly discovered a natural gift. By 1844, he had his own photography studio in New York.
Brady soon acquired a reputation as one of America's greatest photographers -- producer of portraits of the famous. In 1856, he opened a studio in Washington, D.C., the better to photograph the nation's leaders and foreign dignitaries. As he himself said, "From the first, I regarded myself as under obligation to my country to preserve the faces of its historic men and mothers." He became one of the first photographers to use photography to chronicle national history.
At the peak of his success as a portrait photographer, Brady turned his attention to the Civil War. Planning to document the war on a grand scale, he organized a corps of photographers to follow the troops in the field. Friends tried to discourage him, citing battlefield dangers and financial risks, but Brady persisted. He later said, "I had to go. A spirit in my feet said 'Go,' and I went."
Mathew Brady did not actually shoot many of the Civil War photographs attributed to him. More of a project manager, he spent most of his time supervising his corps of traveling photographers, preserving their negatives and buying others from private photographers freshly returned from the battlefield, so that his collection would be as comprehensive as possible. When photographs from his collection were published, whether printed by Brady or adapted as engravings in publications, they were credited "Photograph by Brady," although they were actually the work of many people.
In 1862, Brady shocked America by displaying his photographs of battlefield corpses from Antietam, posting a sign on the door of his New York gallery that read, "The Dead of Antietam." This exhibition marked the first time most people witnessed the carnage of war. The New York Times said that Brady had brought "home to us the terrible reality and earnestness of war."
After the Civil War, Brady found that war-weary Americans were no longer interested in purchasing photographs of the recent bloody conflict. Having risked his fortune on his Civil War enterprise, Brady lost the gamble and fell into bankruptcy. His negatives were neglected until 1875, when Congress purchased the entire archive for $25,000. Brady's debts swallowed the entire sum. He died in 1896, penniless and unappreciated. In his final years, Brady said, "No one will ever know what I went through to secure those negatives. The world can never appreciate it. It changed the whole course of my life."
Despite his financial failure, Mathew Brady had a great and lasting effect on the art of photography. His war scenes demonstrated that photographs could be more than posed portraits, and his efforts represent the first instance of the comprehensive photo-documentation of a war.

Biographical Note /LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
http://www.sonofthesouth.net/leefoundation/About%20Mathew%20Brady.htm
http://www.mathewbrady.com/
http://memory.loc.gov/pnp/cwp/4a40000/4a40900/4a40924r.jpg
http://memory.loc.gov/pnp/cwp/4a40000/4a40900/4a40924r.jpg
The Library of Congress presents these documents as part of the record of the past.

FALL '08 WEEK 6

photo by THOMAS E. FRANKLIN / The Record
LOCATION LIGHTING. Was a camera flash used in this photo, in mid-day sun?

TODAY'S AGENDA
**shortened class today**
1. Photos of the Week; The Record
2. Let's look, ASSIGNMENT #5; Light
3. Lesson; LIGHT part II; Flash Use
4. Due next week: ASSIGNMENT #6; Covering a Live Event
5. ASSIGNMENT, Photojournalist Paper. Made contact yet?
6. Research assignment for next week: Who was Roger Fenton and Matthew Brady, and what did they have in common? Be prepared to discuss next week.
7. Bring your camera to class next week, ready to use.

FALL '08 WEEK 5

photo by THOMAS E. FRANKLIN / The Record

LOCATION LIGHTING. How was this photo lit and made to look like this?

TODAY'S AGENDA
1. Covering a live assignment
2. Photos from last week's VP Debate, Group editing exercise
3. Let's look, ASSIGNMENT #4, Composition.
4. Lesson; LIGHT part I
5. ASSIGNMENT #5; Lighting
6. ASSIGNMENT #6; Covering a Live Event
6. ASSIGNMENT, Photojournalist Paper
7. Photo essay; "Bound to El Norte."

FALL '08 ASSIGNMENT #06; Covering a Live Event

ASSIGNMENT #06
(Due Monday October 20th –two weeks)
Live Event (Multiple Pictures)

Cover a Live Event / Multiple Pictures
Select a scheduled public event and photograph all aspects of the event in the form of a photo essay. Be sure to shoot various scenes, including overalls and details, and illustrate what the event is about. Get photos of all the important people and subject matter.
Select a carefully chosen event to shoot, thus you have two weeks to plan.

Suggestions; news event, parade, protest, performance, festival, theme, etc.
Do not shoot a sporting event. Check newspaper, campus fliers, and magazine listings for a schedule of events in your area. Select an event that will be visual, not something static like someone standing at a podium talking. Think of some of the work reviewed in class. Your event selection is key, give it some thought and planning.

Be prepared to use your flash if necessary. Keep in mind some of the elements of good composition, avoiding; cluttered and distracting backgrounds, objects appearing behind heads, dead space, etc. Fill the frame, making interesting photographs that have impact. Composition, positioning, background, and lens selection should all be taken into consideration.
Photos as a collection should illustrate what the event is about.

1.PUT ALL YOUR PHOTOS IN YOUR PUBLIC FOLDER
2. Select (4) different images must be submitted. Be sure to include:
-people in at least (3) photos.
-(1) over-all, scene setter.
-(1) detail or close up. Can be of a person. Make it relevant.

-CAPTION: be sure to get subject’s names and brief description of what they are doing,; who, what, when, where, why.

*Students must complete:

1. Select (4) best photos, including; an overall & detail.
2. SLUG PHOTO AS FOLLOWS:
Last name_live event1.jpg Last name_ live event2.jpg
EXAMPLE: franklin_ live event1.jpg
franklin_ live event2.jpg
3. Place images in the “drop folder.”

READING:

Guide to Photojournalism
By Brian Horton
Read pages 54-77
“News: Sensitivity, Thinking, Instinct and Curiosity”
Read pages 131-152
“Lessons; Horst Faas, J.Pat Carter, Alan Diaz”

FALL '08 ASSIGNMENT #05; LIGHTING

ASSIGNMENT #05
(Due 10/13/08)
Light (2 parts)


1. Portrait or feature photo with strong sense of ARTIFICIAL light, without flash:
Make well-composed and expressive personality portrait photo using one of the lighting techniques discussed in class. Photo should have exceptionally strong quality of light. Lighting technique should be very obvious.
This need not be a documentary-style photo, but do not manipulate the image in Photoshop.
-Do NOT USE A CAMERA FLASH!!!!!!!!!
Lighting must be natural; sun, or cloudy day. Can be indoors or outdoors.
Keep in mind some of the elements of good composition, avoiding; cluttered and distracting backgrounds, objects appearing behind heads, dead space, etc. Fill the frame, making interesting photos that have impact.
Composition, perspective, background, and lens selection should all be taken into consideration. Consider the various lighting techniques discussed in class; directional light, soft light, window light, back light, etc.

2. Portrait or feature photo with strong sense of NATURAL light, without flash:
Make well-composed and expressive personality portrait photo using one of the lighting techniques discussed in class. Photo should have exceptionally strong quality of light. Lighting technique should be very obvious. This need not be a documentary-style photo, but do not manipulate the image in Photoshop.
-Do NOT USE A CAMERA FLASH!!!!!!!!!
Lighting must be from an artificial light, such as a lamp or bulb. Can be indoors or outdoors, day or night.
Keep in mind some of the elements of good composition, avoiding; cluttered and distracting backgrounds, objects appearing behind heads, dead space, etc. Fill the frame, making interesting photos that have impact.
Composition, perspective, background, and lens selection should all be taken into consideration. Consider the various lighting techniques discussed in class; directional light, soft light, window light, back light, etc.

Review examples showed in class and Power Point Presentation.

Lighting MUST be the key element in these photos.

*Students must complete:
1. Select best photo from each part, submit (2) photos.
2. SLUG PHOTO AS FOLLOWS:
Last name_natural.jpg, Last name_artificial.jpg
EXAMPLE: franklin_natural.jpg
franklin_artificial.jpg

READING:
National Geographic Field Guide
By Peter k. Burian & Robert Caputo
Read pages 76-111

Guide to Photojournalism
By Brian Horton
Read pages 79-101“Features and Portraits; Seeing the World Around Us.”

Visual Journalism
By Christopher R. Harris & Paul Martin Lester
Read pages 63-86“Technical Considerations.”

LIGHT LESSON; Part I

LIGHT
Appropriate light suitable for the subject, is one of the key’s to good photographs. Lighting is one of the hardest things to get right in a photograph. Too much light, too little light, or a combination
of the two, can ruin a photo.

If you understand the types of lighting, how they affect your camera, you can do to use these effects to your full advantage.
CONSIDER:
-Think about the quality of light before you shoot, think about possible alternatives.
-Ask yourself, is this the best way to light this shot, and am I standing in the best spot to make the picture?
-How can I best use the available light?
-Do I need my flash or not? You should decide, not your camera!
-Experiment with the light
-Look closely at how light and shadow work together to create texture on subjects.
-Seeing with light and really seeing the light takes time. Sometimes, it'll stop you in your tracks, and you will be mesmerized by it.