Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

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

• Continue to understand, interpret and enjoy photography from past to present within a local as well as global context at a deeper level.

• Ask sophisticated, meaningful questions, identify ideas and issues, and develop increasingly articulate language to use when participating in critical dialogue about photography with others using advanced level vocabulary.

• Find and develop creative ways to solve artistic and conceptual problems with an advanced understanding of the medium using a variety of photographic strategies.

• Create personal photographic artwork, which demonstrate an intermediate level of understanding of the advanced photographic ideas, 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 at an advanced level.

• Understand and employ advanced digital capture formats and strategies andinvestigate the use of alternative methods of digital and traditional photographicimaging.• Build upon current skill set with the intent of working towards advancedtechnical proficiency.• Utilize medium and large format printing, archival printing methodologies andmaterials.• Generate ideas/concepts with an advanced awareness of the intended contentof the work produced.• Hone and refine research and critical inquiry skills applied to photographylocally and globally.• Develop personal work with an awareness of historical and contemporaryartists working in photography.• Practice and improve skills of assessment and knowledge base of materialsand methods.• Assess and self-critique personal work to strategize creative solutions.• Further expand and utilize the necessary vocabulary specific to digitalphotography when participating in class critiques and discussions.

Students are expected to:• Complete and present the individual work within a professional studiocritique.• Use and further develop a sophisticated use of photography-related vocabulary and concepts necessary to engage within a studio environment• Demonstrate appropriate techniques in an advanced photographic practice as well as studio habits beyond the classroom studio• Demonstrate ability to meet deadlines with proper time management and craftsmanship.• Prepare portfolios for professional presentation.

1. Visual awareness and ability to see.2. Methodologies for designing and creating a print that may include, thirdpartyprinting, in-house color calibration and self-printing, projection,virtual or web presentation of their images3. Challenges to visualization inherent in photography.4. Language of photography and the qualities that distinguish it from othergraphic and/or digital media.5. Photography in history, its ethical, social, political and cultural contexts.6. Options and possibilities for original work.7. Evaluating prints and images.8. Safety.9. Environmental concerns related to materials, consumption, productionand output strategies and proper disposal of waste produced.10. Non-traditional media and combined techniques (e.g., zines, artist &/orkinetic books, collage, mixed media and collaboration with otherdisciplines).SKILLS AND METHODOLOGIESAdvanced knowledge of the camera: image storage systems, light metering andbalancing systems, and the exposure controls (manual and automatic).Digital capture: understanding of the variety of methods of digital capture astechnologies are developed and explored, as from camera to scanner, film topinholeDigital darkroom: Advanced knowledge of the use, manipulation, advantages andlimitations of digital image software. Advanced level of digital image processingand editing across multiple file formats (such as jpg, tiff and RAW), evaluatingdigital image exposures for lighting, contrast and color balance; further imagemanipulation such as dodging, burning and cropping.Finishing the digital photograph: rendering for web or print; retouching the finalimage; dry mounting and over-matting; other options, including books, zines, andmixed media may be discussed. Competence in the variety of methods foroutputting the image physically or virtually.• medium and large-format printing• use of professional printers• publish/exhibit work online• employ knowledge of archival issues and after-print methods of optimizing,• presenting, and maintaining the print itself.Aesthetic issues: use of graphic techniques, through control of contrast anddensity; effective use of focus, depth-of-field, and stopping/blurring motion; use ofthe rectangle, the edge, and cropping; line, form, shape, texture, rhythm, andspace.Attributes of digital and chemical photographic history and practitioners:presentation, through slides, lectures, and videos, of periods, artists, andtechnology, issues in the history of photography. In particular, photographicgenres, including landscape and nature, documentary, reportage, abstraction,portrait, self-portrait, and candid photography, will be discussed. Emphasis will beon how historical concerns effect, and led to, contemporary issues, artists, andtechniques.Self-Expression: the digital image as an interpretive medium and the ability toreflect on one’s own work through methods that may include discussion, journalingpeer and self-critique.Presentation: understand contemporary exhibition and presentation options andtechniques and standards as well as development of a personal portfolio.Community: collaborative projects, Service Learning, or individual projectsincorporating social and community practices and engagement.Understand how to select the most effective presentation for a particular image.Demonstrate familiarity with historical styles by comparing prints to those of otherperiods.