On 1/21/2012 6:38 PM, Stan Halpin wrote:
First, short background: I've done a little photography "instruction" with teen-agers. When the 4-H
clubs hold "contests", everybody wins. But everybody also gets feedback on how to improve their
efforts at baking, hog raising, photography, whatever. As a sometime judge for the photography portions of
our county 4-H program, I have been part of a panel providing feedback and suggestions to the
"contestants".
You certainly have more experience teaching to kids than I do. I only
have the experience of taking photo classes *AS* a kid (mostly between
the ages of 12 and 14).
Unless you run into a real geek,
That might be the disconnect. I was talking about the stuff that I
thought was fun as a kid. As you may have noticed, I'm a geek.
kids at that level don't care about technology. Film? That is the stuff you
take to either Walmart or Walgreens Drug Store. Digital? That is when you can
plug the card right into the print machine at Walmart or Walgreens and not have
to wait for the film to go someplace and be brought back from wherever it went.
Exposure? Depth of field? Camera shake? Just more technical gobblydegook. Kids
interested in photography are more likely interested in the images that come
out. I think I said something like this before in this thread, but I like the
way Bruce put it:
If I go to a basic photography course I want to learn how to tell a better
story using images.
The technical stuff can be brought in along the way, and the truly interested student
with a geeky bent will listen and possibly remember something about f/stops and depth of
field and the tradeoffs among exposure and shutter speeds and film/sensor speed, and be
able to build on that. But if they don't learn first that photography is a way to show
others how they themselves see the world, then they won't care about the subtleties of
taking and processing that image. Larry, you say: "...spending a day with physical
photography rather than going right into digital, is because it would be cool and
fun." I love the idea of using film and putting people in a darkroom to develop
the film, print the prints. In the 2nd or 3rd course maybe.
> But I just don't see how the cool and fun (?) aspect of film is going
to inform beginning students about how to use their digital cameras to
capture images that reflect their own artistic sensibilities.
It's a cool and fun way to teach kids about light and such.
I suspect that I might do well teach a photo course to nerds and geeks,
and your course would work well for the artists and jocks. One of the
things that I have always enjoyed about photography is learning to bend
light to my will, pretty pictures are often just a pleasant side effect.
stan
On Jan 21, 2012, at 9:06 PM, Larry Colen wrote:
On 1/21/2012 5:40 PM, Bruce Walker wrote:
This is late and probably nobody cares anymore, but I have to say my
piece or I'll fidget.
Larry and a few others suggest using film cameras in a beginners
course on photography. I think this is crazy and here's my analogy:
it's like giving a beginning writing course and requiring everyone to
show up with an old mechanical Underwood typewriter, then learn how to
thread the ribbon and apply white-out.
If I go to a basic writing course, I'm there to learn how to write.
Not how to work an obsolete typewriter. I want to learn how to tell a
better story using words.
If I go to a basic photography course I want to learn how to tell a
better story using images.
Okay, I can sleep now.
You make some good points. And I should explain my reasons.
I suggested using a film camera for one day, not for the whole course.
First and foremost, there is something very cool, about taking a photo,
developing the film, and seeing and having the tangible evidence in your hands.
I suppose that a lot of this could be done using photo paper and contact
prints. Or for that matter, photo paper and a pin hole camera that they made
themselves. Then possibly contact prints by placing the paper negative face to
face with another piece of photo paper.
I also suggested looking at the negatives, and using those as a way of
understanding exposure. I think that using film, and explicitly thinking about
each step of the process would do more to bring home the concepts than magic
handwaving and a camera that does everything for you.
As to your typewriter analogy, I would not require people to use a typewriter
in a creative writing class. However, I might well have them write and maybe
even do the first edit of a piece long hand. Writing things out long hand
slows you down, and forces you to think about each and every word. It also
discourages verbal diarrhea, since it takes so much more effort to write. In
the same vein, shooting with a completely manual camera forces you to look at
each step of the process, think about it and correct any errors earlier.
But, my main reason for suggesting spending a day with physical photography
rather than going right into digital, is because it would be cool and fun. In
retrospect, contact prints, or possibly contact prints and pinhole cameras
would likely work even better, if for no other reason than the skill required
to roll film onto the developing reels.
It would probably be fairly easy to make the equivalent of an enlarger for
contact prints out of a clamp light, and some cardboard and aluminum foil so
that one student could expose their contact print and not everyone else's at
the same time too.
On Sat, Jan 14, 2012 at 9:48 PM, Larry Colen<[email protected]> wrote:
On Jan 14, 2012, at 8:01 AM, Christine Nielsen wrote:
Thus far, this is what I'm assuming:
- Kids aged 9& up... maybe even a 9-12 group, and a 13& up?
- Mostly p& s cameras, esp with younger kids
- Composition getting greater emphasis than ins& out of exposure -
we'll deal in Auto modes
- Teaching practical applications... finding "good" light, how to
photograph your friends, your pet, sports, landscapes, your vacation,
macro, etc...
- Keep it fun... a photo scavenger hunt? a website they can post
pics/contribute to? "A day in the life", or other photo projects..?
- Maybe 4 - 6 classes, 90 mins each
What do you think? Anyone out there ever done this sort of thing, or
have any good resources to share? I'd be most grateful...
I doubt that I'm the only one on this list that learned photography at age 12
using a fully manual camera, and processed my own film in a darkroom. Don't
underestimate the ability of younger people to understand things like exposure.
For a young kids class, I'd teach them:
how to hold the camera
How to look for good light:
not shooting into the light
not mixing sun and shade
enough light
how to use zoom, how to wait for focus
How to put the camera on a tripod (or a beanbag) and use the self timer
don't aim directly at a window with the flash
extra credit
fill flash
composition
As a matter of fact, that's pretty much the stuff I'd teach people who don't
want to learn photography, but want to take pictures.
For general photography I'd suggest:
All ages, kids under 12 by special permission. This way parents and kids could
do it together.
Adults only
I'd ask around for people with developing tanks, changing bags, old 35 mm
cameras and light meters collecting dust.
Day1:
I'd cover the basics in the above class. Homework, go and play with cameras
Day 2:
I'd teach them the basics of exposure, using the histogram to illustrate. I'd
then show them how to use a lightmeter (internal or external) then give them
each a roll of Tri-X and a camera/lightmeter, and show them how to load/unload
the camera and give them until the next class session to shoot the film
Day 3: Process the film and look at it. In many ways, they'd learn as much just
taking a roll of C41 B&W to walgreens, but I think that processing the film
would be a lot of fun. I'm specifically avoiding color film if we're talking
exposure.
Day 4: scan the negatives look at the results on a computer, and discuss.
Review using the histogram, how to set exposure and when to use
auto or manual exposure. Assignment, take pictures using both manual and auto
exposure
Day 5: review digital exposure homework. teach depth of field, manual focus,
auto focus, and when to use tripods to stop down and get more depth of field at
slower shutter speeds.
Day 6: color balance, grey cards, raw versus jpeg
I don't care for the holga idea, it may be fun, but not as instructional on a
base level
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