Nicholas Relph

Open, Studio—Spring

ARTS 3113

This course seeks to consider and engage with photography from a few angles. The first, and perhaps narrowest, will be as introduction to the fundamentals of photography using digital cameras, Photoshop, and inkjet printing. No previous experience is necessary, but those with experience should feel welcome too—the technical bases will be covered and kept in mind, but not lingered on. More substantially, students will marry these processes and techniques to their own concerns and impulses. Through readings, lectures, and field trips, we will look at how others have employed photography as a means for expression, enquiry, and experiment. And via prompts, discussion, and mutual support, we will chart a path to figure out what that might look like for us individually. The last angle is perhaps the widest yet most difficult to see and address. It concerns the current state of photography in the general scheme of things. The extent to which it is folded into our early 21st century lives provides much convenience, joy, and productive chaos. Yet these are accompanied by other realities: surveillance, fakery, and the flattening effect wrought by the weight of endless images. As people hoping to use cameras to express ourselves, what about these conditions works for us? What works against us? What should we do?

Faculty

Nicholas Relph

Open, Studio—Fall

ARTS 3113

This course seeks to consider and engage with photography from a few angles. The first, and perhaps narrowest, will be as introduction to the fundamentals of photography using digital cameras, Photoshop, and inkjet printing. No previous experience is necessary, but those with experience should feel welcome too—the technical bases will be covered and kept in mind, but not lingered on. More substantially, students will marry these processes and techniques to their own concerns and impulses. Through readings, lectures, and field trips, we will look at how others have employed photography as a means for expression, enquiry, and experiment. And via prompts, discussion, and mutual support, we will chart a path to figure out what that might look like for us individually. The last angle is perhaps the widest yet most difficult to see and address. It concerns the current state of photography in the general scheme of things. The extent to which it is folded into our early 21st century lives provides much convenience, joy, and productive chaos. Yet these are accompanied by other realities: surveillance, fakery, and the flattening effect wrought by the weight of endless images. As people hoping to use cameras to express ourselves, what about these conditions works for us? What works against us? What should we do?

Faculty

Nicholas Relph