Spring Open Studios: Photography

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Introduction to Photography
Instructor: Christine Seror

This is an introductory course in photography that explores lens-based practices and the imperative of visual literacy in today’s world. The history of photography starts now, in a context of image-making that proceeds all around us with unprecedented immediacy and proliferation. We cover fundamental principles of camera operation, composition and image editing. Through digital instruction, students learn to use DSLR or Mirrorless cameras and to operate manual settings (focus, aperture, shutter speed, ISO, color temp/white balance). They learn basic file management as well as the use of Adobe Lightroom software. Students acquire an essential knowledge of contemporary art photography, including standards of quality and image sequencing. They get a basic sense of aesthetics and of the critical discourse that exists around the cultural significance of images. Students provide their own DSLR or mirrorless camera.

Intermediate Photography: New Landscapes
Instructor: Christine Seror
TA: Oleg Savunov

This course investigates notions of landscape photography by expanding upon its traditional, geography-based paradigm of pictorial beauty. Students explore how the perception and representation of landscapes relate to physical and cognitive mapping, as well as engagements with myth and memory, in order to visualize how we experience and imagine the spaces that extend around us. They develop technical processes that allow them to intervene in landscapes, such as altering their appearance within the camera in post-production, manipulating the construction of existing places, or building installations in public spaces. This is an intermediate course in photography, with an ongoing emphasis on operating manual camera settings (focus, aperture, shutter speed, ISO, color temp/ white balance). Students continue to work with Lightroom as a file management system, are introduced to Photoshop, and focus on the importance of photo editing/selection and sequencing.