Christmas work

You need to take as many pictures as possible, remember the themes, Texture and Portraiture.

Texture: frost, snow?, Christmas trees and baubles, food, leftovers with napkins, think in terms of contrast in both colour and texture. Interior and exterior, natural and manmade.

Portraiture: really good time for family portraits, try to avoid the formal ones but get people unawares, older people asleep, childrens delight at opening presents, playing etc. Try unusual angles, from behind, over the shoulder, childs eye view etc.

Research existing photographers work and try to get inspiration from them, you can then put their images in your sketch book alongside your own.

You should use the holidays to get your sketch books up and running, you should be taking some good images now.

18th December

You should come to the lesson in the Media studio with all your darkroom notes, prints and photograms and your sketch book. You need to start putting your sketch book together.

You will be presenting your own portraiture images to the class and we will discuss your work.

Please ensure you bring material to the lesson, it would be best to put it on your blog then we can see it on the whiteboard.

17th Dec

We have had some good sessions in the darkroom, you have produced some excellent photograms, you should have had some experience of processing film, creating contact sheets and starting to print test strips. The next stage is to enlarge whole prints. Some of your attendance has been non existent. You must ensure that you catch up with this work. You can go into the darkroom at any time. If you give me some notice I can go in and show you how to do it, or you could ask one of the other students to help you, there are lots of worksheets in the cupboards if you get stuck.

In the lunchtime lesson I would like you all to take 10 minutes to prepare a presentation on one of the following images.
Use this structure to write about the images:
Photographers intentions
1. what are the photographers aims?
2. Who is the image for? More than one audience?
3. Does the image successfully communicate the photographers aims and intentions?

Analysing the image.
1. What type of photography is this? documentary, reportage, portrait, fine art, advertising, editorial?
2. What is included in the photograph?
3. What message does it convey?
4. What techniques do you think have been used to make the image?
5. Has the image been staged?
6. Has the image been manipulated in any way?

Personal Response.
1. How does the image make you feel?
2. Does it remind you of anything? personal experiences, other photographers work.

For homework I would like you to use the same structure to present one of your own portrait images, in addition to the above points you should also provide the technical specification for the image- Aperture f. reading, shutter speed, and ISO rating. It is also interesting to provide an unedited version on your blog or in your scrapbook to show how you have manipulated your image.