Art & Art History
Department

ART 212: Introduction to Photography                    back to courses index
Colby Caldwell

This introduction course to photography will provide students with a basic overview of the black and white medium. Topics covered will include the fundamentals of film exposure and development, as well as control of the printing process through demonstrations, class projects and critiques. With this technical knowledge, students will learn to use the medium as a form of personal creative expression as well as a tool for cultural investigation. We will study how the tools of photographic image making have altered our understanding of reality. Questions asked will include: How has our conception of verity changed through the years? Are we as a society evolving from a textually based culture to an image based one? How can photography have both objective and subjective properties?

By the end of this class, you will be able to demonstrate a working knowledge of the technical properties inherent in the developing and printing of black and white wet-based photography.  Correctly exposing and contacting your negatives, as well as a proficient understanding of the wet darkroom and its properties, are the objectives of this introduction class.  You will also gain an overview of the history and conceptual underpinnings that define photography and also differentiate it from other mediums.