Advanced Art Photography Assignments
Project 1: Still Life of EPIC PROPORTIONS!- due August 25
Let's go NUTS! With objects! It's a still life project of EPIC PROPORTIONS!
You will also be given a daily still life objective that will culminate in everyone collaborating on a massive daily still life. Maybe it'll be in my room, maybe in the hallway, maybe it'll be outdoors, maybe it'll be in someone else's classroom. You will all have to put your heads together and figure out it's final location.
Day 1: Glass
Day 2: Natural materials
Day 3: Toys
Day 4: "Traditional/Classic" Still Life arrangement
Day 5- 8: Massive still life building (photographing as you go)
You will also be given a daily still life objective that will culminate in everyone collaborating on a massive daily still life. Maybe it'll be in my room, maybe in the hallway, maybe it'll be outdoors, maybe it'll be in someone else's classroom. You will all have to put your heads together and figure out it's final location.
Day 1: Glass
Day 2: Natural materials
Day 3: Toys
Day 4: "Traditional/Classic" Still Life arrangement
Day 5- 8: Massive still life building (photographing as you go)
Project 2: The Obscured Face- due September 7th
Who are you? Are you the person people think you are, or do you hide your "true" identity behind a metaphorical mask? How much of yourself do you reveal to others? What's behind your walls?
Whether you choose to openly reveal or to maintain your secrets, your identity is one of your more precious possessions. In this era of digital information sharing and hyper surveillance, our private self becomes more and more a public self.
Portrait photography makes this unspoken claim to reveal the inner self. Do you agree? How do we know that? What happens when you hide the information that the face presents? Is it still a portrait? Consider these questions when you investigate creative ways to hide the face.
For inspiration-
Mummenschanz
Nick Cave
365 Layers of Makeup
Whether you choose to openly reveal or to maintain your secrets, your identity is one of your more precious possessions. In this era of digital information sharing and hyper surveillance, our private self becomes more and more a public self.
Portrait photography makes this unspoken claim to reveal the inner self. Do you agree? How do we know that? What happens when you hide the information that the face presents? Is it still a portrait? Consider these questions when you investigate creative ways to hide the face.
For inspiration-
Mummenschanz
Nick Cave
365 Layers of Makeup
Project 3: Surrealism- due September 29
sur·re·al·ism
noun
noun: surrealism
The Surrealist movement grew from the Dada movement, which before WWI made works of "anti-art" that intentionally defied reason. Surrealism wasn't necessarily about countering and contradicting art, but more of a reaction against what its members witnessed as the destruction created by the "rationalism" that guided European culture and politics at the time and culminated in WWI. According to Surrealist poet André Breton, who published The Surrealist Manifesto in 1924, Surrealism was a means of reuniting conscious and unconscious realms of experience so completely that the world of dream and fantasy would be joined to the everyday rational world in “an absolute reality, a surreality.” This attempt to connect the conscious and unconscious worlds was adapted from Sigmund Freud. Tapping into the unconscious became a way to access more imaginative imagery and ideas.
For this project, I'd like you to investigate the ideas of the Surrealist movement, through in camera photography or Photoshop montage.
noun
noun: surrealism
- a 20th-century avant-garde movement in art and literature which sought to release the creative potential of the unconscious mind, for example by the irrational juxtaposition of images.
The Surrealist movement grew from the Dada movement, which before WWI made works of "anti-art" that intentionally defied reason. Surrealism wasn't necessarily about countering and contradicting art, but more of a reaction against what its members witnessed as the destruction created by the "rationalism" that guided European culture and politics at the time and culminated in WWI. According to Surrealist poet André Breton, who published The Surrealist Manifesto in 1924, Surrealism was a means of reuniting conscious and unconscious realms of experience so completely that the world of dream and fantasy would be joined to the everyday rational world in “an absolute reality, a surreality.” This attempt to connect the conscious and unconscious worlds was adapted from Sigmund Freud. Tapping into the unconscious became a way to access more imaginative imagery and ideas.
For this project, I'd like you to investigate the ideas of the Surrealist movement, through in camera photography or Photoshop montage.
Project 4: Foodie Culture- due October 13
For this assignment, I want you to think about food and all of the cultural associations and social customs associated with food and eating, and the pleasure of the stuff itself. You will style, light, and photograph your chosen food product in a way that closely resembles contemporary food photography.
Project 5: Revisiting Art History- due November 3
For this assignment, I want you to find an inspiring work of art and recreate it, keeping the composition and lighting as similar as possible to the original, but feel free to improvise and add your own interpretation to the original image. You're welcome to be as serious or as comical as you like.
As part of this assignment, you will create a Google Slide "inspiration board" with art historical images you might attempt to recreate. You will also include notes on costumes, props, lighting, and models. This Google Slide will be turned in in your Google Drive folder for this assignment (do not turn it in on Google Classroom).
For more inspiration:
Films that borrow from art history
More examples
Even more examples!
As part of this assignment, you will create a Google Slide "inspiration board" with art historical images you might attempt to recreate. You will also include notes on costumes, props, lighting, and models. This Google Slide will be turned in in your Google Drive folder for this assignment (do not turn it in on Google Classroom).
For more inspiration:
Films that borrow from art history
More examples
Even more examples!
Project 6: I Spy!- due November 10
For this project, you will create an "I Spy" composition using a collection of small objects. Some things to consider...
How should they be arranged- in a pattern or in a cluster?
Will they be presented flat, or in a 3D assemblage?
Will it be color coded or arranged?
Will it be photographed, or scanned?
Will it be a themed collection- what is that theme?
How should they be arranged- in a pattern or in a cluster?
Will they be presented flat, or in a 3D assemblage?
Will it be color coded or arranged?
Will it be photographed, or scanned?
Will it be a themed collection- what is that theme?
Project 7: Macro Worlds- due November 17
This assignment will require you to use a macro lens to capture small details. Find a suitable interesting object to explore up close.
Project 8: Sphere- due December 1
Explore the concept of altered and inverted imagery through crystal spheres. Think about the impact of exploring foreground/background interaction.
Project 9: Texture Overlay- due December 8
Create TWO images: One that combines an original photograph with a texture layer that you create. The texture image will be handmade through collage and painting techniques.
Project 10: Photoshop- Geometric Shapes & Color Palette- due January 12
For this assignment you will be creating two Photoshop images; one that uses a drawn geometric form as part of the composition and one that features a creative palette of key colors within the image.
Project 11: Zoom Burst- due January 19
Using a slower shutter speed of approximately 1/4 of a second, zoom in or out of your composition. You will likely need to practice this effect multiple times before achieving an image that works.
Project 12: Blur, Distortion, and Glitch- due January 30
Typically, technical accidents that occur during the process of photographing an image are usually thought of as mistakes and discarded/erased/forgotten. For this assignment, I want you to not only embrace the mistakes, but go out of your way to produce them. You'll be turning in a collection of 12 different "experiments" in your Google drive folder and selecting the best one to add to your online portfolio.
There are a number of different ways to achieve this-
Some fun stuff to get you started:
Glitch Experiment
MOSH
Bitmap Sorter
There are a number of different ways to achieve this-
- Purposeful blurring by using a longer shutter speed and moving the camera rapidly or using the camera zoom while the shutter is open(Since it's easier to show you how to do this- please enjoy this moderately cheesy video explanation)
- Moving images/objects while scanning (you'd have to use a computer scanner for this, obviously)
- Using glitch apps like the ones below.
Some fun stuff to get you started:
Glitch Experiment
MOSH
Bitmap Sorter
Project 13: Plastic Bag- due February 8
You will be provided with a selection of the finest plastic bags to use creatively in a photograph.
Project 14: Written- due February 22
I spend a lot of time thinking about what photographic images tell us. An image can hold complex layers of meaning. When the written word is added to an image, it asks us to slow down and spend time with an image. For this assignment, you have a choice of two strategies. You can either carefully consider a passage of text to include in a photograph and make a new image with that text, or you may add text after the image has been made. Whatever strategy you choose, you need to let the text supplement the image, not explain or rehash what the rest of the image tells us.
Project 15: White Elephant/Random Object- due March 8
Instructions: You will select an item or collection of items that must be used creatively in a photograph. The purpose it to transform these objects into something extraordinary. DO NOT use the object as it was originally intended unless you do it with comical exaggeration.
Project 16 & 17: Contrasts
You will be making 2 images for this project that illustrate one of the following pairs of contrasts. Dig deeply into each word and think of multiple possibilities for each one. You can challenge yourself to incorporate both ideas into one photograph (that'll count as your two photos, if you do it well enough).
stillness/movement
hope/despair
comfort/discomfort
minimal/maximal
natural/artificial
dark/light
control/chaos
innocent/corrupt
inner/outer
soft/hard
violent/peaceful
birth/decay
feminine/masculine
day/night
valuable/cheap
familiar/strange
dirty/clean
dry/wet
young/old
hope/despair
comfort/discomfort
minimal/maximal
natural/artificial
dark/light
control/chaos
innocent/corrupt
inner/outer
soft/hard
violent/peaceful
birth/decay
feminine/masculine
day/night
valuable/cheap
familiar/strange
dirty/clean
dry/wet
young/old
Project 18- Choice 1: Dolls and Mannequins- due April 25
Dolls, mannequins, prosthetic limbs, and other artificial human parts have long inspired artists. Maybe it's part "uncanny valley" (that uneasy feeling some people experience when seeing dolls, mannequins, and other humanoid representations, like androids) or maybe it reminds us of the strangeness of our own human form. Whichever the case, it's an interesting subject to photograph. Choose one or more of the humanoid props in my collection to explore.
For inspiration:
Mannakin Hall- a salvage yard of old mannequins that you can rent or buy
Isla de las Muñecas- an island in Mexico City populated by a man's collection of dolls
For inspiration:
Mannakin Hall- a salvage yard of old mannequins that you can rent or buy
Isla de las Muñecas- an island in Mexico City populated by a man's collection of dolls
Project 18- Choice 2: Community Portrait- due April 25
This assignment is inspired by our immediate circle, this could include family, friends, coworkers, classmates, etc. For this assignment I'd like you to explore new ways of creating community portraits and investigate what our social circles look like in this day and age. You can choose to explore the concept of the formal family portrait, the casual "snapshot", or experiment and restructure the very idea of what a group portrait consists of.
FAQs-
Q: Can I just photograph my pet?
A: You may photograph your pet, but YOU or someone else needs to be holding it.
Q: Does it have to be a formal portrait?
A: It can, if that's the route you want to take, but it can also be done in a more photo documentary style. (See examples below)
Q: I have this great old photo that I want to use. Can I incorporate it into my project?
A: Of course! There are many ways to do that. Again, look through the examples below.
Note: If this assignment makes you uncomfortable in any way and you'd like to discuss with me the possibility of an alternative project, please do. I understand that the idea of exploring group dynamics may be more than you'd like to take on at the moment.
FAQs-
Q: Can I just photograph my pet?
A: You may photograph your pet, but YOU or someone else needs to be holding it.
Q: Does it have to be a formal portrait?
A: It can, if that's the route you want to take, but it can also be done in a more photo documentary style. (See examples below)
Q: I have this great old photo that I want to use. Can I incorporate it into my project?
A: Of course! There are many ways to do that. Again, look through the examples below.
Note: If this assignment makes you uncomfortable in any way and you'd like to discuss with me the possibility of an alternative project, please do. I understand that the idea of exploring group dynamics may be more than you'd like to take on at the moment.
Project 19: Mini Portfolio- due May 17
You will be creating a themed mini portfolio of 7 images and you will decide the theme. You may either choose one of the projects we've done this year as inspiration (still life, food photography, etc.), one we did LAST year in Art Photo (portraits, Photoshop collages, etc) , or one completely of your own creation. Your theme must be discussed and approved before you proceed. For those of you who will be taking AP 2D Design next year, this may very well be the start of your AP Portfolio.