The students in this course are to learn the basics of 35mm camera operation. They will also learn black and white film processing and printing.

Life is like a good black and white photograph, there's black, there's white, and lots of shades in between. ~Karl Heiner

The purpose of the course is to familiarize the students with the use of the camera and the darkroom, as their means to a creative communicative visual language tool. The course covers the study of the camera, film, lens, and exposure, light, and composition, developing and printing as well as the history and aesthetics of photography.

Course Outline Download :: CD Level 1 Gallery One :: Two :: Reference Links :: Archive

The Darkroom

The students must do all darkroom work themselves. It is not permissible to use a commercial lab for the darkroom work. We have limited amount of space and equipment in the darkroom. In order for you to get the maximum advantage of what is available, be considerate of other working students. Be patient, and help one another when you can. NO food, drinks, smoking & music appliances are allowed inside. Watch your personal belongings at all times. Do not leave your photo paper inside. Please help maintain the cleanliness, if you spill a tray or drip Hypo or developers on the floor or the work counter clean it up.

Assignments ::.

1.Light, Shadows, Lines, and Shapes

Students are required to photograph the various qualities of light, shadows, lines and shapes in a scene.  You are to search for patterns, as well as lines and shapes that give direction and structure. Compositional issues are addressed as well as how lines can create strong visual effects. Shadows are the key to the quality and direction of light and in turn, how the impression of form is created in an image. Students are encouraged to learn to see how and where the shadows fall, how sharp their edges are and how dense they are. This will lead them to have a clear understanding of how the lighting affects their subject and how they might best control it. Lines are ever-present in a photograph and can suggest moods and rhythm create patterns, indicate directions and structure.  Students are asked to observe closely and think critically about how the lines, shapes, and shadows they find in their viewfinder serve as a strong visual force that pulls their eye around in the composition they have chosen.

Photography takes an instant out of time, altering life by holding it still

~ Dorothea Lange                                                                 

2. Photogram (in the darkroom)

This assignment is to help you learn how to make an image on photographic paper without the aid of a camera. The purpose of the assignment is also to familiarize students with the darkroom facilities and equipment. A photogram is a contact print made by placing something opaque or translucent on light-sensitive material. This blocks some of the light, resulting in a pattern or image on the photographic paper (light-sensitive material) when it is exposed to light and processed.

Material Required:

Sheets of photographic paper may be used as the light-sensitive material. You are to select objects with varying levels of translucency, carefully chosen for their shape, texture, and size, to block out the light. Things that have interesting shapes can be arranged in interesting patterns. The possibilities are endless, and the following are some suggested materials:

::. Dried flowers and leaves
::. Toothpicks, pins, other small objects
::. Seeds, marbles, beads
::. Household objects and tools
::. Glassware, lenses
::. Plastic (objects, crumpled sheets)
::. Sand, salt, sugar etc.
::. String, hair, thread, wire
::. Crumpled tissue paper
::. Paper cut-outs, lace
::. Montage negatives
::. Overhead transparencies
::. Drawings on plastic, glass or tracing paper
::. Use your hands to form interesting shapes
::. Arrange thinly sliced fruit
::. Flashlight pen size (with a cone of black chart paper to control the shape and size of the beam)
::. Small animals or insects

The Darkroom and the Rules to Follow ::.

Producing prints calls for wide-ranging handling of light sensitive photographic paper, and processing in developing trays, a darkroom is therefore essential. The three most basic central features it requires are: light-leak proof, plumbing and electricity supplies and adequate ventilation. The best way to check how effectively your room is blacked out is to stand in the room on a bright day, allowing five to ten minutes for your eyes to adjust to the dark. Slight beams of light will then be very evident and can be sealed over with black paper or tape. Try to organize your work area into clearly separated DRY (paper, enlarger, negatives, and power-supply) and WET (dishes, chemicals, hot and cold water) zones. This is essential to avoid wet finger marks and chemical stains on prints, negatives and equipment. Equally you must adopt the discipline of rinsing and drying your hands each time you change from a wet operation to a dry one.

::. Each student will leave each workstation in clean condition and neat order.
::. The last person to leave a work session is responsible for cleaning the lab, turning off all lights, turning off water, and locking the door.

Cleaning the darkroom means ::.

::. Returning all chemicals to their containers or disposing of them if they are exhausted.
::. Rinsing all trays, tanks, reels and beakers used. Rinsing down the entire sink.
::. Sponging off all counters.
::. Mopping the floor.

::. Never leave the darkroom alone with water running.
::. Washing and drying film and prints are the responsibility of each student.
::. Never turn on the white light in the darkroom without every current user's permission.
::. Respect other people's work in the darkroom.
::. Dry prints may be taken off dry screens or drying-line and placed in your personal print box.
::. Care must be taken to not damage school's valuable and limited equipment and MATERIALS.

Course Reference Links ::.

http://www.jennifershaw.net/index.html ::. When I go walking with my camera, the act of seeing becomes a process of emotional intuition, and these pictures serve as evidence of the strange and wonderful things I find. Most of the work presented here was created in New Orleans, my adopted hometown. It is, in part, a document of a fascinating city. It is also a personal exploration of the world I inhabit and a search for the sublime.

http://www.nickbrandt.com/popup.html ::. "The photographs of Nick Brandt are both beautiful and haunting. They come upon you in a flush of abundance that is almost impossible to recover from.... You are about to enter a world of the imagination where all the animals are real, both fragile and full of grace."

http://www.romanloranc.com/photographs.html ::. Loranc shapes the photo from start to finish. He operates a 4x5 Linhof field camera, shoots the majority of his photographs with a 210mm Nikkor lens, using Kodak's classic Tri-X film, and hand prints his negatives on multigrade fiber paper. The innate drama of the landscapes is reproduced through a variable split-toning (sepia and selenium) technique. All the printing, spotting, and archival mounting are done by the photographer.

http://www.anitaandrzejewska.netlin.pl/fotografie.html ::. anita andrzejewska fotografia | photographs

http://www.barnbaum.com/imagery.html ::. Bruce Barnbaum: His photography expands upon the dynamics he finds in both nature and the works of man, relating forces to the sweeping forms that dominate his vivid imagery.

http://www.88.com/exposure/lowrez_i.htm ::. Welcome to EXPOSURE, this site was created to explain the concepts of modern photography. Total beginners and amateurs alike should find something of interest. You are highly recommended to check out the SIM-Cam a virtual camera to learn with.

http://library.thinkquest.org/11355/html/edindex2.htm ::. Expand your knowledge about photography. Whether you are an amateur or a professional studio photographer, you should find this information useful and intriguing. Continue on and see what the world of photography is all about.

http://home.earthlink.net/~chernewski/cubist.html ::. Photographer Anita Chernewski’s photogram's well worth a visit to look at.

http://www.galleryprint.com/micevski/curtains.html ::. Goran Micevski: “In my work I am trying to discover the material’s level of transparency. The technique of the photogram”....

http://www.sausage.boom.ru ::. Have a peek at black and white photography at its best, diverse subject matter.

http://members.aol.com/domesgrace ::. Cece Wheeler the photographer takes ordinary household objects and photographs them in such a way, that they appear graceful and magically beautiful.

http://www.kodak.com/global/en/consumer/pictureTaking ::. Welcome to Kodak's Guide To Better Pictures. This is a great reference site which you could refer to for as long as you are in this field of learning photography.

http://www.rhinn.com/ ::. Gérard RHINN’s black & white photographic works are probably the best examples for your assignments requirements. If this guy was in your class he would most certainly get an “A”.

http://www4.tpg.com.au/users/purdy ::. Susan Purdy’s photograms: This technique of image making requires a light source be passed through the white flowers to record their pellucid forms on light sensitive paper.

http://www.josefhoflehner.com/portfolios.html ::. "Josef Hoflehner takes a landscape and turns it into art" - Elizabeth Roberts, Black & White Photography Magazine, UK

http://www.marioabbatepaolo.com/index.html ::. Mario Abbatepaolo was born in Polignano a Mare, Italy, a small town near Bari. His artistic background includes studies at the Istituto Statale d'Arte in Bari . There he specialized in design and fine art ceramics. In Italy, he also worked as a graphic designer. Later, in New York, he studied at the International Center of Photography.

http://www.billschwab.com/index.html ::. Born in Detroit, Michigan in 1959, Bill Schwab’s fascination with photography began at an early age. With a Kodak Brownie and a home darkroom kit received as a gift from his father, he taught himself to process film and contact print at age twelve.

http://www.michaelkenna.net/html/index2.php4 ::. Simply one of the best Master black and white photographers around.

http://www.f45.com/html/mainfram.html ::. Art is an expression of life that transcends both time and space.  We must explore our own souls through art to give a new form and a new meaning to the nature of the world. Photography is my chosen medium to project my inner vision into the world, to state in aesthetic creation the deepest psychic and personal experiences of my being.  The creation of a photograph is the unfolding of the personality, the deepening of the personal dimension of the soul. There is a certain point in time, where the harmony of light, atmosphere, and spirit collide, a place in the cosmos where the rhythm of nature unfolds in front of the camera.  This can only happen once. I hope my fortuitous images bring to you the wonder I have seen.