Is It Really A Photography Class? – Final Thoughts
In my last three posts, I have been discussing a local university’s basic photography class and my opinion of the mandatory use of film in the class.
I have pointed out the following:
- The cost and expense of film.
- The instant feedback that digital provides.
- Use of the camera as a teaching tool.
- The stifling of creativity that can come with film.
- The fact that the future is digital.
Here is a copy of the course from page 102 in the online CSUSB catalog:
290. Photography I
Fundamentals of black and white photography including manual camera operation, black and white film developing and printing. Emphasis on composition, content and image-making for creative expression. Two hours lecture and six hours laboratory. Formerly ART 390. Materials fee required. (5 units)
According to the catalog, Photography I is the first class that a photography art student has to take to continue with photography at CSUSB and according to the description the emphasis is on composition, content and image making for creative expression.
This is the first photography class that a student takes in the art department and it should be geared toward making students better photographers. The first class in any subject should hook the students. It should make them want to take the next class and the next class and the next class.
When I teach biology, my purpose is not only to cover the subject matter, but to do it in a way that makes the kids want to learn more about the subject. I do that using whatever I can find that captures the imagination of the kids. That same passion should be found in ALL educational settings. Technology is one of the tools that is available to the university to do that with photography.
The history of any passion is important. To know where it comes from determines where it is headed. The history of an art allows the students to see what has been done so that they experiment with what was done and discover what hasn’t been done, making it their own. But you don’t have to know how to develop black & white film in order to learn photography. As a matter of fact, with today’s technology, black & white film hinders the process.
But if you’re going to teach B&W, why stop at “traditional”? Why not daguerreotype? Or calotype? Are you going to teach dodging and burning? NO. Why not? Because the teacher needs spend time teaching students how to develop film instead of how to master their camera.
Beginning students should learn how to capture their vision. They need to learn that if you change the aperture, you change the depth of field and how that can be used to bring attention to your subject. They need to learn how to use the shutter speed to show time; slow speeds allow motion into the image and a fast shutter speed freezes the action and allows the viewer to see things that they can’t see with their naked eye.
Beginning students should be able to see the relationship between ISO, shutter speed, and aperture. They should learn how lowering one causes the other two change and you can change one and determine which of the other you want to change and how it affects the image.
They need to learn how to use aperture priority and shutter priority and that each of those modes have advantages and limits. They need to learn how to frame a shot and why one composition works better than others. And they need to learn to see the light in the scene and how to capture the image that the see in their vision.
How are they supposed to do that when they are limited to 36 exposures that they have to focus on developing, printing, and then trying to remember what they did in camera that is different from the last shot? By using digital, they can get that feedback after each shot. They can compare shots with other students and examine EXIF data for ways to improve their images.
Finally, digital is the future. It has surpassed the quality of film a long time ago and film companies have either gone out of business or have stopped making many of the traditional films. Why? Because almost no one uses film any more.
I think that a beginning photography class at the university level has to embrace technology. It has to allow the students to learn with the best tools available at the time. Film is not it.
Again, I welcome your comments and thoughts.
