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ARTX115 Digital Photography—Syllabus [In-Class/Reduced
Capacity Variant] Fall Quarter 2021, Kalamazoo College Richard Koenig, Professor Meeting Time: Tuesday &
Thursday 8:45 to 9:45 AM (Group One) and 10:00 to 11:00 AM (Group Two) Meeting Place: Room 122 of the
Light Fine Arts Building Class Homepage (NOT optimized for phones): http://people.kzoo.edu/~rkoenig/educator/photo/ph_dig.html Office Location: Light Fine Arts
Building Room 203, Phone: 337.7003 Office Hours: Wednesday 1:30 to
3:30 PM (or other times by appointment—IRL or via MS Teams) Cell Phone (emergency only,
please): 269.270.8110 Photo Classroom (LFA 103) Phone:
337.7399 E-Mail: rkoenig@kzoo.edu Continuing COVID Cautions At the time of writing this syllabus, we are
on track to conduct our classes in-person. However—things will not be
completely normal. For example, classrooms can only be filled to 70% capacity,
which will affect how we meet (more on this below, in the section called,
Òlectures, computers, and lab timeÓ). In addition, I suspect weÕll need to wear
masks while indoors. As we have over the last four quarters, we will need to
work together to make this experience as valuable and productive as we can,
given our current, continuing, circumstances. Please adhere to safety
procedures as they change over time—please stay well! Course Description and Goals The objective of this studio art course is to
provide the student working knowledge of, and experience with, the fundamental
creative tools used in fine art photographic practice. For this particular
class, we will use digital cameras, optimize with Photoshop, to be viewed on
monitor. If time allows, weÕll also discuss the making of archival pigment
prints in the Center for New Media. In addition to producing the photographs,
participants learn to analyze and discuss their work in critiques. When
regarding the images produced in this course, discussion will be centered on
technical, formal, and conceptual characteristics. We will also discuss subject
matter and content—and the difference between the two. In this critical
ÒreadingÓ of images, like that of a text, we will explore the basics of visual
literacy. To inspire and contextualize we will view
historical examples from the Daguerreotype to contemporary practice, with an
emphasis on recent digital work. Through this study and the production of a
small body of work, each student should finish this course with an introductory
understanding of contemporary photographic practice. Evaluation Merely completing the requirements for an
assignment will not necessarily ensure a good evaluation. I look at technical, formal,
and conceptual aspects of your work (mentioned above) but also the level of
exploration and risk-taking. Below is a breakdown of how your final grade will
be determined: 15% Assignment
One 20% Assignment
Two 10% Take-home
Quiz (technical) 20% Assignment
Three 10% Blog Entry 25% Assignment
Four Credit/No Credit Policy for Fall 2021
(Standard Policy Resumes—Catalog Copy) Students
in good academic standing may elect to take at most one letter graded course
per term as CR/NC for a total of up to four courses while enrolled at Kalamazoo
College. Courses taken CR/NC must be outside the major, minor, or concentration
(including cognates). Students may elect this option for at most one course in
any one department. Before signing this form, please be sure to investigate all
possible implications: á
This form is due to
the Registrar's Office on or before Friday of eighth week of the quarter during
which Credit\No Credit is a course registration option. á
Once declared a
Credit\No Credit course, the course cannot be converted back to a letter-graded
course. á
Declaration of a
course as Credit\No Credit makes the student ineligible for the Dean's List
consideration for that quarter. á
Many graduate schools
and professional institutions may not accept Credit\No Credit graded coursework
in subjects related to an intended program of study. á
Students may retake a
CR/NC option for a letter grade. á
The course will not
satisfy prerequisites for those course sequences that require a "C- or
better." á
The course will not satisfy
the last course in the language requirement (103 or 201) or any of the Shared
Passages Seminar requirements. Participation Good participation means one
actively and candidly contributes to the conversation, while also being
supportive of oneÕs peers. It means one is following what is going on and is a
constructive presence to the goings-on of the class. It means, quite simply,
that one contributes to a positive class atmosphere. Along those lines, an important
note about critiques: we criticize the work, not the person making the work. Note:
this applies to either in-person or when we meet on-line (if need be). Diversity
and Inclusion With
our time spent together in this course, we will make a conscious effort to
ensure that all participants feel welcomed and encouraged to participate.
Hurtful comments based on ethnicity, religion, physical appearance, sexual
orientation, national origin, and/or socioeconomic status will not be
tolerated. Creating personal artwork can cause one to be vulnerable—we,
in this course, will endeavor always to treat each other with respect and
regard one anotherÕs artistic production seriously. Text and Readings There is no required textbook for this
class—I will provide handouts or links to websites as needed. Land Acknowledgement We
gather on the land of the Council of the Three Fires—the Ojibwe, the
Odawa, and the Potawatomi. Indigenous nations of the Great Lakes region are
also known as the Anishinaabe (Ah-nish-nah-bay), or original people, and their
language is Anishinaabemowin (Ah-nish-nah-bay-mow-in). We acknowledge the
enduring relationship that exists between the People of the Three Fires and
this land. Accommodation If you
are a student with a disability who seeks accommodation or other assistance in
this course, please let me know as soon as possible. Kalamazoo
College is committed to making every effort to providing reasonable
accommodations. If you want to discuss your overall needs for accommodation at
the College, please direct your questions to the office of Associate Dean of
Students. For more information, please seeÉ https://www.kzoo.edu/student-life/students-with-disabilities/ Lab Fee and Costs The lab fee for this course was
rescinded. Lecture,
Computers, and Lab Time For the fall term, I am devising
this class to function on-campus, in-person. However, due to the fact that
rooms must be held to 70% capacity, things will continue to be something other
than normal. While we can have up to ten people in the room at one time, it
makes more sense to simply cut the class in half. Therefore, IÕll be splitting
the class into two groups of seven or eight. The first group will arrive at
8:45 AM, meet for an hour, and then depart. After ten or fifteen minutes, the second
group will convene at 10:00 AM to also meet for an hour. Materials
will be provided ahead of time (via Moodle)—please look this over prior
to your class meeting time so that we can make the most of our reduced time
together. Since many of you might like the chance for the later start, IÕll
switch the meeting time for the two groups halfway through the term (so that
the second group may also enjoy the later start time). While IÕm not expecting it, if we
must return to on-line instruction, we would meet synchronously via MS Teams. As
with my schedule during the last year, in the midst of the pandemic, IÕve tried
to make our schedule as regular as possible so that itÕs easy to remember when
things are due, etc. WeÕll be meeting in Light Fine
Arts room 122; there youÕll find fifteen iMacs with the latest Adobe software.
(To reinforce the lower capacity of this rather small lab, some of these computers
may be covered and disconnected—if so, please respect this arrangement.) If access to building and our
particular room line up with normal practice, you will have access between 7:00
AM throughout the day till 1:00 AM—except for any organized class times.
For example: my other class, Framing Difference, meets in this same room
Tuesday and Thursday afternoons from 12:30 to 3:30 PM. Equipment and Supplies A digital single lens reflex (or
new mirrorless) camera is ideal for this course, but others may be used in a
pinch. There are DSLRs for check out in the Center for New Media (first floor
of library), and I have one or two to loan out as well. You may need to
purchase a portable hard drive to save your work from this quarter, if you
donÕt already own one. Tripods may be checked out from Curricular Support, also
found on the first floor of the library. Assignments—In General Assignments must be turned-in on time. Each
assignment will require that you shoot a minimum of a hundred or so digital
files, create a rough edit of twenty to thirty images, and finally produce, on
average, eight final digital images. (Assignments range from four to twelve
images each.) Regarding final digital image quality: these should contain a
full-range of tones and straightforward color as a default. Avoid cropping as
much as possible—keep close to full frame so I can see how you compose
things in the viewfinder. And in terms of concept—assignments are open,
but directed. ItÕs really good to kick your ideas around with others—your
classmates, roommates, or myself. Do this before, during, and after your
shooting. Assignments—In Particular Assignment One (an ungraded exercise plus a
six-image series) Technical Exercise: this
portion of the assignment is to show that you have a grasp of the basic
controls of your camera (shutter and aperture) and the effects they provide
when used in combination (time and focus). Please give me four images—one
each from this list of four effects: blurred action, frozen action, shallow
depth-of-field, and great depth-of-field. For those of us using a phone-camera,
this exercise may be a difficult chore; this exercise will not be graded. Assignment—Sense of Place: document
your existence, where you are, during this strange and extraordinary time. You
could do interiors, details, or both, to show us where you physically find
yourself. Avoid portraits for now as we will focus on that later. Take many
images (30 or more), but edit down to a six-image series to turn in. (Note: a
series can be shuffled—weÕll look at what a sequence is with the next
assignment.) Assignment Two (eight images) Narrative Sequence: tell
a story of some kind by turning a series
into a sequence (order-specific.) While
we still may be somewhat limited during this time, in terms of where we can go
to shoot, put some images into a sequence to impart a narrative (keep it simple).
Please give me eight digital images with this assignment. Assignment Three (eight images) Portraits—other people or yourself (self-portraits):
if you have willing subjects available, take some meaningful
images of these people. The pictures can be carefully posed (directorial) or
candid (non-invasive, objective observer). You might look up the concept of
Òenvironmental portraitÓ for this assignment (this refers to the subjectÕs
surroundings, not necessarily the natural environment). An alternate assignment—Light &
Form: using anything but people as subject matter (as
persons or bodies may be used in the portrait assignment), I want you to give
me eight photographs that explore light and composition via form. To get
you started, IÕd like you to think about the idea of continuum, from whole, to
fragmented, to abstracted. You might try moving in on your subjects
here—this will fragment, or even abstract, what you are looking at. Concurrently,
please pay attention to the quality of light. Do not, however, shoot light
sources themselves, but observe how light defines the physical world (reveals
and/or conceals). In either case (portraits or light &
form), please give me eight digital images. Assignment Four (ten to twelve images total) Open Project with Artist Statement + Structured
Reflection: this assignment is open to you, but please
run your idea by me first; we will also discuss ideas as a group. Please make
your final project consist of ten to twelve images with the supportive written
document, for which I will give you a handout. |