BRIAR M. PINE
Introduction to Photography
Course DescriptionThis course focuses on basic photography skills, including analog and digital camera function, color correction, file/negative organization, image retouching, editing, and printing. Through assignments, reading discussions, lectures, and critiques, students examine how photographs function in order to engage in critical discourse with the medium.
Within this class, we’ll engage in a brief exploration of the medium of photography, from the prototypical era of the camera obscura to the contemporary technologies of digital image editing and inkjet printing. From the darkroom to Adobe Photoshop, this course is intended to introduce students to a broad history of photographic mediums, forms, techniques, strategies, and practices. Students should come prepared to experiment, to explore, and to fail in the process of making. Throughout, we’ll be asking questions about the nature of photography, digital and analog, in relationship to the broader image-culture of our moment.