DIGITAL STUDIO: DIGITAL MEDIA AND A NEW PHOTOGRAPHIC DOCUMENT
COLUMBIA COLLEGE CHICAGO - SPRING 2008

Wednesday, 8:30 - 12:20, room 1103, 600 S. Michigan

WELCOME TO DIGITAL STUDIO

This page will be your main resource for materials for this class. There are downloadable handouts regarding assignments and instruction as well as the syllabus below.

 

MY APPROACH

This course encourages students to rethink (a) the medium of photography, (b) the photograph as truth, and (c) the meaning of the term `document' as it relates to photography, new media and digital practices. Students are asked to consider new approaches to interpreting the world around them through artistic and meaningful uses of the digital photographic medium. Attention will be focused on the idea of “the manipulated document” and non-traditional ways of presenting photography that bear witness to the state of the world around us. Class time will include advanced technical instruction in Adobe Photoshop, discussions of existing professional artwork, and exploration of strategies for using new photographic media to help us understand our world. Students are expected to develop a single project over the course of the semester and show work for critique every two weeks.

This is not a documentary class. This course aims to blur the distinction between documentary photography and conceptual art.

 

 

DOWNLOADS

SYLLABUS

• Syllabus for Digital Studio: Digital Media and a New Photographic Document, Spring 2008.

ASSIGNMENTS

• Artist Presentation Guidelines
• Project Proposals
• Writing an Artist's Statement

INSTRUCTIONAL

• Digital Workflow
• Digital Jargon
• Keyboard Shortcuts
• Resolution
• Blending Modes
• Setting White, Black and Neutral Points
• Advanced Sharpening (hi resolution print version)
• Advance Sharpening (low resolution screen version)

PATHS

Use the two JPEG images below to practice using Paths (Pen Tool). Trace the outlined logos as best you can to create a vector graphic. Start with Viacom, then move to the Coca Cola logo when you feel more comfortable.

• Viacom Path (less difficult)
• Coca Cola Path (more difficult)

MATERIAL FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS WORKING IN PUBLIC SPACES

Photographer's Rights PDF

A very helpful single sheet printout written by Bert P. Krages II, a lawyer who specializes in this type of law. Print this out and keep it in your camera bag if you photograph in public spaces. If someone gives you a hard time for photographing in a place you know you have a right to be, this may help you out (but these days it may not).

Photographer's Rights Letter to NPPA

A more in-depth, and perhaps more official, document written by Kurt Wimmer and John Blevins of Covington & Burling to the National Press Photographers Association in August of 2005. The letter outlines very specifically the rights of journalists on public streets. A good document to have both a digital and a hard copy of somewhere handy.