#2 - The Physicality of Photography & Exercising Photographic Limitations

DUE: Photos posted to blog by 1:30pm Tuesday Sept. 7

DUE: Comment on at least two students post by the beginning of class (1:30pm) on Thursday Sept. 9

Part 1:

The act of photographing is and should be physical, sometimes extremely physical. It's not enough to simply point your lens at your subject, you must learn to interact with your subject, regardless of what that subject is. This means you have to be willing to move around your subject in order to view it from different perspectives while at the same time taking into account the background as you move. You must be willing to kneel or even lay on your stomach and at times you will need to find something to stand on so you can look down on your subject. You must all learn to move in close, painfully and awkwardly close!

Here is a short video featuring photographer Sean Tucker. In it he talks about the importance of walking around and being physically present in the space you are photographing.

Using your camera in Program or Automatic mode complete the following list of Photographic Exercises. Do not combine the exercises, fulfill each one independently.

Select a subject that is off in the distance. As you walk towards that subject make a series of photographs of that subject at different distances. Feel free to photograph other subjects as you are walking towards it as well.
Find an object or person that you want to photograph. Create an image of your selected subject. Move closer and make another image. Now move in even closer and make a third image. Continue moving closer to your subject making images until your lens will no longer focus on your subject.
Create a series of images where you are only looking up.
Create a series of images where you are only looking down.
Create a series of images where you must crawl under or into something to create the images. For example crawl under a table, desk or chair.
Find a subject. Place your selected subject in one of the corners of your viewfinder and make that photograph. Now repeat three more times using the same subject and placing it in the other three corners of the viewfinder.

Select (2) images from exercises #1-5 and all (4) images from exercise #6. Post these 14 images to the blog making sure to label the images with the exercise #. After posting your images, comment on at least two other students posts. Your comments should include whether or not you think the photographs are successful and how the student might improve their images if they were to take them a second time. You could also discuss how the student could be more creative or aggressive when making photographs.

Some students in the past have asked me to more clearly define what I mean when I say "Create a Series of Images." I don't have specific numbers to give you exactly, but I can more is generally better. For this particular assignment I would say a series would be approx. 24 different photos per series.

Part 2:

Please continue to use those skills for the next series of exercises, but these will focus more on photographic limitations. As I mentioned in class, limitations are part of life and certainly part of the photographic process. Some limitations are applied naturally and other are because the photographer has elected to photograph in a very specific manner.

With your cameras once again set in the Program or Auto Mode complete the following list of exercises. If I ask for a series of images, I would expect approx. 24 different images or so for each series. These numbers represent the number of frames for an analog 35mm film camera and so I find that is a good place to start.

Something Out of Nothing - Create 50 different images of a park bench. (You must photograph the same bench and not different benches.) You may elect to go back to that bench at different times of the day or night.
Alphabetography - Take the first letter of your first and last names. Create a series of images by locating object, lines, shapes, shadows, etc... in your environment that look like those letters (both upper and lower cases are acceptable.) Your letters can be found in both natural and man-made forms. DO NOT photograph actual letters on signage or elsewhere. Allow other objects to create the letters. The two letters do not need to appear in the same photograph.
Hula Hoop - Have a friend take you by the hand or drive you to a location of their choice (not yours!) Have them place you in a specific spot (imagine a circle the size of a hula hoop) now create a series of photographs in that exact location without moving beyond the imaginary hula hood.
The Human Eye - Select a subject and use only your 50mm lens to create a series of images of that subject. Now repeat it one more time, but with a different subject.
Tick-Tock - Set the timer on your phone for 10 mins. Get in a car and drive or begin walking. When the timer goes off, stop and evaluate your surroundings. Now, create a series of photographs. Repeat this process 2 more times.

Select (2-4) images from exercises #1-5. Post these 10-20 images to the blog making sure to label the images with the exercise #. After posting your images, comment on at least two other students posts. Your comments should include whether or not you think the photographs are successful and how the student might improve their images if they were to take them a second time. You could also discuss how the student could be more creative or aggressive when making photographs.

Here are a few examples from a few of the worlds greatest photographers showing how they worked and navigated their working environment.