Week 9 Wrap-Up

Luca Locatelli

Hi Everybody,

I was really glad to see everyone today and to know that you're all holding up despite the extraordinariness of our current situation.

To recap some of what we discussed:

•  For most of you, your photo series topics will have changed. For some of you, this means adapting your topic to the objects or people in your home. For others, you may now be doing a Before/After series, using your original series a s a starting point to show how life has changed since social distancing. Some of you might be starting something entirely new.
• Use this week to keep shooting and to work through what your new series will look like. Shoot everyday. If you are staying indoors, I recommend getting up before everyone else in your household, at a time of day you normally aren't awake. This can help you see your surroundings with fresh eyes and may help give you some new ideas.
• We will be meeting (via Zoom) during our regular class time next week to look at what you shot and to give you some suggestions and direction for how to continue and complete your series over the next two weeks.
• Before next Saturday: Upload your photos to the Google Drive 2nd Critique folder (I'll send the link to you in an email). 20+ Photos. This should be a combination of your new photos along with any Pre-Quarantine series photos we haven't seen 
• Start working on a self-portrait. There are a lot of ways to approach this, and not every portrait is a portrait of a face. 

That's it for classwork--I'm here if you have any questions or if you want to touch base about how to proceed with your series. Just drop me an email.

In the meantime, National Geographic posted an essay about what some of their photographers who are stuck in quarantine are working on. Take a look here:

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/2020/03/these-photos-capture-a-world-paused-by-coronavirus/#close

See you next week!

Class Update - Please Read

Gary He

Hi Everybody,

I've been sharing information and updates with you about class via email. If you haven't received anything from me, please reach out to me via email at dyerj at newschool dot edu.

Class is resuming (in a virtual setting) on Saturday, March 28th and I will be sharing a link for access via email later this week.

Please be in touch ASAP if you haven't received anything from me. In the meantime, please check out this photo essay by Gary He documenting the effects of the pandemic on the restaurant scene in NYC:
https://ny.eater.com/2020/3/20/21187881/coronavirus-nyc-restaurant-bars-photos

"See" you all soon.

Trying to Write an Artist Statement...

Artist Statements: Helpful Resources

Pierre Louis Pierson, Portrait of Comtesse de Castiglone, c. 1863/66

Feeling stumped about how to write your artist statement? Here are some helpful resources:

• How to Write the Perfect Artists Statement
• On Statements
• How to Write About Your Photographs

Photoshop, GIMP, and Photo Editing at Home

Steven Klein

If you are interested in doing more advanced photo editing at home or after the end of semester, there are a number of great options open to you:

Photoshop is now on available as a subscription-based photo bundle for $10 per month here.
There is a 30-day free trial, so if you are considering this route, be sure to do the trial first.

There is also an extremely simplified version of Photoshop with just the most basic tools called Photoshop Elements. It generally comes bundled with the software that comes with Wacom Tablets or some printers and scanners.

Another great alternative to Photoshop that many photographers prefer is Lightroom. It is made by the same company as Photoshop, but is designed for photographers who may not need all of the advanced retouching and compositing functions available in photoshop. It's also a lot less expensive.
The student-priced version can be found here.

If you aren't interested in buying software, a popular option is GIMP, which is available for free download here: http://www.gimp.org. There are free tutorials here: http://www.gimp.org/tutorials/

There are a lot of Photoshop and basic photo editing tutorials online. By far, the best are found on Lynda.com. It's a pay-membership site, but they've made quite a bit of their content available for free on their Youtube channel, found here.

This should get you started! If you have any suggestions or recommendations, please leave a comment.

Photoshop and Camera Raw Tutorials

Hi Everyone!

Here are a couple of basic Photoshop tutorials for your. Don't worry if you don't fully understand them--we will go over the material again in the coming weeks. Please write down any questions you have or if there is anything especially unclear.

Camera Raw Workflow:




Photoshop CC Interface:

Week 7 Wrap-Up

Aida Muluneh, Strength in Honor, 2016

Hi Everyone,

Today, we dug deeper into the Photoshop workflow, looking at basic adjustments and simple retouching. Please click on the "How-To" tab to find more information and options for retouching your photos outside of class.

Next week is our second critique. You will be showing 20 new images related to your series. We will have a little bit of time at the start of class to organize images and to revisit Photoshop. Please be sure to bring all of your files (as well as a hard drive or USB drive).

On to this week's homework:

• Firstly (and most importantly), concentrate on shooting for your project and next week's critique.
• Secondly, use this week to complete and post any homework assignments you may have missed. I will be getting in touch before next class with a short midterm review. If you have any questions about the homework, or aren't sure of how to complete an assignment related to a class you may have missed, email me and we'll sort it out. Not sure if you missed an assignment? Click on the homework tab to see all of the weekly assignments or click on your label to se everything you've posted.
• Finally, email me a preliminary artist Statement, roughly 1 paragraph. Keep in mind this is a first draft and isn't expected to be perfect or anywhere near resolved.

That's all for this week. Please let me know if you have any questions, and see you next Saturday!

Photo x Styling Processed Selects

Found here:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/anxarbqy98z7o0t/AAAGDXTaLgg8aSyfx_HdcV6xa?dl=0