Re: [Leica] Photo education

["Don Dory" <dorysrus@mindspring.com>]

I found that you had to juggle at least three threads in a beginning class.

1) Basic camera controls.  First assignments needed to cover aperture and
what it does, shutter speed, and EI.  So maybe a portrait using a whole 36
exposure roll starting at whatever maximum aperture the lens had to minimum
holding exposure constant.  Second assignment the same thing using moving
objects and shutter speed.  Third assignment dealt with overexposing five
stops to five stops under.  Later assignments should be ambiguous such as
light, or fear, or fashion: assignments that can be done in many styles
successfully.

2) What style do the students fall into?  I have a largish collection of
photo books so I would break out the Avedon, HCB, W Eugene, Galen Rowell,
issues of Aperture, old Rolling Stone and etc so the class could see what
was considered great.  One assignment would be to go out on the web and find
a photo site that the student could identify with and do some screen prints
to discuss what about the photography grabbed them.   Alternatively, pages
from magazines  or whatever that caught their gut and why.

3) Gaining technical skill.  You have to be in the darkroom or lightroom
with the students to give them ways to get better.  Sometimes you have
students with a wonderful eye and no craft so their pictures suck
magnificently and you have to guide them through the craft.  Other times you
have individuals whose technical skills are beyond reproach but whose idea
of a great image is a medium distance shot of a soup can.  Those are the
hardest as the images are flawlessly bad.

Try to have some reference books around, perhaps Ansel Adams "The Negative"
perhaps Anchell's "Darkroom Cookbook" whatever you feel comfortable
supporting as reading outside class to improve appreciation for the craft.

Last, the group has got to discuss each others work: carefully led by you so
that the photographer had to explain the image and the others were forced to
discuss the success of the image or not but more importantly the why.  As
the LUG rules no personal attacks allowed.

I hope this helps.  Unfortunately you have to write the lessons as you have
to feel right about using them and others approaches just won't click with
you.

Don
dorysrus@mindspring.com

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