Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

This course provides hands-on experience that approaches digital photography from an artistic, historic, and craft-oriented perspective. All aspects of digital photography will be considered, from exposure of images in the camera, to the presentation the finished image. Special attention will be paid to self-expression, based on an understanding of aesthetic principles and graphic design. Historical approaches and contemporary issues concerning the art of photography will be discussed. Students’ abilities will be developed through regular photographic assignments and critical evaluations.

Continue to ask meaningful questions, identify intermediate level ideas and issues, and develop and use an intermediate level of vocabulary when participating in critical dialogue about photography with others.Find and develop creative ways to solve artistic & conceptual problems using a variety of photographic strategies at an intermediate level. Create personal photographic artwork which demonstrates an intermediate level of the processes, materials, and techniques associated with making digital photographs.Navigate challenges & opportunities of working in a community photographic studio.Integrate the understanding that any photographic image is created and interpreted through the lens of both the artist and the viewer’s own personal, social and cultural filters.

1. Create prints that incorporate a variety of technical skills with an awarenessof the inherent characteristics of different photographic styles, genres andmodes of capture and output methods.2. Begin to generate ideas/concepts with an awareness of the intendedcontent of the work produced3. Build upon a current skill set with the intent of working towards technicaland conceptual proficiency4. Develop safe and efficient studio practices in regards to handling materials,as well as efficient and functional workflow in a communal studio space.5. Asses and self-critique personal work to strategize creative solutions.6. Develop personal work with an awareness of historical and contemporaryartists working in digital & traditional photography

Through completion of regular photographic assignments, students will display their competence related to the course’s intended outcomes. Understanding of the camera functions, exposure controls, use of basic digital image software, and image rendering techniques will be progressively monitored. Appropriateness of depth-of-field and shutter-speed decisions, and student’s judgment concerning their use of light, graphic, and compositional effects will be reviewed during scheduled group critiques. Instructors may also choose to evaluate students' critical and interpretive abilities by requiring written assignments, or oral presentations, regarding photographic work. Student assessment will culminatewith the presentation of a final portfolio at the end of the term.

1. Visual awareness and ability to see.2. Methodologies for designing and creating a print which may include, third-party printing, in-house color calibration and selfprinting, projection, virtual or web presentation of their image3. Challenges to visualization inherent in photography.4. Language of photography and the qualities that distinguish it from other graphic and/or digital media.5. Photography in history.6. Options and possibilities for original work.7. Evaluating prints and images.8. Safety.9. Environmental concerns related to materials, consumption, production and output strategies and proper disposal of waste produced.10. Non-traditional media and combined techniques (e.g., zines, artist &/or kinetic books, collage, mixed media and collaboration with other disciplines).Skills and Methodologies:Knowledge of the camera: image storage systems, light metering and balancing systems, and the exposure controls (manual and automatic).Knowledge of the use of digital image software, digital image processing and editing across multiple file formats (such as jpg, tiff and RAW), evaluating digital image exposures for lighting, contrast and color balance; further image manipulation such as dodging, burning and cropping, Finishing/presenting the digital photograph: rendering for web or print; retouching the final image; dry mounting and over-matting; other options, including books, zines, and mixed media may be discussed.Aesthetic issues: use of graphic techniques, through control of contrast and density; effective use of focus, depth-of-field, and stopping/blurring motion; use of the rectangle, the edge, and cropping; line, form, shape, texture, rhythm, and space.Attributes of digital and chemical photographic history and practitioners:presentation, through slides, lectures, and videos, of periods, artists, and technology, issues in the history of photography. In particular, photographic genres, including landscape and nature, documentary, reportage, abstraction, portrait, self-portrait, and candid photography, will be discussed. Emphasis will be on how historical concerns effect, and led to, contemporary issues, artists, and techniques.