Thoughts for Quarter One

During the first weeks of the quarter, we will learn how to describe, analyze and reflect upon both historical and contemporary photographs. As we evaluate subject matter, symbols and ideas we will learn how to put that evaluation into words.

This process will lead us down the path to discovering our own vision. Working on our photographic vision is something that never really ends; we should always be looking to evolve it. In his fabulous book, Within The Frame: The Journey of Photographic Vision, photographer David duCemin states, "Vision is the beginning and end of photography. It's the thing that moves you to pick up the camera, and it determines what you look at and what you see when you do. It determines how you shoot and why. Without vision, the photographer perishes."

Then, we will (finally!) get our hands on our cameras. As a class, we may be using a variety of camera models, nonetheless we will all come to learn the core functionality that applies across all of our cameras.

What's next? PhotoShop and SlideRocket. PhotoShop will enable us to tune and adjust our images and SlideRocket will be our presentation tool. Yes, we will be doing presentations.

Throughout the quarter, we will write and reflect about our observations and experiences and, we will also start blogging