Course Description
Camera skills and processing techniques for black and white negatives and prints with emphasis on visual concepts and articulation of ideas.
Athena Title
Black and White Photography
Prerequisite
ARST 2210 or ARST 2205
Semester Course Offered
Offered fall and spring
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
This course engages visual concepts and articulation of ideas in black and white photography. The course will engage the history as well as contemporary practice of black and white photography as a medium for engaging the world through visual images. In 1978 John Szarkowski, Director of Photography at the Museum of Modern Art, described photography through dichotomous strategies of windows and mirrors. The mirror strategy focused on self-expressive photography, while the window referenced photographers using the medium as a descriptive device to record, document and share the world. This course will explore and engage the range of that dichotomy in both research and practice. Black and white camera and darkroom techniques will be extensively covered, and students will develop proficiency in each. Slide lecture, classroom discussions, reading, and quizzes will expose the students to the historical, technical, and contemporary aspects of photography. Students will be required to engage assignment topics and present their work in the context of historical and contemporary practices within the medium. In presenting his/her photographs each student will be expected to assimilate and analyze the topic of the assignment and present the work orally as well as through various modes and media, including the use of appropriate technology. Students will be expected to engage other students' work with dialogue that is stylistically appropriate and mature. During critiques students will learn to communicate for academic and professional contexts, supporting a consistent purpose and point of view while considering and engaging opposing points of view. Students will be required to interpret inferences within each photograph being discussed, developing subtleties of symbolic and indirect discourse.
Topical Outline
Advanced camera and darkroom techniques. In-depth study and discussion of the qualities of light. Topical approaches to the medium ranging from documentary to self-reflective assignments. Regular class lab time. Assigned readings and quizzes. Portfolio development with regular critiques.
Syllabus
Public CV